I really wanted to love this place since we go hiking quite often right there at Gunpowder & always see this establishment. Â I bookmarked it via Yelp & promised myself I would eat here! Â Couldn't wait, actually. Â 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: Â bam! Â 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). Â 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. Â We were donning our teams jersey since our team was playing later that evening. Â We walk into the establishment & it is purple galore...... Â 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. Â Talk about awkward moments, lol.
Anyways, we were sat right away, in between two large groups of Ravens fans watching the game. Â The hostess was super sweet, btw.
Onto the food: Â couldn't wait to order the crab dip because of the rave reviews here on Yelp. Â We enjoyed it! Â Brother ordered the sliders & didn't leave anything behind. Â Same story goes for my sis-in-law who ordered the fish tacos. Â But my husband & I couldn't really finish our meals because our toddler son was throwing a fit (toddlers, what can you do...). Â My husband takes him out back to the awesome outdoor area they offer. Â There's a deck & a field with a really nice playground for the kids. Â 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. Â 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! Â Just head down there! Â Enjoy!". Â 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. Â She took a minute to answer and said "Well, I don't know. Â Fine, I guess". Â Confused I asked "are you sure? what is the hesitation here?". Â And she seemed pretty annoyed w/the fact we wanted to eat outside. Â 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. Â I'm an understanding person, so instead, I asked for boxes so we could finish our meal at home. Â She brought them out right away w/the check. Â But we literally sat there w/an extremely fussy baby (and now fussy parents) for an extra 25 minutes waiting for our card. Â The server finally comes over & states that the computers are frozen. Â Ummm ok? Â And then says she'll bring the card out once it's working again. Â And it was incredibly loud in there! Â 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! Â She comes back a few minutes later to tell us that her boss is working on it. Â Comes back 10 minutes after that with the card. Â Ugh... very very frustrating
I ordered the crab cake sandwich & it was pretty good. Â The menu states no fillers & it wasn't lying; all crabmeat. Â I appreciated that. Â My husband had the chili & GPL salad & he said it was good. Â
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. Â 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!
Love this place. Awesome spot, good food and great staff. Â We go quite a bit in the winter and warm up by the cozy fireplaces and catch a game on the tvs, but in nice weather the outside seating backs to Gunpowder State Park and they have a horseshoe pitch. Â
Thursday night is burger night, which are always good and last night I had the grilled romaine salad topped with grilled chicken which was great. (Dressing was a little salty, so I had it on the side and just drizzled a tiny bit - but salad was so flavorful it really didn't need much anyway.) Just about everything I've tried has been good to great (keep in mind it's a bar and grille, people).
We bring our kids ages 8 and 6 and they get to have a Stewarts Root Beer in the bottle as a special treat, while the grown-ups get a few beers. Â They love going there, even as picky as they are.
**They just added a loyalty program, via a keypad by the hostess stand where you can enter your cell number. Â Just three visits gets you some freebies. Well worth it if you go regularly like we do.
Always a favorite that we forget about! Â LOVE the wings, and love them even more that they are grilled, not fried. Â Kinda nice, the whole place doesn't offer anything fried. Â Cheesesteak was yummy, as well. Â Always have a good selection of beer on tap. Â Very friendly waitresses and overall welcoming feel to the place.
Review Source:Number one thing about this place that stood out to me was how kid-friendly it is! The picnic  tables outside had raised seats for the little ones, and the playground equipment looked new and safe. It's nice to be able to watch your 2 year old WHILE sitting down to eat.  Which brings me to the food. We  arrived early enough that they were still serving the brunch buffet, which a few of us opted for-fruit and cold eggs, no thanks! We were told we had to wait 25 minutes to order from the lunch menu at 12:00, but our waitress was happy to take our order a few minutes early. Our friends ordered the nachos and they were pretty tasty. I ordered the BBQ chicken wrap without bacon and potato salad on the side. My husband had the gunpowder burger, which he rated "ehhh ok ". But my wrap was really moist and yummy! It had a little of a pulled pork feel to it and a little kick as well! The potato salad had wasn't really my thing but I should've known that being German potato salad with bacon in it. My daughter had a grilled cheese sandwich with the fruit cup (fruit cocktail of peaches/pears), which she seemed to enjoy while she took a break from her 500 trips down the slide.  I would definitely return here although in the winter I imagine my 2 year old would not have as much fun.
Review Source:Thumbs down, folks. Went there again, all excited after our previous visit. For some reason place looked totally drab, not that many people. Had crab nachos, next time I'll bring a magnifying glass so I can go "crabbing". Tiny pieces of the crab meat that tasted like it came from the Indonesian can, money well-wasted. Ordered scotch, were delivered a cheap bourbon... Had their "specials", soft-shell crab sandwich. Huge bun, over breaded tiny crab, it was pretty tasteless, soggy. Really, did not enjoy it this time, menu was pretty boring as well.
Review Source:This place has rocks when it comes to food tasting great. It was a few dollars more for things in general but worth it. Got the crab brushetta for an app. It was a sensible portion and was plated attractively. I did get their angus burger with BBQ, cheese, and bacon....awesome. My wife got a chicken cheesesteak and loved it. There were some drink specials and specials on burgers on Thursdays. I'll be back. Hope they don't change a thing. Go eat here...you will thank me.
