When I was about fourteen years old my dad came home from work and he spontaneously asked me if I wanted to go to Ponderosa. We went to a Ponderosa Steakhouse close by and he bought me a nice steak salad and baked potato. That was my first steak dinner. I loved it.
Loved the Friday night dinners dad would take us to at bonanza. Going through the line and seeing those 16oz t-bones sizzling and flaming up. The laughter at the table with my parents and my sister. I was 7 or 8 then. I’m 45 years old now, thanks for the video I miss my simple childhood.
My mom worked at a ponderosa in Hagerstown Maryland used to eat there all the time I can still remember the way it smelled when you walked in there Those were the good old days
There are no steak houses that don't cost big$$ anymore, the smorgaboards around now let little kids pick over food and let ones not born here lick spoons then jam it back into the bowl,That makes me see red how far backwards America has became so power hungry CROOKS can retain power.
@@barbiecrocker7420 actually it's not coded at all. It's an unabashed expression of astonishing ignorance proclaimed by people who love to wallow in their own filth.
Indeed, was a not common treat to go with the family in the 70’s. Cafeteria style line, long heavy wooden tables where you sat adjacent to other people. I always got the chopped steak and loved it. Good memories for sure.
I worked at a Bonanza steakhouse in the 90’s. Food was decent, terrific salad and hot food bar which came with every dinner. A 5 1/2 ounce ribeye dinner was $6.99. That included baked potato, food bar and ice cream dessert from the freeze machine. An 8 ounce ribeye was $7.99 I believe. It was a family oriented restaurant that everyone enjoyed.
I worked in the mall with one and use to go back in the kitchen and watch them cook steaks. They would throw frozen steaks on a very hot grill and by the time the outside was cooked the inside was a perfect medium rare.
Ponderosa was the place we would go if dad was hungry for a steak and wanted to surprise mom.She would get so happy to have the night off and not make dinner.
I can remember salad dressing bottles being on the table and my poor dad grabbed a bottle of ranch and shook it. The problem was the lid was left loose on the bottle. Me and my sister were covered in ranch dressing. 😂
I remember eating at Ponderosa in the 70's, sometime they would give out sheriff badges. Thanks for sharing it brought back good memories of eating as a family after shopping. 😍
Bonanza was a treat for my family. We'd go out to eat on Friday night after dad got paid as a lineman from Appalachian Power Co. That was when they served good thick steaks and homemade buttered rolls.
I'd forgotten all the times we five kids looked forward to being taken to Ponderosa every few weeks as a treat. Very affordable place to fill up the kids' stomachs, give Dad a steak for dinner and give Mom a break from cooking. Nice memories - thanks for posting this!
Always loved Ponderosa. It was the first restaurant to offer free refills on soft drinks. That’s why we went there. Why did they fail? Just no family restaurants anymore . Very sad.
Used to eat at Ponderosa 2 or 3 times a week for lunch, always got there at opening before the grazers tore up the salad bar. The lady at the door always recommended the best cut of meat of the day, typically if it was on sale, pass on it. Normally got the chop steak, hard to go wrong there.
There are literally a few Ponderosa's left. The salad & dessert bar used to come with the steak, but at more recent visits, the steaks & salad bar are ALA CARTE! You can get, for example, a chopped steak dinner for $4.99, but it didn't include anything else. Maybe the fries...
i used to spend summers with my grandpa in marshalltown iowa. i cannot tell you the joy i had when gramps said we were going to bonanza. one of my childhood favs.
Yeah I remember eating at both restaurants in the 1970s along with Rustler steak house all served their steaks at a reasonable price with salad bar and potato side dish. They were good quality steaks cooked on an open flame grill. Now you can't get a reasonably priced steak dinner ...between $35.00 to $65.00 for a steak dinner these days. No thanks I'll cook my own at home on the grill.
Plus there’s a lot of gristle left on the steak after cooking. I usually purchase several London Broils, cut the fat off them, cut in two (I can only eat a pound or so @ a sitting) then freeze for future use.
Sizzler, Ponderosa, Bonanza, Golden Corral, Ryan’s, and several others - all about the same thing, all good values with many good memories. That was a bonus to learn that Hoss was who began the Bonanza adventure (in Connecticut??)!
I am a year late to this video but my memory is- I'm 51, when I was 1 year old my dad was a manager at Ponderosa. I still have the cowboy vest from his uniform. It was great to find this video. Thank you.
My first job in 1974 was at Bonanza Steak House in Northridge CA. Near C.S.U.N. I earned $1.65 per hour. Dan Blocker (Hoss) had lived down the street from me and Pernell Roberts lived a mile or so away near White Oak and Roscoe Blvd.I worked with and was friends with Jenilee Harrison ,Who had been Miss San Fernando Valley at Bonanza(she later replaced Suzanne Summers on Three's Company on T.V.)
It could not have helped the franchise that Dan Blocker died in the early 70s at a young age. With as much weight as he carried, you feared something like this might happen, I might be misremembering, but it seems Western Sizzlin' (aka The Sizzler) was the popular choice down in Texas.
I can still remember going to Ponderosa as a kid. The food was great. Much better than anything else we had in the area, which was mostly fast food joints. The building is still there. Pizza Hut bought the building and they closed not long after. I always wondered why Ponderosa in my area shut down, because it was always packed. I'd love to have one of their steaks right now! Thanks for the memories.
That's the thing that baffles me. All those places were always packed. It certainly seemed like they did good business. Maybe the steak got too expensive to sell that cheap?
I remember Bonanza from the late 60’s or early 70’s they would give us kids a cardboard gun that was a paper popper you swung it thru the air and a little piece sandwiched between the gun would fly out and make a pop sound and you folded the paper and did it again and again till the paper ripped which didn’t come soon enough for our parents.
