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| - I lived in Champaign over 10 years before I finally tried this place last month for the first time. I had this "Ponderosa Steakhouse" impression of it for some reason and imagined it filled to the brim with rude, tobacco juice-spewing cowboys. However, the group I went out with wanted to go, so I thought I would try it. I was pleasantly surprised.
First, the place was packed and very, very loud. The floor was covered in peanut shells--perfect for my 6-year old who found it thrilling to be able to purposely throw food on the floor. Score one for appealing to kids. Then, the rolls came. Mmmmmmm. They were heavenly: warm, buttered, with a side of cinnamon butter to go with it. So delicious on a cold day.
The kid's menu was awesome. My daughter got the ribs, which were the same size as the half-rack I ordered. Can you say "delicious"? There are very few times in my life that I've had ribs that fall off the bone and taste the way these did (and I'm a midwest native.) We ate every bite and were stuffed! My husband got the full rack and it was a challenge, but he loved it. Our friends ordered the sweet potato with the marshmallow topping for their side. It was huge! That is too sweet for me, but if you like that kind of thing they said it was wonderful.
I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 for the noise level. People (even some servers) were singing very loudly to the country music playing over the speakers. The birthday we witnessed was obnoxious. We could hardly hear to have a conversation at our table. However, the food was so good that we were occupied stuffing our faces anyway--so I can forgive the noise.
Maybe I'll order take-out next time....since there WILL be a next time.
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