Re: Ponderosa
That place was a staple of my childhood back in the 1990s. Our family usually stopped at the one in Olean, NY during shopping trips (usually to K-Mart, to speak of moribund brands) to eat at the buffet. I remember eating steak at the one in Bath, NY on another trip—it was pretty good...
...although with a caveat: I did stop into the Olean Ponderosa a few weeks before it unexpectedly shut down last year. The food was exactly as I remembered it, but more expensive and not particularly good. But hey, when you are a kid, I guess you're not that picky.