Growing up in the 60s & 70s, my family loved going to Bonanza. It was the only place we could order "anything you want off the menu". Great value, and warm family memories. Everything today is hyper-price managed to extort the maximum amount of money from people, but in those days more investors were private owners and willing to get an adequate return.
My first job was at bonanza steakhouse in Asheville, NC which I started out as a dishwasher and ended up as a cook. I still look back on it as one of the best jobs of my life and today I miss these steakhouses.
Bonanza was our family's favourite steak house in 1960's NJ. Then in 1972 we moved to Ohio and were glad to find Ponderosa that was so similar. I loved the TV shows Bonanza and The Big Valley as a kid. My big felt play horse and cowboy dolls were among my favourite toys for years. I was very sad when Dan Blocker passed.
Oh my goodness!!! This took me back! I worked at Bonanza Sirloin Pit and the interior of the restaurant was identical. I remember cleaning those tables and wiping down chairs. I loved it and the FOOD was amazing!! 🐮🐮🐎🐴🐄
We went to Bonanza pretty often in the 70s and 80s - the food was good and reliable. The last Bonanza I knew about in the Houston-Galveston area was in Galveston on the seawall. I went there for lunch when I was working cases in Galveston in the 90s. They had a lunch special - steak, potato, salad, tea, and ice cream for about $6.
I remember the red carpet And the rich brown wooden tables, the smell of grilled steak and the star of the show: jello desserts sitting under the spotlights on that food bar. 😁❤️
Starting in the mid-70s, my family and I (4 kids, mom and dad) ate at Ponderosa EVERY single Friday night for years! My Dad would order his steak "almost burnt" LOL!! Great memories! Thanks for posting this great memory maker!
My Dad was notorious for eating it extra rare. The bloodied the better. They won't let you order rare in chain restaurants anymore. They're fearful of E coli. Like they had at Chipotle several years ago.
I grew up going to the Bonanza in Laurel, MS. My folks went there for birthdays and celebrations. It was always special and a big deal to go. I remember walking in, getting a tray with a number "tent" and walking past the flaming grill smelling all the steaks on the grill. The the food would come out on those steal plates with the metal bottom. It closed in the early 90's if I recall correctly and was demolished.
Bonanza was my High-School Job, in Erie Pa. I was a junior in 1976, started there as a dishwasher. If I recall, minimum wage at the time was like $2.25 or $2.50/hr. Eventually, I worked my way to the grill, cooking those steaks in front of everybody. Weekends were murderous. It was so busy, a cop was hired to stand in the street and direct traffic to help cars turn into the parking lot. The line was always outside the door, even in the dead of winter. This would go on for hours every Friday, Saturday and Sunday without fail. I can still picture all of this in my mind as well as many of the other young people I worked with. I made a lot of friends, and the restaurant was a great place to work at. It was a positive experience.
Ponderosa staff had adorable outfits complete with cowboy hats that needed to be washed and ironed daily. They offered a nice menu at reasonable prices. Many families would gather there. They treated employees well.
Yes!!! We had a Bonanza down the street in Northridge, CA. As a kid, we ate there all the time in the late 60's. I remember walking up to the counter and looking at photos from the TV show hanging on the wall. It was similar to Sizzler.
Brings back great memories! I remember being so little I would order the chopped steak, adding A-1 sauce and going to town. My Dad got a real kick out of that. I eventually grew to ordering "real man" steaks like T-bones. Great times.
I worked at the Bonanza Sirloin Pit in my hometown from when it opened in April 1974 until I went to college in August 1975, and then again from June to August 1976. If I heard that Mr. Sampson, the manager, was opening a restaurant where I live now (he'd be in his 90's), I'd go to work for him again in a heartbeat.
My friends and I would ask our moms for a dollar, so we could walk to the Ponderosa a few blocks from our street, we would get a coke and a buttered roll. Wow, I can still remember how good It tasted!!
I have many wonderful memories at Ponderosa steakhouses all the way from the last half of the 1970's into the beginning of the 21st century. So sad that they are gone!
We had a place called Partner's Steakhouse in Bellefontaine Ohio when I was a kid in the late 70s thru mid 80s. It was very much the same layout as Bonanza and Ponderosa and eventually became a Ponderosa in the early 90s. It was the first time I had grilled steak, A1 sauce and salad with French dressing and bacon bits. We didn't get to go too often but it was always a special treat!
I remember Bonanza. You'd go in, stand in a line, order your food, and get a number to put on your table. I always wanted the jello they had on display before you got to the checkout. Sometime in the late 80's, the Bonanza where I live became a Ponderosa.
@@captainamericaamerica8090 Ordering seafood at a chain steakhouse probably was unwise. You should have gone to Long John. Silver's or even better Arthur Treacher"a Fish & Chips.
My Dad was one of the original Bonanza franchise salesmen in 1962. I have early photos of Blocker and my Dad, and in the mid 1960s we had a Bonanza dinning room table, trays, dinner ware, glasses, ashtrays.... at our house.
I will always remember eating at a Ponderosa located in Moorestown New Jersey, right across the street from the Moorestown Mall, in the early 90's. It sat on a hill, diagonal to the mall. During the summer I would help my uncle install air conditioners for spending money. On Saturdays he'd head to the flea markets, and I'd join him. We'd go to lunch at Ponderosa, and then walk it off at the Mall. I truly miss those days!
I remember the colourful plastic pieces they put on your tray to identify your order. As a child that was soooo cooool. I also remember the Heinz 57 and HP bottles at the table as well as the brown plastic bowls for the salad that were supposed to look like wood. The metal slide and the rollers part (I think) that you put your trays on was also amazing to me as a kid. First time I'd ever seen such a thing.
