Gateway Pizza & Subs — Restaurant in Maryland

Indian Pizza was interesting idea, but just okay flavor and poor ordering process.

I get their mail fliers like 4 times a year for as long as I could remember. I already have 5 other really good Indian restaurants and plenty of chain and/or NY-style pizza places I regularly visit. I finally caved in and tried something that sounded interesting.

I got two medium pizzas - paneer pizza and butter chicken pizza.

I ordered via their website directly and did pickup. I showed up 5 minutes past the time their email said it was supposed to be ready and they had no idea I even placed an order until they looked on their phone after I asked to pick up my food. Basically I had to wait around another 30 minutes to get my food. No apologies given. I hate to think how poorly a delivery would have gone.

Pizza-wise, the paneer pizza was flavorless and not worth double the price of their regular cheese pizza. The butter chicken pizza had slightly more flavor than the paneer, but also not worth it. You're better off dropping $14 on Indian entrees at Royal Taj or any other local Indian restaurant, where there is far more flavor.

So if you're okay with mediocre pizza and don't value your time, go here. Too many other good Indian and pizza options in the area to waste my time...

The first problem was a long wait for basic dishes. I arrived 10 minutes after the online ordering system's target time, and it still took another 20-25 minutes. An hour (total) when ordering for table service would be sluggish. But for carryout when the place wasn't busy and it was prime-time (6:30-7pm) was unexpected, and unacceptable.

The second issue was a heavily overseasoned biryani. I specified medium, and I have quite a spice tolerance (and I've eaten Indian all over the region). This was on the hot side of "hot"-- the dark grains of the chili mixture used in most South Asian cooking was clearly visible throughout the dish. I was able to eat it (with some discomfort). But most people ordering a medium would have been uncomfortable and unable to finish.

To their credit, the biryani was heavy with chicken, some places barely provide any meat. But most non-native-eaters would have found the spice level quite difficult.

The real reason I picked Gateway was they carry the relatively elusive "mo mo" (Nepalese or Tibetan style steamed dumplings). The...

Update: 9/5/21 I'm sad to say that the quality and service has gone downhill. We ordered tonight and they hadn't even started our order when we arrived an hour later. This has become a recurring theme for them, we have been coming here for years and every now and then they would drop the ball. It is so constant now, their explanation tonight was that they never saw the online order come through because they are busy and it's not their fault. Then she told us to always call after placing an online order. What is the point of placing it online if I have to call, seems a bit strange... Following this explanation they told us to just give them 15 minutes and we will have our food. Welp 35 minutes later and we were still waiting around for just two order of momo. What also got us were the cockroaches, live and dead right when we walked in the door. My husband pointed them out and the cashier just mumbled as she walked away from him. I don't like leaving bad reviews but after multiple instances and our concerns being written off I wanted to share...