Gateway Diner

Disappointed is the best I can say. It’s a shame that the manager (I think she said she was the daughter of the owner) has to apologize for the cooks.
Ordered prime rib, and it was just a rib eye steak heated up in a pan of juice.
Service was okay, but the waitresses reminded me of the truck stops along a midwest interstate. Notice there were plenty of regulars and they got a lot of attention.
I like to be treated just a little bit special when I go out, and didn’t feel it.

Good diner for basic food– burgers, sandwiches, breakfast. Coffee is decent. Always clean and waitstaff friendly. It is a typical diner. Their breakfast is always good. Menu is monstrous. Usually the food is good, has Greek dishes and lots of desserts. Don’t recommend «ham steak» it was just nasty– fake meat with no taste and an inedible texture. Don’t recommend any of the more expensive meats or steaks of any kind. For the most part it has always been a good experience. Open at times when a lot of places are closed. It is a BYOB.

This place is old and dated but it seems clean. The food is typical diner fare; not great but not awful either. Service is absolutely adequate… It’s a reasonable and healthier alternative to fast food and not much more.
I will never understand why business owners don’t keep up the aesthetics of their businesses. Most people simply mistake old for dirty. Seriously, you expect the waitress to whip out and light up a virginia slim in this place… it’s THAT 1973

This place is dirty. Glasses, silverware & menus all came to the table with dried food on them. Booths and blinds were dirty. After being seated and seeing the dirty conditions we left without ordering. Won’t be back.

If I could give no stars. I would .
everytime I try to give this place a chance
Im disappointed.
The place is always empty and with all the tables in the dinning room, it never fails they put me right next to the bathroom. The last time I went as they were escorting me towards the bathroom. I said please this place is empty, may I please sit somewhere else
THE FINAL STRAW… I felt so rushed, from the time I walked in to an empty dining room to the time I left was all of a half hour. As soon as we sat down, without even having menu’s the waitress asked are you ready to order, as I explained we dont even have menu’s. She slides them on table to were the scatter on to the floor. It went down hill from there. Every min (and I’m not exaggerating) this waitress was at my table .“are you ready yet?” Finally after 4 times of this we orderd. as the food isnt even at my table she wrote the check and gave it to my husband. As the food arrived, she was at it again, every min asking «anything else» it was as if she wanted us gone. My huband is a very generous tipper .not this time he left he a quater and told manager we will never be back.

As much as I love Diners — this one just doesn’t do it for me… allow me to explain:
1^st Visit (about 6 months ago): Entered and stood in the lobby area for about a minute. The place was not busy, maybe 3 tables in total, the cashier standing behind the cash register, looking bored and a waitress sitting at the counter. I stood there for about 1 minute — no one greeted me or offered to seat me, so I left.
2^nd Visit (about 3 months ago): Stopped in and was actually seated this time. Again, the place was not busy, 5 tables at most. I ordered a diner classic — hot roast beef. I’m not expecting anything great, but a little flavor would have been nice — bland bland bland.
3^rd (and Final) Visit (today): Again with the no greeting. It looks like they were closing up, as only 2 tables were in seated and a busboy was cleaning up and putting the chairs up in the left part of the dining room. So, I asked «Are you closing?» Then either the manager or owner (not sure which) seated me.
I decided to be daring and ordered Prime Rib. The Prime Rib was just about what I expected it to be, not great but not bad — passable. (Hint: Prime Rib should never touch a grill!) The food wasn’t bad, just what one would expect from a diner.
Here is why I will not be going back again:
(1) Twice with the no greeting/​leave you standing in the lobby
(2) Service left a lot to be desired both times I ate there (Example: My drink cup would sit empty on the edge of the table, until I caught the waitress and asked for a refill)
(3) For whatever reason, they’ve chosen to go the airline route — what I mean by that, is that they nickle and dime you in here — something I just do not appreciate at all. They charged me $ 1.85 per glass for Iced Tea and never said anything until I spotted it on the bill. Come on? Really? They use extremely small glasses, with the ice in there, maybe 4 oz of Iced Tea at most and you need charge $ 1.85 per glass?
Then on top of that, my bill came to $ 19.65 with tax. After they ran my credit card, the total charges was $ 20.85 — I guess there is a $ 1.20 surcharge for using a credit card — no signs, no mention of this at all.
So Gateway — hope you’re happy with the extra $ 3.05 you squeezed out of me today! I certainly won’t be back to let you do it again…
Short Sighted…

Typical run of the mill diner, this place has been around and not changed a single bit since I was a kid. That being said a visit here is to be accompanied with drab coloration, small old plastic scratched up cups and floors that make you cringe. That being said if my omelette didn’t come out rushed and over cooked I would have given i this place an average 3 stars but it did.