Review Source:Have driven past this place 1,000 times if I've driven by once. This time stopped in with my 13 yr old son. Our waitress was extremely nice and our food came in a relatively short period of time. We both had angus beef burgers, mine topped with fantastic crab dip. We could not believe how good these burgers were! No mistakes in our orders. We liked the "sports" decor and enjoyed watching the worlds strongest man competition on a large screen in front of us. Good prices. Bar crowd got a little loud at times for my taste but wasn't ridiculous. We will definitely be returning soon!
Review Source:I have always lived around this area and have just drove by this place. A friend had told me to try it here because it was very kid friendly. They have a large area out back with a playground for the children. This was a huge plus since the kiddos I did end up going with had lots of energy to burn off while we waited for the food to come out.
I ordered the crab dip for the appetizer and the fish tacos for my main meal. Others that dined with me had the jerk chicken salad, mac and cheese, and the pot roast sandwich. Everyone was very happy with their meals including the children. It was delicious. The food made up for the slow service there. We must have waited forever to just get our appetizer to come out and the main dishes. The kids and adults were getting too hungry and the food was taking forever to come out. Luckily, when the food did come out, we were pleased with our dishes. Prices are reasonable and I love their soda beverages in the mini pitchers. It was a good thing we had those pitchers because I'm sure it would have been terrible to wait that long for refills with the slow service there.
Overall, the food was good. The environment was relaxing and the people working there were friendly. Only bad experience was the slow service and that our food took forever to come out. The waitress was nice and attentive but our food just came out way too late. Just don't go extremely hungry because you'll be waiting for a bit to get your food.
After years and years of passing by this place, I finally tried this!
Apparently, in the past, this was a place for hoggers to relax and have a beer. Â Since then, the ownership changed and now it's more of a family restaurant and bar.
The servers and even the people eating there were all so nice and sociable. Â It was great! Â The food (and crab dip) was excellent! Â
My friend was unaware of how to properly eat a lobster, so the bar tender showed him how and he was really nice about it. Â It was funny, great atmosphere and ambiance! Â Can't wait to eat there again
Great restaurant. I frequent GPL a lot and have never had a bad experience. The food is outstanding and the staff is always friendly. The only downside id that they don't have a deep fryer; however everything they offer on the menu makes up for it. The weekly specials are great and if they are popular they get added to the regular menu.
Review Source:What a great place for my 100th review! Our new local favorite. Where do I start?
Lobster and half priced wine night is Wednesday. Nice size lobster and 2 sides for $13.99! Â So many sides to choose, but we like the veggie skewers, corn and mashed potatoes.
They have a whole separate specials menu, for every category...I rarely order from the usual menu.
Apps: Jerk chicken is the best! Ask for honey mustard too, some of the best stuff ever. We really like the fried green tomatoes when available too.
Nothing is fried here, all baked or stove top. The wings are really good, even with that bit of knowledge.
Awesome ambiance, great taste in sports too, usually soccer and hockey on the TV when in season.
Never been out back to hang but they have a huge area with tables, horse shoe pits, seats and a kids play area!
The service was great! Â I'm glad this old biker bar was converted to a mid priced restaurant with a good selection of beer and some decent priced entrees. Â Specials change weekly and range from rockfish tacos to surf and turf. Â The great news is they don't even have a fryer. Â Even the wings are baked and finished on the grill
Review Source:went here after a trial run and was thoroughly impressed. nice feel on the inside with a enough flat screens to watch the game. had a nice selection of craft beers and the food was very good. we had the blackened mahi fish tacos and wings (really hot sauce btw). someone got rockfish bites and they looked great too. cant wait to go back
Review Source:Looking forward to trying GPL. Â Did get a kick out of the vegetarian review, though. Â While I totally sympathize with their plight, I wasn't sure if the last line was meant to be tongue in check -- "Five percent of Americans identify themselves as vegetarians, and I think we deserve just a wee bit of recognition." Â Maybe the "wee bit" would be, oh, I don't know....say, five percent?? Â ;') Â (Also got a kick out of the repeated use of "Gross. Â Disgusting." Â Thankfully, I don't have an aversion to animals -- even three different kinds.
Review Source:This place was fine, the service was good, etc. etc., but don't go if you're remotely vegetarian because my vegetarian Tree Hugger Wrap (one of the two things on the menu that I could order) had tiny bits of beef and chicken in it. Â Gross. Â Disgusting. Â I'm sure they cook everything on same griddle but Christ Almighty I am not asking for too much, am I?
Then I tasted my husband's POTATO SALAD and got a big old mouthful of bacon. Â Gross. Â Disgusting. Â I did not assume that the potato salad had bacon in it. Â
I guess I'm just a little peeved, because I really don't feel like I am asking too much, and I also don't feel like "making mistakes" and accidentally eating three different animals that someone accidentally serves to me. Â Gross. Â Disgusting. Â I guess I should ask more questions.
Five percent of Americans identify themselves as vegetarians, and I think we deserve just a wee bit of recognition.
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