I remember going to Ponderosa near where I grew up. I don't remember when it closed, but the last time I went there was in 2003 I think. As a kid in the 90s I remember there almost always being a line to get a table. I don't think we ever ordered off the menu, we just got the buffet.
I remember going to the Bonanza in Mesa (and really enjoying it) as a child in the early 80s, but I don't remember where in Mesa it was located. Where was the Bonanza that you worked at? Was there more than one Bonanza in Mesa?
Love the comments as much or more than the video here. We were so blessed to have grown up in that time. And..... yes I'm hungry now for some steak.....
Never went to one of these, but my first experience at a steak house was Sizzlers in about 1960. Very affordable at the time, with the old fashioned floors covered in sawdust like the old butcher shops. I loved the iceberg lettuce salad with the cherry tomato and blue cheese dressing. Lots of coarse ground black pepper. Somehow not the same.
I was just past that one in Riley. There were four huge dumpsters on the property and 7-10 pickup trucks with construction companies names on them. Not sure if they are remodeling or tearing it down. 😒
I remember both. But especially Bonanza in Tonowanda NY. Had a birthday party there with neighbors and some classmates when I was 4th grade I guess it was. It was a big deal back then for kids to have steak. I remember their claim strips being good too.
I was a grillman "cook" at ponderosa in the early "70's" as one of my HS part time jobs, full time during the summer months. One of the marketing ploys was not just the inexpensive stake dinners but served to you to your specifications just after ordering it. How this was achieved was all kinds of steaks on the grill at different stages of the cooking process...well, medium, and rare. People stood in a single file line and placed their order at the counter. By the time they received their salad and dressing their steak was ready...than they continued down the cafeteria style counter choosing drinks and dessert.
As a young couple just starting out the Ponderosa was the only full course steak dinner we could afford. It was early’80s and we had both graduated from college (without debt) and it was a treat to eat there maybe once a month.
There was a BONANZA ON Lomas Blvd or on Menaul in the 70's in Abq N.M....... It was always a fun experience, the place was clean and alot of windows..... And the old Lady who owned it had lots of commercials dressed in her cowgirl outfit..... What fabulous memories!..........
Another think I remember about Ponderosa was in early elementary school, you got a free kids meal there for having perfect attendance for the grading period
We used to go to Ponderosa in the 1970's in southern Indiana. I used to love it. In fact I was just checking out the location in Scottsburg, IN earlier today on Google maps. Thanks for posting this.
Bonanza in Collinsville, IL was a regular place for me and my family in the 70s. My Dad would take us all and I really miss those days of my family all being together and enjoying the evening. Miss you Dad and it hasn't been the same without you.
There was a cable cooking show in Indiana in the 80's. It was called Your Healthy Home Show. The guy was like 450 pounds. He would make healthy meals,that you knew he never ate, while talking about what he ate at Bonanza the night before.
@@packingten I wasn't criticizing him, I watched him every week. Unfortunately his weight caused him to have a massive fatal heart attack while very young. His videos are here on YT. Healthy Home Show pt 1. Ron Miller. Definitely a loveable guy.
I’m from Indianapolis I don’t remember that show. But we had lots of ponderosa , bonanza ,and sizzler they were all good and family’s could afford them. 😀
Dan Blocker died from a massive cardiac embolism when he was only 43. R.I.P. Hoss, Little Joe, Adam and Mr. Cartwright. One for all, all for one. They're all at The Big Ponderosa in the sky!
I remember Bonanzas commercials back in the 70s. Their slogan was "Come to Bonanza and come hungry". They were one of the first restaurants to offer free drink refills. "...and come thirsty" was added to the end of their slogan.
My folks were in their 40's before they ever ate dinner at a restaurant that wasn't Bonanza. When I started dating in HS I didn't know how to sit down and order from a menu!
We had some in Canada. Ponderosa was my favorite restaurant as a kid. My parents would often bring us there on our birthdays. It was perfect for families on a budget. There was the all-you-can eat salad bar and you could refill fountain drinks as many times as you wanted. On kids birthdays they would give us some cardboard cowboy hats! I loved the western theme of course and Bonanza was a family favorite tv show. Us kids usually had the burger. Sadly, all the Pondeosa restaurant are gone in Canada (as far as I know). They were bought and replaced by a chain of sea food places called Red Lobster
Wonder if there was one in the Lehigh Valley area. I watch a scrapper from Stockertown PA who found some chairs with big P's carved in them. Thought they were from the Ponderosa
I also used to go to a restaurant called Hoss's steakhouse in PA when I was in State College. Exact same concept -- reasonable price steak dinners with an awesome food/ dessert bar. I miss their steak sandwiches.
I was on a High School Cross Country running team in 1975 and 1976. For our away meets and after the event, our coach would take us to the Ponderosa Steakhouse and treat us to a steak dinner. It was a rare treat back then to get steak, so the team thought it was pretty awesome for our coach to do that. He was a really great guy! It's a good memory to look back on, for sure! Thanks for showing this. Really fun to remember!
Ponderosa was a weekly routine every Thursday for lunch in the early 80's. The steaks were huge and always perfectly cooked. I don't think any are left in the area, not since the early 90's now.
I love your channel, you are hitting all my favorite places that I went to as a kid with my family...I am up late watching as many of your videos as I can before getting sleepy. These are making me sad though. God bless you for reviving the memory of all these places.
When I worked at Winn Dixie in the mid 70's, my co-workers and I would walk to the Bonanza for lunch at least once a week. I remember finishing my steak and sopping up the steak sauce with the last of my Texas toast. I'd always walk back to work cheaply satisfied.
