Gunpowder Lodge

I really wanted to love this place since we go hiking quite often right there at Gunpowder & always see this establishment.  I bookmarked it via Yelp & promised myself I would eat here!  Couldn't wait, actually.  So we finally got that chance when my brother called & last minute stated he wanted to meet up for lunch, and asked us to take him to a local spot:  bam!  Instantly thought of Gunpowder Lodge!!!

So, let me precursor this review with the fact that my husband & I are not from Baltimore (stationed here)... Sooo, naturally, we are not fans of the Ravens (we love football... but we also love another team).  We actually do not hate the Ravens & we are absolutely in love with Baltimore, they are just not our team, so when we decided to finally eat here, it was a Sunday and it was right when the Ravens were playing.  We were donning our teams jersey since our team was playing later that evening.  We walk into the establishment & it is purple galore......  Apparently, this place has a few TVs, they provide the game on those TVs, & they offer specials solely for the game playing on those TVs.  Talk about awkward moments, lol.

Anyways, we were sat right away, in between two large groups of Ravens fans watching the game.  The hostess was super sweet, btw.

Onto the food:  couldn't wait to order the crab dip because of the rave reviews here on Yelp.  We enjoyed it!  Brother ordered the sliders & didn't leave anything behind.  Same story goes for my sis-in-law who ordered the fish tacos.  But my husband & I couldn't really finish our meals because our toddler son was throwing a fit (toddlers, what can you do...).  My husband takes him out back to the awesome outdoor area they offer.  There's a deck & a field with a really nice playground for the kids.  Around this playground, there are picnic tables & it was a pretty nice day out so we thought it would be easier if we just ate outdoors to keep our son entertained and keep us from going insane.  Excited w/the thought of eating outdoors, I ran up to ask our server but couldn't find her so I asked another server & she quickly said "Of course!  Just head down there!  Enjoy!".  Sweet, so I started to grab our stuff & our server comes by the table w/a quizzical look, so I asked her if it was okay if we ate outdoors.  She took a minute to answer and said "Well, I don't know.  Fine, I guess".  Confused I asked "are you sure? what is the hesitation here?".  And she seemed pretty annoyed w/the fact we wanted to eat outside.  But I guess it's because it would have made it more difficult for her since she would have to go all the way out there to check on us.  I'm an understanding person, so instead, I asked for boxes so we could finish our meal at home.  She brought them out right away w/the check.  But we literally sat there w/an extremely fussy baby (and now fussy parents) for an extra 25 minutes waiting for our card.  The server finally comes over & states that the computers are frozen.  Ummm ok?  And then says she'll bring the card out once it's working again.  And it was incredibly loud in there!  I mean, there was a game going on & people were excited so naturally there is some yelling & screaming but we were just so ready to leave & we couldn't!  She comes back a few minutes later to tell us that her boss is working on it.  Comes back 10 minutes after that with the card.   Ugh... very very frustrating

I ordered the crab cake sandwich & it was pretty good.  The menu states no fillers & it wasn't lying; all crabmeat.  I appreciated that.  My husband had the chili & GPL salad & he said it was good.  

We are fair people & realize we probably would have had a much more pleasant experience if the circumstances were different so we are wanting to give this place another chance.  The restaurant looked like a great place to go to after a hike for a quick bite & drink so we may just try that in the near future (just not on game day)...

I'm looking forward to writing an updated review!

Nice place. I really like the pizza and the Seafood Nachos. The service is pretty good and I like the outdoor area. I wish the bar area was a little bigger. But, overrall, very nice place!

Nothing fancy to look at but the food is great! These folks know how to bake and grill wings perfectly!