I travel back to Philly with the hubby pretty often. Since his young life was spent up and down MacDade Blvd., we hit up Gateway Diner regularly. It’s crazy because the waitress (wish I could recall her name) now remembers us even though we live 800 miles away. Anyway… decent, predictable diner food, fast and at a decent price. Gateway has the most generous serving of scrapple around.

Its a diner so it comes with its own rules and oddities which i can handle. There was a restaurant now burned down in an adjoing town that NEVER totaled your check. At that place you had to guess before you paid on what your tip should be. So i can take anything this cool diner would dish out
WHAT I LOVE:
1 Great for women solo diners. You never get shoved into a corner cause you are solo nor do people stare cause you are alone.
2. Reasonably priced food that is fast, fresh and filling.
3 Service has except for one occasion in the 10 years I’ve dined here has always been attentive and quick. Oftentimes even nurturing
4. Its a diner in an diner underserved county. .
5. Plenty of parking. Here on a snowy day and its totally cleared.

Decent service, boring food, too expensive. Really nothing that great. Unspired, $ 7 Reuben, nothing you couldn’t make at home. Breaded, frozen, deep fried fries. We were just walking on a rainy day looking for lunch – this one looked OK and was just that.

More like «Gateway Drugs Diner». Crappy service, all the waitresses are burnt out meth heads. The hash browns keep me coming back.

We live nearby, and this is a welcome and necessary diner! Nowhere else in the area when it comes to diners– the food is excellent, fabulous service, and there’s a huge selection– that you would expect from any good diner. Addressing the other reviews, the small water glass size is now changed, and I’m not sure who is complaining about the small selection…
As for seating yourself, it’s a DINER!

Walked in and the hostest handed us the menus and said second both to the right. Sat ourselves. Enough said. Very unprofessional.

I wanted something different so I stopped in to the Gateway for breakfast. Place was dead. Service was ok. Coffee cup and water cup were a little bigger than a shot glass (exaggerating but come on — I don’t want to keep asking for refills). Scrambled eggs OK. Bacon OK. Home fries good. Toast good. Cost was $ 7.25 PLUS TAX!!! I placed $ 7.25 down and this grumpy woman at cash register shouted «you gotta pay the tax». Why don’t you put down total cost on the ticket??? Registers too old? The bucket in the lobby to collect the dripping water from the hole in the roof wasn’t a great way to greet customers. Niftie fifties is two blocks away. Stopping there the next time.

4 diner stars, not 4 ‘restaurant’ stars, if you know what i mean. We had burgers and fries and all were entirely edible and fine, and super cheap — about $ 4.50. Another friend had the meatloaf and mashed potatoes, and soup — a dinner combo special. he loved it, good ol’ comfort food… not at its ‘best’ but at it’s cheapest, nearest, and served pdq.
for some reason our waters were served in tiny juice glasses and our server never came back to refill, or as if we needed anything.
they have a ton of options — all kinds of hot and cold sandwiches, seafood, breakfast all day… dinner fare.
when i’m in that neighborhood and want diner food, its my go to spot.

If your hungry, and broke maybe try it. Coffee was tastless probaly double, or triple brew same batch Pretty much brown water. and how better to judge a dinner than by there coffee. Limited menu only thing ive ever remotly liked was blue berry pancakes. Only reason i ever return is its closest dinner to my house and sometimes while im driving my dad to doctors or to visit my gandparents he suggest goin and he pays.

Forget the fact that the food was bland, overcooked, and just rather terrible. It was more the fact that while there a bug was killed during brunch. Definitely a place we will not be returning.

It’s hard for me to explain the charm of this place.
Then again, maybe it’s not hard.
It gets no more basic than this place. In an area that has a good number of diner type breakfast choices within a 4 mile radius, this place holds a decent and steady crowd for breakfast fare. It has basic diner décor, but the service is friendly and quick. There’s a better than average chance that the waitress will call you «sweetie» or «hon». There’s nothing special I’d tell you that you had to try, but they passed my diner French Toast Test just fine. A plate of French Toast, side of scrambled eggs, and side of scrapple with coffee came in under 10 bucks.
I’ve had some decent dinners here in my life, and I’ve had some dinners that let me down. I’m more likely to come here for breakfast, that is for sure. But, it’s nice to know that I can get a pretty decent plate of chicken croquettes here if I so choose.
They’re not 24 hours. No chance of grabbing a bear claw at 2am. Head to Baltimore Pike for such things.

This place is the original of original. There are plenty of diners in Delco, but this one has a certain charm that you can’t create out of thin air. The faux-​wood paneling that lines the walls, the vinyl cushioned booths, the art deco chandeliers, all tie together nicely and create a comfy, no frills dining experience.
The prices are cheap and the food is just fine, don’t expect anything out of this world, just home-​cooking and decent service. There are many neighborhood regulars that go here, probably once a day, so you know they have a good rep. For the establishment being so old, they keep it very clean and well maintained as well, the owner who runs the register is a really nice guy too.