6362 International Drive! Loved this place so much, it was as much a part of the holiday as the theme parks were. I'm sure i read once that this was Ponderosa's most profitable location? Ibelieve there's still one on highway 192 near Disney World.
Loved Bonanza as a kid. We had one In Jersey City NJ on Rt 440 at the Hudson Mall back in the 70's. Loved the trey slide, always got Jello for dessert!!
Thanks. This clears up confusion about the two for me. I mainly remember bonanza, but later i saw the two names linked. I mainly recall going there in the very late 70s and very early 80s. I was yoo young to filly enjoy it, but I know i liked going there. I recall the long sliced bread, pudding and the salad bar.
Bloomington Ill. had both Bonanza and Ponderosa, when I was growing up. Both were good, so my family pick one for one Friday night, then go to the other a few weeks later.. What memories.
I remember Ponderosa here in Belleville Il back in the 70s....mom used to treat us once in a while..😅 But that was back when a Mister Donut was a few businesses down....😒 Take me back...😂😂😂
I lean toward Bonanza but I really liked both. None are here anymore but I sure wish either one would return. I remember good times and good food at both. A loss of these two resturants is a huge loss.
I think they may have been separate chains. I lived in the Gary area myself and there were a couple of abandoned restaurants named Ponderosa that looked completely different and even had thinner western font. They looked more like pit barbecue restaurants though, i could be wrong, i was just a kid. This was mid 70's. They had large glass windows, kind or drive in looking from what I remember.
When I was about fourteen years old my dad came home from work and he spontaneously asked me if I wanted to go to Ponderosa. We went to a Ponderosa Steakhouse close by and he bought me a nice steak salad and baked potato. That was my first steak dinner. I loved it.
Loved the Friday night dinners dad would take us to at bonanza. Going through the line and seeing those 16oz t-bones sizzling and flaming up. The laughter at the table with my parents and my sister. I was 7 or 8 then. I’m 45 years old now, thanks for the video I miss my simple childhood.
The smell of walking into the ponderosa as a kid is one I will never forget.
I still have (and use,daily) a steak knife I “acquired” from a Ponderosa when I was a kid in the mid-1970’s. Great place!
Happens. Very. Nice. Goodness.
Bonanza. Yes. Very. Steven. Hosea. Goodness. Nice
@@irvan36mm
Hey that's cool.
My mom worked at a ponderosa in Hagerstown Maryland used to eat there all the time I can still remember the way it smelled when you walked in there Those were the good old days
I loved Bonanza Steak House, we didn’t have much money growing up. It was a great treat for us to get to go my parents worked so hard.
There are no steak houses that don't cost big$$ anymore, the smorgaboards around now let little kids pick over food and let ones not born here lick spoons then jam it back into the bowl,That makes me see red how far backwards America has became so power hungry CROOKS can retain power.
@@packingten xenophobe
@MKY9 no she got it right. “Americans First” is code for white Trumpublican or Q
@@barbiecrocker7420 actually it's not coded at all.
It's an unabashed expression of astonishing ignorance proclaimed by people who love to wallow in their own filth.
Indeed, was a not common treat to go with the family in the 70’s. Cafeteria style line, long heavy wooden tables where you sat adjacent to other people. I always got the chopped steak and loved it. Good memories for sure.
I worked at a Bonanza steakhouse in the 90’s. Food was decent, terrific salad and hot food bar which came with every dinner. A 5 1/2 ounce ribeye dinner was $6.99. That included baked potato, food bar and ice cream dessert from the freeze machine. An 8 ounce ribeye was $7.99 I believe. It was a family oriented restaurant that everyone enjoyed.
Correct! Many went for the food bar!
Yes indeed.
What was the hot food bar.............
I worked in the mall with one and use to go back in the kitchen and watch them cook steaks. They would throw frozen steaks on a very hot grill and by the time the outside was cooked the inside was a perfect medium rare.
@@cartman4885 Vegetables,Mabe fried mushrooms,gravy,some hd hot seafood,shrimp..fries.hot food,Today cheaper restaurants food not hot,basically SLOP!.
Ponderosa was the place we would go if dad was hungry for a steak and wanted to surprise mom.She would get so happy to have the night off and not make dinner.
Rockin Russ ... exactly ! same w/ our Mom : )
yeah, my mom couldn't cook a steak either
It was a great time
@@jeremylarson6267 😂😂😂😂
I remember happy family times at Ponderosa, all of us together.
I can remember salad dressing bottles being on the table and my poor dad grabbed a bottle of ranch and shook it. The problem was the lid was left loose on the bottle. Me and my sister were covered in ranch dressing. 😂
I remember eating at Ponderosa in the 70's, sometime they would give out sheriff badges. Thanks for sharing it brought back good memories of eating as a family after shopping. 😍
Bonanza was a treat for my family. We'd go out to eat on Friday night after dad got paid as a lineman from Appalachian Power Co.
That was when they served good thick steaks and homemade buttered rolls.
Same here my friend, dads payday and family dinner at bonanzas
I forgot about the rolls they were tasty.
Us too but Pondarosa is were we went such a treat yummy🇨🇦😞😁👏
Forgot about rolls
We went to ponderosa 2 blocks from my house great food
I'd forgotten all the times we five kids looked forward to being taken to Ponderosa every few weeks as a treat. Very affordable place to fill up the kids' stomachs, give Dad a steak for dinner and give Mom a break from cooking. Nice memories - thanks for posting this!
