Because of timing in when my wife got home last evening... we decided on the Gateway for our 10th Anniversary Dinner...
I promised my wife Hard Shell Crabs and they had an AYCE special..
Now, we had eaten at the Gateway maybe 5-6 times before this and had always had a great meal.....
I don't know if they have changed chefs or management or what, BUT only my wife was satisfied with her entree'
I ordered the sauteed clams for my appetizer. Being from NY I happen to love clams... and was expecting small clams sauteed in a wine and butter sauce (as stated in the menu) .... What I got was clams that I would use for stuffing, chowder or frying.... large clams... and not sauteed, but steamed open and served with some kind of salty broth in a cup... the clams were, to put it mildly, TOUGH & CHEWY... definitely over steamed and way to big to be served like they were...
My wife and daughter opted for the crab nachos which the waitress recommended as fantastic and a house specialty... she said it was nacho chips with cheese with crab sprinkled on top.... jalapenos, salsa and sour cream on the side... sounded real good...
What we got was rubbery week old chips with some kind of deep orange cheese with a weird spicy taste and some kind of crab dip that did not taste of crab spread over that... OH I will say she was right about the side accompaniments...
Needless to say we barely touched the appetizers.... my daughter asked for some plain chips so she could have the salsa and got a dish of what tasted like week old rubbery chips... she did not eat them....
When the waitress came back to ask how things were, I told her.... and told her to take the plates away as we could not eat it.... her only response was "Sorry"... not I'll take care of it or anything...
We ordered a 1/2 lb of steamed shrimp for my daughter.... they were very nice large shrimp..... but way over spiced with Old Bay and some other seasoning... even after wiping the stuff off the peeled shrimp they were spicy.... she ate half of them and I ate the other half... but even I found them very spicy...
Now comes the real winner..... I ordered the $24.00 Seafood Sampler.... scallops, crab cake, bacon wrapped shrimp and a stuffed portobello mushroom. Sounded so good and I was hungry....
The scallops were nice sized and dine properly... there were two of them....
The crap cake was OK, not great and it was a whopping 1.5-2" in diameter and thin
I got two medium size shrimp that were wrapped in the same piece of bacon. HOWEVER, the bacon looked like it had been steamed with the shrimp... not broiled and definitely not a piece of bacon I would attempt to eat...
The real winner was the stuffed portobello mushroom.... 2" diameter with a few pieced of crab covered by some kind or horrible white sauce and placed under the broiler.... Now I don't know about anyone else, but I have cooked my share of portobello mushrooms and 2" is what is called a baby bello or more commonly a crimini mushroom....
When I told the waitress, I did not think that the meal was worth the price... same answer "Sorry"

I will say the crabs my wife had were good.... even the smalls were decent size... and there was a good mix of small and mediums... My wife enjoyed them and so did my daughter.... I stole some myself and they were good....

Bill arrived and not only no adjustment for not being able to eat the appetizers, but she charged us for the chips my daughter asked for....
I refused to give her a tip and told her why.... she still did not make an effort to get the owners or manager and we left...
NEVER TO GO BACK AGAIN.....
This used to be a good place to eat.... I wonder what happened...

Wow Griz, I'm sorry to hear this, especially when it was supposed to be a special occasion. Thanks for the heads up though, I guess we will be getting our seafood fix other places then.

We had a wonderful Anniversary... my wife enjoyed her dinner and that is what I was aiming for...
The little one had a ball helping Mommy take apart the crabs and enjoyed what she ate...
I can get over the fact that my dinner was not as expected or valued... but I can't tolerate the fact that the server did not care...
It is shame the place seems to have gone down hill.... we really used to like eating there...

Next time it is the Stadium for crabs.... and it will probably be soon....