RICHLAND, Wash. –
Ray’s Golden Lion, an iconic restaurant in Richland has been closed for almost a decade. This year, new owners Talon Yager and Andrew McVay plan to reopen the restaurant and hope people see it as a tribute to what it used to be.
“It’s been a gigantic hole in the community, so it’s going to be great,” says Yager. “That’s why we’re doing it, is for the community.”
Ray’s Golden Lion was opened in 1963 and was originally a Mongolian and Chinese Restaurant known for hosting big music acts in its heyday.
Some of those acts, Frank Sinatra Jr., Tiny Tim, Meatloaf as well as Ike and Tina Turner.
McVey says, “We want to make it a place where everybody wants come. Not just people who maybe be in that specific music scene.”
Both McVey and Yager grew up in the area and say they share a lot of memories at the restaurant, and hope others will be able to as well.
The new owners are trying to keep the original charm, but they are updating the interior with a modern flair too.
They say the menu will be ‘Gastro Style’ or high-quality food choices.
The two friends share a fondness for Ray Chin, the original owner, and want to keep his memory alive. Ray died in 2016 after being hit by a car.
“Ray gave us all a home,” says McVey. “To give back to him especially in his honor and his name, it means the world to me.”