Always loved Ponderosa. It was the first restaurant to offer free refills on soft drinks. That’s why we went there. Why did they fail? Just no family restaurants anymore . Very sad.
thats right , i remember going there and enjoying the free refills
Beef prices went through the roof.
They were also the first to have a salad bar
Used to eat at Ponderosa 2 or 3 times a week for lunch, always got there at opening before the grazers tore up the salad bar. The lady at the door always recommended the best cut of meat of the day, typically if it was on sale, pass on it. Normally got the chop steak, hard to go wrong there.
There are literally a few Ponderosa's left. The salad & dessert bar used to come with the steak, but at more recent visits, the steaks & salad bar are ALA CARTE! You can get, for example, a chopped steak dinner for $4.99, but it didn't include anything else. Maybe the fries...
i used to spend summers with my grandpa in marshalltown iowa. i cannot tell you the joy i had when gramps said we were going to bonanza. one of my childhood favs.
I have eaten there (Marshalltown)
The buffet there was the absolute best.
@@drumcorpsdrummer2141 i would go up there in the late 80s and early 90s and it was def there by then
Bittersweet memories. Thank you for this journey back to the "golden years".
Yeah I remember eating at both restaurants in the 1970s along with Rustler steak house all served their steaks at a reasonable price with salad bar and potato side dish. They were good quality steaks cooked on an open flame grill. Now you can't get a reasonably priced steak dinner ...between $35.00 to $65.00 for a steak dinner these days. No thanks I'll cook my own at home on the grill.
Plus there’s a lot of gristle left on the steak after cooking. I usually purchase several London Broils, cut the fat off them, cut in two (I can only eat a pound or so @ a sitting) then freeze for future use.
Forgot about Rustlers....
@@markthrasher6770 Sizzler too. They were around during the 1970s and 80s.
Ground Round at the Monmouth mall in Eatontown, NJ
We were so poor we ate air.
Sizzler, Ponderosa, Bonanza, Golden Corral, Ryan’s, and several others - all about the same thing, all good values with many good memories.
That was a bonus to learn that Hoss was who began the Bonanza adventure (in Connecticut??)!
We still have a Golden Corral in Marysville Washington, about 35 mi north of Seattle.
I am a year late to this video but my memory is- I'm 51, when I was 1 year old my dad was a manager at Ponderosa. I still have the cowboy vest from his uniform. It was great to find this video. Thank you.
My first job in 1974 was at Bonanza Steak House in Northridge CA. Near C.S.U.N. I earned $1.65 per hour. Dan Blocker (Hoss) had lived down the street from me and Pernell Roberts lived a mile or so away near White Oak and Roscoe Blvd.I worked with and was friends with Jenilee Harrison ,Who had been Miss San Fernando Valley at Bonanza(she later replaced Suzanne Summers on Three's Company on T.V.)
Jenlilee played on Dallas
It could not have helped the franchise that Dan Blocker died in the early 70s at a young age. With as much weight as he carried, you feared something like this might happen,
I might be misremembering, but it seems Western Sizzlin' (aka The Sizzler) was the popular choice down in Texas.
Cindy Snow
I can still remember going to Ponderosa as a kid. The food was great. Much better than anything else we had in the area, which was mostly fast food joints. The building is still there. Pizza Hut bought the building and they closed not long after. I always wondered why Ponderosa in my area shut down, because it was always packed. I'd love to have one of their steaks right now! Thanks for the memories.
That's the thing that baffles me. All those places were always packed. It certainly seemed like they did good business. Maybe the steak got too expensive to sell that cheap?
I remember Bonanza from the late 60’s or early 70’s they would give us kids a cardboard gun that was a paper popper you swung it thru the air and a little piece sandwiched between the gun would fly out and make a pop sound and you folded the paper and did it again and again till the paper ripped which didn’t come soon enough for our parents.
Growing up in the 60s & 70s, my family loved going to Bonanza. It was the only place we could order "anything you want off the menu". Great value, and warm family memories. Everything today is hyper-price managed to extort the maximum amount of money from people, but in those days more investors were private owners and willing to get an adequate return.
My first job was at bonanza steakhouse in Asheville, NC which I started out as a dishwasher and ended up as a cook. I still look back on it as one of the best jobs of my life and today I miss these steakhouses.
That’s the one we went to growing up!
Bonanza was our family's favourite steak house in 1960's NJ. Then in 1972 we moved to Ohio and were glad to find Ponderosa that was so similar. I loved the TV shows Bonanza and The Big Valley as a kid. My big felt play horse and cowboy dolls were among my favourite toys for years. I was very sad when Dan Blocker passed.
Oh my goodness!!! This took me back! I worked at Bonanza Sirloin Pit and the interior of the restaurant was identical. I remember cleaning those tables and wiping down chairs. I loved it and the FOOD was amazing!! 🐮🐮🐎🐴🐄
i miss Bonana. we used to have one in my hometown. i even worked there back in the 1990's. Best chopped sirloin steak ever!
We went to Bonanza pretty often in the 70s and 80s - the food was good and reliable. The last Bonanza I knew about in the Houston-Galveston area was in Galveston on the seawall. I went there for lunch when I was working cases in Galveston in the 90s. They had a lunch special - steak, potato, salad, tea, and ice cream for about $6.
I remember it too! There also used to be one in Houston on Long Point in the 1970s.
❤loved them both..😢missing those time's!
Other than fast food Bonanza was the first set down restaurant i been too. it was amazing i was 11 or 12 years old (1972)
I remember the red carpet And the rich brown wooden tables, the smell of grilled steak and the star of the show: jello desserts sitting under the spotlights on that food bar. 😁❤️
OMG the jello. I'd kinda forgotten those. Came in glass goblets that looked like glasses with stems only shorter and thicker.
