Ponderosa

One of the worst resteraunts I gave been to in many years. Very poor quality of food. Very small buffet. Salad bar had brown lettuce. For the low quality of food the price was on the high side too.
As others have mentioned, hard to believe they are still in business at this location considering much better resteraunts and buffets right next door.
The only good thing was our waitress was very friendly.
If you want to go to a buffet in this area go to Ryan’s about 300 feet away.

Always against my better judgement I come here. Yes, I love a buffet, but I should have known better than stopping at Pond-​a-​grossa.
I am surprised that this one is surviving, especially with other chain buffet places nearby that offer more bang for your buck. Compared to other buffet places this one is small. The best part about the buffet is their salad bar. There are lots of options to top your salad and tons of dressing to choose from. As for the hot food, meh. I have definitely had better. For the price I paid I expected that the food would blow me away, was I wrong.
The staff here is somewhat ambivalent. As if they could care less if you are having a good experience or not while dining here. A majority of them seem to only be there for a paycheck.

The food was typical for a cheap buffet. The food was an acceptable quality and tasted OK, and the bill was a good deal. If you are looking for a place where you can eat a lot of food for a small price, then this is a good place for you.

Back in the mid-​80s, there were a couple of steakhouse chains in BC which seemed to fare better in smaller towns than in big cities. Named «Bonanza» and «Ponderosa», they featured steaks (or «chicken Monterey») plus a nice salad bar for a pretty reasonable price. I loved them both. But then they disappeared. I figured that they had shut down, and mourned their loss.
Then, when I happened to be in Johnstown and was looking for a place to eat, I happened to see «Ponderosa Steakhouse» among the available options. Could it be? It IS! Ponderosa is still around, just not in Canada anymore. (And, it turns out, they merged with Bonanza, so whichever you happen to find, you’ll get the same thing.)
The first thing that struck me heading in the door was that the term «salad bar» has been replaced by «buffet». I thought they were just getting snooty, but it turns out that the name is justified. The buffet isn’t just a salad bar with a few extra bells and whistles, but a whole new creature. Oh, the salad bar is still there, and much larger than I remember it, but it’s been joined by a truly impressive dessert bar, a separate bar to refill your drinks, and a hot side with items like chicken wings, corn on the cob, biscuits, and vegetables (although not a lot of the latter). Now, even if you’re a carnivore, you can skip the steak, get the buffet, and still walk away satisfied.
You place your order and pay when you come in, and then get slips of paper with your drink orders and steak, chicken Monterey, or shrimp order (if you placed one), and sit wherever you like. There aren’t waiters as such (since you’ve already ordered before you sit down), but you’ll be assigned a «server» who brings you your drinks, and a runner will bring out your grill order when it’s ready. When you pay, if you submit a credit card (or, presumably, a debit card), the cashier will ask you if you want cash back to tip your server with. Unlike most places, they won’t just add your tip to your card and pay your server directly. Tipping is cash only. I would suggest making sure that you have enough cash for a generous tip, just in case you get an excellent server like Joe, who did an excellent job for us, offering to refill our drinks, bringing extra napkins, and generally taking care of us in a way I would only expect in a much pricier joint.
Which brings me to the next thing that hit me when I came in the door. The prices just floored me. It’s been years since the prices in a restaurant have been a PLEASANT surprise. We had a very nice sit-​down meal at a cost which was comparable to what we’ve paid in some fast food joints.
Oh, yeah. The food. I had to pass on the steak, so I got the chicken Monterey. I learned, once I saw the hot side of the buffet, that I could have saved $ 2.55 by skipping the chicken and baked potato, but they were good enough that I couldn’t regret paying a little extra for them, and, wonder of wonders, the baked potato came with only sour cream, as I requested, and not with the exta pats of butter or margarine which most places insist on giving you, «just in case you want them». Everything I tried (except for the mixed vegetables, which appeared to have been hit by a disintegration ray) was good, although to be honest, if I had tried even a mouthful of everything on offer, I probably would have ruptured something, so I supposed it’s possible that there was something nasty on offer which I didn’t happen to pick. I was particularly impressed that the dessert bar offered a pretty good selection of plain old fruit, and at least three other dessert offerings with no added sugar.
I was also impressed with the variety. It’s certainly possible (not to mention tempting) to overdose on meats and carbs, and equally possible to go entirely vegetarian. As long as you exercise a little common sense, it’s not hard to put together a plate which is healthy, tasty, and filling.
Oh, yeah. Nice décor (if, like me, you are into wood grain), and clean bathrooms, too.
It feels a little weird to give 5 stars to a place which charges so little, but aside from those mixed veggies, there was nothing about this place I didn’t like, so why not?

I’m not one to write negative reviews, because I understand how they can negatively effect a business. But after my horrible dining experience at Ponderosa this morning, I cannot refrain.
The food was horrible. Absolutely inedible… no exaggeration. We all had the $ 5.99 Saturday Breakfast Buffet, and what they tried to pass off as food was appalling. The «donut holes» were hard as rocks, the bottoms of the blueberry muffins were burnt, the bacon, similarly, was burn, and crushed into little pieces (looked like bacon bits rather than strips…) and I didn’t even dare touch the French Toast. it was black on the outside, cut in triangles… I thought they were breakfast potatoes when I first looked at them. The waitress saw two of the three of us had less than two bites… but didn’t ask if anything was wrong, or offer to take us off the bill. For $ 20…it wasn’t worth complaining, I just wanted to leave.
Do yourself a favor and avoid this place lake the plague. Harrigan’s in Johnstown has a good breakfast buffet for just a few dollars more, and there’s always Dunkin Donuts over the hill if you’re on a tight budget. But no one should have to eat this «food» (for lack of a better word).

It is almost hard to believe, but at least this location has appeared to have gone downhill. The fried chicken, once one of the more tasty and edible options, was inedible on our last visit.
Since coming here is a family affair, it probably will have to get even worse still, before Ponderosa falls out of rotation. Or maybe someone will just have to get violently ill.
It doesn’t matter to me. Just as long as it happens soon.

I would rather eat dog food than this slop. This is the worst, most disgusting crap I have ever tasted, and I repeat tasted, because I could not swallow it.

Well, if you’re financially in a place where you can only afford to eat once a day, you can go to their lunch buffet and make it worth your while?