Ponderosa — Local services in Hillsboro

Definite five star review just because they have great food, great service and they're open and still a ponderosa for me to go to. All of the ponderosas in my area have shut down over the decades and I have known about this one for a number of years but I just never really get to Hillsboro so I've never tried it. It is the closest one to my home distance wise at 52 mi away. The next closest one is 72 miles away but both locations are the exact same amount of time from me because of the roads involved with each location. I ate at the Columbus Ohio location which is my regular go to that I hopefully get to go to at least twice a year and I ate there last Thursday so I decided to try the Hillsboro location today. It did not disappoint as the staff was very nice and the place was very clean. The two employees that I had interactions with were both very nice and pleasant. One was my server Christopher and he was seemingly genuinely happy to be at work and getting my many, many refills. I will say I enjoy Columbus a little bit more because they have a larger selection of food. The salad bar definitely does not have the traditional ponderosa selection or that of Columbus and neither location has the traditional ranch dressing that ponderosa was known for that was delicious but I guess that's just a thing of the past. Hillsboro did not have any ham on the salad bar or several other selections like chickpeas or beets that Columbus typically does. Also the desserts are quite pale in comparison to columbus. Sure, Hillsboro has a huge amount of desserts for a restaurant but if you can pair it to the three or four selections of pie that is absolutely delicious at the Columbus ponderosa it makes you longing for that peanut butter pie. I had two pieces last week for dessert at columbus. There is no pie in Hillsboro but several cobblers cookies brownies and plenty for the normal person. I am not normal. I grew up in ponderosa's being the first restaurant and steakhouse I ever ate at as a baby. I crave the flavor of the chop steak and luckily both locations still have the same taste and seasoning that they've always had. I will continue to go to both locations as long as they're open but I will probably frequent Columbus a little bit more still because I do enjoy the greater selections at that location. But overall I must praise Hillsboro for a great job and give them a great big thank you for being there and continuing to do such...

Visited this Ponderosa on Memorial Day 2023 at around 6:15pm. We had never been here and didn't know what exactly to expect. You can pick an entree, the buffet or both. I am posting pictures of the pricing because I had a hard time finding that info. I had the steak tips and baked potato with the buffet and my friend had the sirloin with shrimp and onion rings and the buffet. The buffet was pretty low when we first arrived but was being filled on a regular basis and just as we were leaving it was fully stocked again (see pic). The food on the buffet was good- meatloaf, fried chicken, Nuggets, mashed potatos, cheese and broccoli rice, some fantastic BBQ beans and a ton of other various things and it was all hot. I have to call out the ground beef for the nachos though....it was so dried out I thought it was bacon bits! See the picture Lol...other than that, the hot buffet was perfect. The salad bar is very well stocked and has everything you need for a perfect salad. The desserts were warm cobblers (so good!) Apple pie and various cakes and cookies along with a soft serve ice cream machine. Our entrees came out hot with good portion sizes and were very tasty. My friend said the shrimp was especially good. I will say the next time we go back we will chose the buffet or the entree, not both....we were both STUFFED for the rest of the night. Our server was Jessica and she was absolutely ON IT! She was the only server I saw so I believe she was the only one in our large section full of people. We never waited for a drink refill or to have our empty plates taken and she checked on us many times and was very friendly. One negative I will mention is the younger girl at the front door ringing people up- this person is the first face you see upon entering the restaurant- she had a face like thunder, acted like we were bothering her, was pretty mean and nasty. To lighten things up I asked how her day was going, said thank you, etc and she ignored us other than to give us the receipt to sign. She wasn't someone I would put out there as the first interaction with guests. Other than the cashier, we enjoyed it overall and plan to go back. If you haven't been, go...

It was Memorial Day weekend and my wife and I came down for supper with our grandson. My wife did the ordering and asked for a buffet for her and a kid's buffet. She then told the girl I was a senior (am 63) , a little sign said senior rate was 62 an above. The girl at the counter seemed overloaded with information and I don't know why. It was busy but not as busy as one would expect for a holiday weekend. She asked us what we wanted for drinks, and then if we wanted a table or booth, my wife said " a booth". I thought there would be a pause where the girl would ask me what I wanted to order because I wanted a steak but instead she rings up the meal and says _ dollars and I give her my credit card, she gave me my receipt and a server girl says follow me {to our booth} and I am like {??????}. So we go to our table and I look at the receipt and she had charged for 2 adult buffets and the kids buffet. We called the server girl back and told he i didn't want a buffet so she the receipt back and refunded the money for one buffet. I did not say anything else because I was feeling kind of stunned and it killed my appetite anyway. My wife got some soup that appeared to be potato soup and she said it tasted funny. She said a lot of the food looked dry and needed changed out. Because of that and the fact I never got a meal I can only give one star for the food. The server never asked us how the food was or if we needed anything or refills on drinks. This was the second time I went to this Ponderosa and both times it was disappointing. We won't...