Starting in the mid-70s, my family and I (4 kids, mom and dad) ate at Ponderosa EVERY single Friday night for years! My Dad would order his steak "almost burnt" LOL!! Great memories! Thanks for posting this great memory maker!
Sounds like my Dad too, I think he liked the jerky effect!! 😹
Love mine well well done too!🙋
My Dad was notorious for eating it extra rare. The bloodied the better. They won't let you order rare in chain restaurants anymore. They're fearful of E coli. Like they had at Chipotle several years ago.
I grew up going to the Bonanza in Laurel, MS. My folks went there for birthdays and celebrations. It was always special and a big deal to go. I remember walking in, getting a tray with a number "tent" and walking past the flaming grill smelling all the steaks on the grill. The the food would come out on those steal plates with the metal bottom. It closed in the early 90's if I recall correctly and was demolished.
As a kid, Bonanza was a rare treat on Sundays after church. I loved the salad bar and using that cheese slicer up there. Haha
SO IT WAS YOU WHO WAS CONSTANTLY CUTTING THE CHEESE.......A 21 BUN SALUTE TO YOU
@@harryballsacky hahahahaha..... cutting cheese... hahahahahahahahahaha
Bonanza was my High-School Job, in Erie Pa. I was a junior in 1976, started there as a dishwasher. If I recall, minimum wage at the time was like $2.25 or $2.50/hr. Eventually, I worked my way to the grill, cooking those steaks in front of everybody. Weekends were murderous. It was so busy, a cop was hired to stand in the street and direct traffic to help cars turn into the parking lot. The line was always outside the door, even in the dead of winter. This would go on for hours every Friday, Saturday and Sunday without fail. I can still picture all of this in my mind as well as many of the other young people I worked with. I made a lot of friends, and the restaurant was a great place to work at. It was a positive experience.
Ponderosa staff had adorable outfits complete with cowboy hats that needed to be washed and ironed daily. They offered a nice menu at reasonable prices. Many families would gather there. They treated employees well.
I was about to say ... doesn’t anybody remember their cowboy outfits ??? Lol
Yes!!! We had a Bonanza down the street in Northridge, CA. As a kid, we ate there all the time in the late 60's. I remember walking up to the counter and looking at photos from the TV show hanging on the wall. It was similar to Sizzler.
Cool
I remember Bonanza being somewhat better than Sizzler. Although I would take Sizzler over Outback.
Brings back great memories! I remember being so little I would order the chopped steak, adding A-1 sauce and going to town. My Dad got a real kick out of that. I eventually grew to ordering "real man" steaks like T-bones. Great times.
Oh wow I'd forgotten the A-1! Maybe I got it confused with HP or they had that also.
I worked at the Bonanza Sirloin Pit in my hometown from when it opened in April 1974 until I went to college in August 1975, and then again from June to August 1976. If I heard that Mr. Sampson, the manager, was opening a restaurant where I live now (he'd be in his 90's), I'd go to work for him again in a heartbeat.
My friends and I would ask our moms for a dollar, so we could walk to the Ponderosa a few blocks from our street, we would get a coke and a buttered roll. Wow, I can still remember how good It tasted!!
I forgot their buttered rolls, they were great.
those dinner rolls were exceptional! I worked there for a while, was hard to stay away from snatching one ... often.
We had Bonanza... good food! I still watch Bonanza on youtube 😀 thanks Recollection Road!
I have many wonderful memories at Ponderosa steakhouses all the way from the last half of the 1970's into the beginning of the 21st century. So sad that they are gone!
We had a place called Partner's Steakhouse in Bellefontaine Ohio when I was a kid in the late 70s thru mid 80s. It was very much the same layout as Bonanza and Ponderosa and eventually became a Ponderosa in the early 90s. It was the first time I had grilled steak, A1 sauce and salad with French dressing and bacon bits. We didn't get to go too often but it was always a special treat!
I remember Bonanza. You'd go in, stand in a line, order your food, and get a number to put on your table. I always wanted the jello they had on display before you got to the checkout. Sometime in the late 80's, the Bonanza where I live became a Ponderosa.
Ponderosa I worked there thru out my high school years 🤣 made some great friends and good memories
@@captainamericaamerica8090 Ordering seafood at a chain steakhouse probably was unwise. You should have gone to Long John. Silver's or even better Arthur Treacher"a Fish & Chips.
@@kevinmcdonald6477 or Red Lobster
My Dad was one of the original Bonanza franchise salesmen in 1962. I have early photos of Blocker and my Dad, and in the mid 1960s we had a Bonanza dinning room table, trays, dinner ware, glasses, ashtrays.... at our house.
I remember both of these as well as Sizzler
I am from the Ga/Tenn/Ala area, and Western Sizzlin' is the one i remember fondly.
i loved both of those! Wish they were still around.
I will always remember eating at a Ponderosa located in Moorestown New Jersey, right across the street from the Moorestown Mall, in the early 90's. It sat on a hill, diagonal to the mall. During the summer I would help my uncle install air conditioners for spending money. On Saturdays he'd head to the flea markets, and I'd join him. We'd go to lunch at Ponderosa, and then walk it off at the Mall. I truly miss those days!
I remember the colourful plastic pieces they put on your tray to identify your order. As a child that was soooo cooool. I also remember the Heinz 57 and HP bottles at the table as well as the brown plastic bowls for the salad that were supposed to look like wood. The metal slide and the rollers part (I think) that you put your trays on was also amazing to me as a kid. First time I'd ever seen such a thing.
I remember going to Ponderosa near where I grew up. I don't remember when it closed, but the last time I went there was in 2003 I think. As a kid in the 90s I remember there almost always being a line to get a table. I don't think we ever ordered off the menu, we just got the buffet.
