For nine years Clearwater’s Gateway Grill has been providing classy dining fare in a laidback and “chill” environment.
Owner Kalen Jones said the restaurant has come a long way over the better part of a decade, always expanding and offering more services like catering and providing cheaper items during its new happy hour, which takes place everyday beginning at 4 p.m.
“I’d say it’s fun and relaxed,” said Jones of his location’s atmosphere.
“You don’t have to get dressed up to go out and have a nice meal and you get good food—that’s always a plus.”
Gateway Grill also makes a point to source its ingredients as locally as possible, with Jones growing much of the restaurant’s vegetable and herbs himself during the summer months, and stocking the taps in the bar with Red Collar beer from Kamloops, the closest craft brewery in the area.
Much of the produce used at the location also comes from Aveley Ranch in Vavenby where Jones gained some of his culinary experience when he was younger.
As mentioned, a large part of Gateway Grill’s operations involve its catering services, an aspect Jones didn’t really plan for, saying they were once asked to cater a dinner for 100 people and after accepting the request, things began to snowball.
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“We just went from there; we didn’t even advertise it and we started getting more and more clients,” said Jones.
“Now we have a lot of permanent return clients that we always cater for and just from word of mouth we now do weddings, corporate functions, and Christmas parties, which are just insane, we’re super busy with those.”
The bonus for catering clients is Gateway Grill provides the dishes, wine glasses, cutlery and bartending, making it a stress-free dining experience for those who enlist the restaurant’s services.
There’s also an element of versatility to their catering as Jones notes there’s no set catering menu, but instead, clients can meet and discuss what they want and have the food provided based on individual wants and needs for the specific event.
The inhouse menu is also quite varied, with Jones saying steaks, burgers, pasta and schnitzel ranking as the more popular items among the local clientele and the sockeye salmon and rainbow trout counted as hits among the tourists who visit.
“We also do a lot of gluten-free stuff, as well as vegan and vegetarian items, so we cater to a lot of different dietary needs.”
Anyone interested in trying out what Gateway Grill has to offer can check out the restaurant at 368 Eden Rd. or for catering services, call 250-674-8758.
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