Ponderosa Steakhouse — Restaurant in Coldwater

Went in for dinner with the family, The kid at the front was extremely nice, But very new and green, I don't think he should have been left alone at that point but not for me to say. We both wanted steak so we ordered steak (which comes with the buffet) we sit down and it took our waitress about 10 minutes to take our drink slip to get our drinks (NO FAULT OF HERS, she was running non stop trying to cover what looked like multiple sections on her own) 10 minutes later we grabbed some food from the buffet to snack while we waited for our meals and to feed the baby, There was hardly any food on the buffet, and what was there was cold, and had clearly been there for a while.. 45 minutes later we ask for the manager and tell her the buffet food is cold and we were still waiting for our steaks. She apologized and when to find our food, She was gone for a total of 2 minutes which told me our food was done, Plated and sitting back there somewhere waiting. (i was right it was cold and under cooked) She apologized again and offered us our money back and would have allowed us to take our food too. This restaurant recently closed and changed owners and i had very high hopes they would come back better then ever. I try very hard to avoid writing negative reviews, Especially right now because everyone is still feeling the effects of the pandemic. We left and tipped our waitress and explained we knew it wasn't her fault but it was beyond what we would tolerate, She broke down crying thanking us for understanding. This review gets 2 stars, Not for the restaurant but because the manager was both friendly and seemed genuinely concerned with making us happy after a bad experience and our waitress who was awesome given everything she had on her plate and still smiled and was friendly and seemed genuine ( you could see the pain, frustration) overwhelmed feeling in her face when she didn't know you were looking.

We may give this place one more try because everyone (businesses included) have off days... But it will be very much a make it or break it situation if...

I hadn't been to a Ponderosa since I was a kid and my husband never had so we decided to try it out today. Think of nearly every horrible thing you could say about an eating establishment and I could apply them to this visit. The prices are unrealistic for what they have, the place was dirty and in disrepair, the service was almost completely nonexistent and the food was lackluster.

Lets start with the food, since it is central to a restaurants appeal. The food offered on the buffet could be described as Thanksgiving dinner for the poor plus a few random bits and pieces. Canned corn, green beans and baked beans next to clearly boxed mashed potatoes and mix based gravy was complemented with stale stuffing, frozen tasting meatballs and questionable meatloaf. The salad bar was lacking anything unique and the "taco bar" was old greasy meat with canned drying cheese. My husband's steak was three different levels of done and so fatty it was not even half its advertised weight in edible food.

The restaurant itself was clearly old and in need of repair as well as a very through clean. The bathroom had a chunk of wall missing for gods sake. The tables were chipped and the floors stuck to your shoes no matter where you walked.

The server that was assigned to us was at least moderately nice but didn't come to take plates or see if we needed refills until almost the end of our time there.

Our bill of $48 ($14 per buffet, $3 drinks, $7 for my husbands steak upcharge, and $7 tip) was not worth the tiny bit of edible food we actually put in ourselves from this place.

I tried a tiny portion of almost everything in the place but ended up eating mostly generic salad to fill myself after being so disappointed in what I tried. No wonder my family stopped eating at Ponderosa nearly...

I was super excited to come enjoy lunch here with my family. I made the wrong decision. To start things off, we got our food from the buffet and still had nothing to drink when we were finished with our first plate. Now, I have many years working as a waitress. Mind you, 3 wait staff were standing around talking with each other, while we sat trying to get someone, anyone's attention so we could just have something to drink!?!? We paid nearly $100 for 3 people, so a drink should not be a tall ask. We finally did get a our drinks maybe 10 minutes after we had all finished our meal. We were able to eat some more food. I was appalled and disgusted when I got a piece of fried fish and there was a tiny curly hair on my fish. I wanted to just leave then and there. Still, no one came to the table. We sat and waited and finally we asked some random waitress for a box. She said of course very politely. I thought, finally, we can just be done with this nightmare and leave, but no she walked past us 4 more times, no box in hand. I finally had to bring my plate up to be treated rudely and as if I was just being too much!? I just wanted a box and the restaraunt was nowhere near being busy. I am going to be sure to inform all my family, friends and coworkers about this terrible experience. Nobody should be treated this way or have to go through this. If you have any self respect and appreciation for good food then I would highly recommend staying away from Coldwater...