I remember both of these. I also liked Rustler and York Steak House.
I worked at Bonanza in Mesa AZ. One of the funniest jobs I've ever had. Good times. I miss the people.
I remember going to the Bonanza in Mesa (and really enjoying it) as a child in the early 80s, but I don't remember where in Mesa it was located. Where was the Bonanza that you worked at? Was there more than one Bonanza in Mesa?
Me too in Bristol CT .. 1976
Were you compensated in higher hourly wages for the no-tipping policy? Or was this policy more common in restaraunt at the time?
Love the comments as much or more than the video here. We were so blessed to have grown up in that time. And..... yes I'm hungry now for some steak.....
I also remember eating at a Western Sizzlin Steakhouse in Victoria TX back in the 80s..
Mount Pleasant Texas here in northeast Texas used to have one
LaGrange Ga had a western sizzlin too.
Never went to one of these, but my first experience at a steak house was Sizzlers in about 1960. Very affordable at the time, with the old fashioned floors covered in sawdust like the old butcher shops. I loved the iceberg lettuce salad with the cherry tomato and blue cheese dressing. Lots of coarse ground black pepper. Somehow not the same.
I enjoyed eating at Bonanza and Ponderosa restaurants years ago.
I remember the dark heavy wood tables and benches we sat at and of course the delicious 😋 ribeye and baked potato those were the days 😋 👌
I loved Ponderosa as a kid. The only remaining one I've seen recently is off I-77 around Ripley WV
There is a Ponderosa that does a booming business still open in Moorefield WV......just ate there a couple of weeks ago.
You are so lucky and I'm a little jealous 😊
I was just past that one in Riley. There were four huge dumpsters on the property and 7-10 pickup trucks with construction companies names on them. Not sure if they are remodeling or tearing it down. 😒
Always smelled real good when you walked through the door... good times.
I remember both. But especially Bonanza in Tonowanda NY. Had a birthday party there with neighbors and some classmates when I was 4th grade I guess it was. It was a big deal back then for kids to have steak.
I remember their claim strips being good too.
Thank you!
I was a grillman "cook" at ponderosa in the early "70's" as one of my HS part time jobs, full time during the summer months.
One of the marketing ploys was not just the inexpensive stake dinners but served to you to your specifications just after ordering it.
How this was achieved was all kinds of steaks on the grill at different stages of the cooking process...well, medium, and rare.
People stood in a single file line and placed their order at the counter. By the time they received their salad and dressing their steak was ready...than they continued down the cafeteria style counter choosing drinks and dessert.
As a young couple just starting out the Ponderosa was the only full course steak dinner we could afford. It was early’80s and we had both graduated from college (without debt) and it was a treat to eat there maybe once a month.
There was a BONANZA ON Lomas Blvd or on Menaul in the 70's in Abq N.M....... It was always a fun experience, the place was clean and alot of windows..... And the old Lady who owned it had lots of commercials dressed in her cowgirl outfit..... What fabulous memories!..........
It was on Menaul. I have fond memories of it as well as a kid in the early 80s.
Another think I remember about Ponderosa was in early elementary school, you got a free kids meal there for having perfect attendance for the grading period
We used to go to Ponderosa in the 1970's in southern Indiana. I used to love it. In fact I was just checking out the location in Scottsburg, IN earlier today on Google maps. Thanks for posting this.
Still one in Goshen Indiana
Bonanza in Collinsville, IL was a regular place for me and my family in the 70s. My Dad would take us all and I really miss those days of my family all being together and enjoying the evening. Miss you Dad and it hasn't been the same without you.
There was a cable cooking show in Indiana in the 80's. It was called Your Healthy Home Show. The guy was like 450 pounds. He would make healthy meals,that you knew he never ate, while talking about what he ate at Bonanza the night before.
Everyone can't be as slim trim&perfect as you obviously are.
@@packingten
I wasn't criticizing him, I watched him every week. Unfortunately his weight caused him to have a massive fatal heart attack while very young. His videos are here on YT. Healthy Home Show pt 1. Ron Miller. Definitely a loveable guy.
I’m from Indianapolis I don’t remember that show. But we had lots of ponderosa , bonanza ,and sizzler they were all good and family’s could afford them. 😀
@@MG-sm6qu
Anderson Bonanza was a sponser on Rons show.
Dan Blocker died from a massive cardiac embolism when he was only 43. R.I.P. Hoss, Little Joe, Adam and Mr. Cartwright. One for all, all for one. They're all at The Big Ponderosa in the sky!
I remember Bonanzas commercials back in the 70s. Their slogan was "Come to Bonanza and come hungry". They were one of the first restaurants to offer free drink refills. "...and come thirsty" was added to the end of their slogan.
My folks were in their 40's before they ever ate dinner at a restaurant that wasn't Bonanza. When I started dating in HS I didn't know how to sit down and order from a menu!
I loved these places!
There used to be one of these in the 70s in my city. In 2012 it was demolished and to this day it's just an empty grass field
How sad 😟😟
We had some in Canada. Ponderosa was my favorite restaurant as a kid. My parents would often bring us there on our birthdays. It was perfect for families on a budget. There was the all-you-can eat salad bar and you could refill fountain drinks as many times as you wanted. On kids birthdays they would give us some cardboard cowboy hats! I loved the western theme of course and Bonanza was a family favorite tv show. Us kids usually had the burger. Sadly, all the Pondeosa restaurant are gone in Canada (as far as I know). They were bought and replaced by a chain of sea food places called Red Lobster
Born in '65. I remember Bonanza in Enfield, CT and Ponderosa in Wilson, CT.
