Ponderosa Steakhouse

I must admit that we frequent this Ponderosa more than we should, however it's the good food and service that keeps bringing us back.  It's probably the best Ponderosa that I've ever been to and I've been going to various locations for a long time (anyone remember the early '80s).  The place is always clean and friendly.  They are also an award winning location having a wall of plaques to prove it.  You can tell the manager takes pride in his franchise here.  We'll keep coming back as long as the quality of the food and service continues to be great.

Ponderosa, how I have missed you.  I dont' care if people refer to you as "Ponde-GROSS-A", I will always hold a special place for you in my heart.

A co-worker and I checked out Ponderosa for lunch today.  I have been craving their chicken wings for a while now, and I decided to give into that craving today.  

AMBIENCE- ok, who would have guessed a Ponderosa would be packed on a Thursday lunch?  This place probably accomodated about 100-150 people or so, and there didn't seem to be that many open tables when we went.  WOW.  Outside of that, pretty clean, nothing flashy by any means.  It's pretty much what you'd imagine any American buffet to look like.

SERVICE- Our server (Sally) was prompt with our drinks as well as clearing out our dishes.  Not very engaging, I guess there isn't too much of a reason when it is a buffet.  Plus for as busy as it was, I don't really blame her.

MENU- so to add a buffet to any entree, it's about $2.  What I love about Ponderosa (that grosses many others out) is that you can cut their steaks with a fork, plus they drench them in butter.  Not the highest quality steak by any means, to further illustrate this, Thursday happened to be all you can steak day for $12.99.  You could also get all you can eat shrimp for $12.99, or both all you can eat steak and shrimp for $12.99.  Yeah, it's like that.

FOOD- So Ponderosa doesn't have near the amount of selection as bigger buffets such as your Old Country Buffet, Ryan's, or Golden Corral.  They basically have a salad portion, hot entrees, a "country" section, and dessert.  This didn't matter to me, as all I was really interested in was their chicken wings.  Seriously, if they just had chicken wings and rice, I would think the buffet was solid.

Their other food as you might imagine is just ok.  They had meat loaf, salisbury steak, meatballs, mac n cheese, fried chicken, etc.... all your typical American buffet staples.  I did like their dessert bar as they had dirt pudding and an ok bread pudding (my co-worker seemed unimpressed with the bread pudding).  Again, nothing to write home about.

OVERALL- on the chicken wings alone, I would say check it out.  I get a bit nostalgic when I have them, as it takes me back to the early 90's and the many MANY graduation parties that used to serve them.  But where else can you add a chopped steak to your buffet, for just a $1.  

Celebrity Rating- Jean Claude Van Damme (his early years)