Ponderosa — Restaurant in Columbus

This was a (past time!) favorite. When I still lived in Columbus my children and I would come about once a month the variety the buffet offered for kids and for me the chicken liver & onions, chicken wings, and a favorite for all the desserts. THAT being said we now live a hour away so when we visited Ponderosa on south High St Sunday 4/29/25 5:08 pm I left not only disappointed but hungry too! The parking lot was unusually empty as was the dinning room & I know why! My excitement quickly ended up on entering.Our party included 2 adults and one child for the buffet $48.86. Idk, how else to explain the uncleanness of the inside it just was as though people stopped caring. My first mistake was overlooking the cleanliness of the restaurant and proceeding as to expect the food to be better, as good as it had been when we last frequented (2016 ish) Big mistake HUGE MISTAKE! SEE The few photos I thought to capture before leaving. Upon starting at the hot food end of Buffettone of two items I loved to eat Liver & onions was unrecognizable it appeared to be burnt and old in fact all of the food upon seeing even daring to try some of it, tasted as though it had say under the heat lamps for days! It was beyond terrible it was inedible ! When the our server asked how everything was I was honest and said idk if it's the cook and or the food is old but the liver and onions were extremely old hard and burnt the chicken wings didn't taste like anything and hard old without any flavor that I then tried other items on the buffets as did my child NOTHING was edible. She explains that they changed the chicken recipe and can get the original chicken wings via takeout 10 for $14.99 I explained we had already spent almost $50 and we're going to have to leave drive an hour home and get something else to eat. The server also explained how slow they had been that day and that the food was the same food that had been but out that morning & that they wouldn't make new food to put out and throw out the food that was still there due to business being slow that would be wasting food. I said that explained somewhat how bad all the food was. She also mentioned they were under new ownership & again apologized but did not offer any substitute or resolution. I at some point had to refill my son's drink myself . By this time we were all ready to go, hungry irritated and disappointed. On my way out I decided to ask for the owner or GM's contact information before host you can tell she was new had no idea what to do she ran back and forth each time I asked which was numerous times each time with a rebuttal from her manager yet the manager never appeared. Repeatedly asking for contact information I asked them just for a name that I would find their contact information myself I was told to wait that the manager was busy cooking I explained we were all still hungry and had an hour drive home and then she came back with a generic Yahoo address. *I DO NOT NOT RECOMMEND THIS IS NOT THE PONDEROSA YOU ONCE KNEW AND LOVED!!! Under new ownership that has cut as many corners as possible and it shows from the old tasteless terrible food to the ducktape holding the carpet down ,!!! Will try and...

Ponderosa is one of my number one choices in Columbus Ohio of restaurants to go to. The food is always fresh, always hot, always delicious and a large variety of different foods. As well as offering a menu that you can order other items off of such as hamburgers and steaks. It including specialty items. It is handicap accessible as well as the restrooms are handicapped accessible. There is more than ample parking in the restaurant parking lot as well as the adjacent parking lot at the strip mall area which is just a walk away. Perfect for people driving large vehicles such as semis RVs box trucks or any other type of work trucks. There is also a changing table in the restroom. There is a dessert area that boast sugar-free items as well as non-sugar-free items, a pie case filled with lots of delicious meringue & cream pies, cookies including no bake cookies, cakes & pies of various kinds including cheese cakes, brownies and the very highlight of the area is the soft serve ice cream machine which is filled and cleaned daily. The Hot bar boast at least three different kinds of chicken wings daily, fried chicken, baked chicken, two different kinds of mashed potatoes, two to three different kinds of gravy, stuffing or dressing, chicken livers, a soup of the day with two different types of crackers, pizza fresh throughout the day, rolls & cornbread muffins, soup beans, chicken noodles, meatloaf, ham, meatballs, BBQ pulled pork, cabbage, fish, turkey & sweet potatoes "only on the weekends, Sunday I believe", Don't forget Taco Tuesday, they also have a pasta day, pot roast, corn, carrots, green beans and on top of all of that they have a cold bar which offers a variety of salad dressings, oil & vinegar, as well as a mixed lettuce or lettuce variety salad, they also have potato salad, macaroni salad, seafood salad and pasta salad as well as a variety of toppings for your salad including diced boiled eggs, diced ham, cherry tomatoes, onions, peppers, broccoli, croutons, seeds and shredded cheese. They offer a senior buffet, children's buffet and an adult buffet. They have both lunch and dinner buffet prices. They offer a wide variety of drinks but just don't expect any alcoholic beverages. You can also order ahead or come in for carryout and order or pick out your own food by the pound. Order box Load's of chicken wings to go for your next part. Having said all this I know send but this is one of my top number one recommendations in Columbus Ohio. The staff are extremely friendly and helpful. I look forward to going back to this location time and time again with my family. So if you happen to be in Columbus in Ohio or just passing through Ohio and anywhere near 23 South be sure to stop by Ponderosa Tell them that Cheryl and...

Stopped in here because...well, nostalgia. Haven't been to one of these since I was a kid. After reading other reviews, wasn't expecting much, but it was a decent experience.

Lunch buffet is currently $10.89 plus 7.5 percent tax on top of it. So total was $11.71. Dinner buffet is $13.49. Looks like the buffet is no longer included when you buy an entrée, but is $5 on top of the cost of the entrée. When you go up to the buffet, it's self serve but you must sanitize your hands and they have disposable gloves for you to wear. The place was pretty clean and the workers were wiping down the counters on the buffet.

Service was really good. The hostess and my server both called me "hun" - not in a condescending way, but just because that's the way they seem to talk. They were both quite kind. Server was attentive and checked frequently with me, asking if I needed any sauces or even a cup of coffee.

Food is good enough. Mashed potatoes tasted a bit like instant, not a fan. I suppose most people would say the food is quite salty, but I actually like my food salty so I was okay with it.

Overall, don't expect five star dining, but this place is great if you're looking for a simple spot to stuff yourself and/or try a lot of different American type foods. Fried chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, mac and cheese, meatloaf, fried fish, green beans, a salad bar, and dessert bar - among other things. It's a buffet, so typically quantity over quality.

I left a 2 dollar tip on top of the $11.71 it cost for lunch. That's about 14 dollars for lunch, which is a little pricey for me (at least if I was to do it regularly). I'd do it every once in a while though, when the...