Yes! The Bonanza in Enfield was where Home Depot is now I think. Loved the Texas Toast!
@@patricksmith928 That's the place. It's a TGI Fridays restaurant now.
Had 1 in Bristol CT , my 1st job in 76 was there Great memories
Ponderosa had a surprising reach. In the early 80s I remember having a Ponderosa restaurant not far from my home in Ontario, Canada.
I loved Ponderosa, sadly, it closed down in the mid 80s in my area of PA.
I remember going to the one in Uniontown.PA , I'd look out the window & see Chestnut Ridge.
The ponderosa in meadville Pennsylvania closed before the 90s were gone. Its Its now a Mexican themed restaurant.
Wonder if there was one in the Lehigh Valley area. I watch a scrapper from Stockertown PA who found some chairs with big P's carved in them. Thought they were from the Ponderosa
@@samanthab1923 the one near me was in Reading. I loved the buffet.
I also used to go to a restaurant called Hoss's steakhouse in PA when I was in State College. Exact same concept -- reasonable price steak dinners with an awesome food/ dessert bar. I miss their steak sandwiches.
I was on a High School Cross Country running team in 1975 and 1976. For our away meets and after the event, our coach would take us to the Ponderosa Steakhouse and treat us to a steak dinner. It was a rare treat back then to get steak, so the team thought it was pretty awesome for our coach to do that. He was a really great guy! It's a good memory to look back on, for sure! Thanks for showing this. Really fun to remember!
Ponderosa was a weekly routine every Thursday for lunch in the early 80's. The steaks were huge and always perfectly cooked. I don't think any are left in the area, not since the early 90's now.
❤️ those streak & baked potatoes restaurant
I love your channel, you are hitting all my favorite places that I went to as a kid with my family...I am up late watching as many of your videos as I can before getting sleepy. These are making me sad though. God bless you for reviving the memory of all these places.
Smoking a bowl and watching Recollection Road does wonders for my anxiety...thx, Hoss
It was a HUGE family treat if we got to go to either one of these, a once or twice a year thing. Delicious food and great memories!
During my childhood in the 70's living in Georgia i remember the bonanza steakhouse and it was delicious
When I worked at Winn Dixie in the mid 70's, my co-workers and I would walk to the Bonanza for lunch at least once a week. I remember finishing my steak and sopping up the steak sauce with the last of my Texas toast. I'd always walk back to work cheaply satisfied.
I'm 55 and remember the steak, baked potato, and those spicy western beans you could have swore were the same beans John Wayne ate in his westerns!
I think they may have been the beans from Blazing Saddles!
6362 International Drive! Loved this place so much, it was as much a part of the holiday as the theme parks were. I'm sure i read once that this was Ponderosa's most profitable location? Ibelieve there's still one on highway 192 near Disney World.
The all you can eat salad bar!Oh,and how the steak had a wooden platter under the metal steak plate,and the large rustic wooden handled steak knife
Loved Bonanza as a kid. We had one In Jersey City NJ on Rt 440 at the Hudson Mall back in the 70's. Loved the trey slide, always got Jello for dessert!!
Thanks. This clears up confusion about the two for me. I mainly remember bonanza, but later i saw the two names linked. I mainly recall going there in the very late 70s and very early 80s. I was yoo young to filly enjoy it, but I know i liked going there. I recall the long sliced bread, pudding and the salad bar.
This brought back memories when I was a kid, going to both of these. I remember liking both. Funny, I didn't notice that they went away.. 🤔
When I would fly into Denver..I would go eat lunch at Bonanza ...Great food
@Randall Johnson sounded like a lot of fun...When did they take out Mr Steak?
@Randall Johnson You and your friends may have helped put Mr. Steak out of business! LOL!
@Randall Johnson you still pothead?
Bloomington Ill. had both Bonanza and Ponderosa, when I was growing up.
Both were good, so my family pick one for one Friday night, then go to the other a few weeks later..
What memories.
The Ground Round!
Yes I loved that place 🤔
The next video should be on Ground Round! LOVED that place!!
That's what we had
Miss me some bonanza steak house, the good’ol days
I ate twice at Bonanza in Pasadena, Texas. The food was ok. It's now a Pawn shop.
@@allen_p yes it was
We had one in our area in the 1970s. This was a good value restaurant. A steak, Potato and salad for about 3.99.
We used to skip class in high school to eat at bonanza...steak baked potato,salad,pop and mushrooms..in 1971 I think it was like 2.99..
I remember the ponderosa in Athens Georgia on a Georgia home game( college football town) the line was about a block long to get a parking space
I love going for the Sunday breakfast buffet. This brings back some memories from when I was a kid growing up in western New York.
I remember Ponderosa here in Belleville Il back in the 70s....mom used to treat us once in a while..😅 But that was back when a Mister Donut was a few businesses down....😒 Take me back...😂😂😂
I lean toward Bonanza but I really liked both. None are here anymore but I sure wish either one would return. I remember good times and good food at both. A loss of these two resturants is a huge loss.
I believe Ponderosa was founded in Kokomo Indiana prior to 1972. I lived there after that. That store was one of the early ones to close.
I think they may have been separate chains. I lived in the Gary area myself and there were a couple of abandoned restaurants named Ponderosa that looked completely different and even had thinner western font. They looked more like pit barbecue restaurants though, i could be wrong, i was just a kid. This was mid 70's. They had large glass windows, kind or drive in looking from what I remember.
It was founded in Kokomo for sure by Dan Lasater, Norm Wiese on south Plate street
I like how you fade the music in and out when you talk rather than talking over the full loudness of the music
We had a Ponderosa loved it!😊😋💕