Ponderosa used to be the best restaurant in Beaver Dam, especially the buffet. However, it's recently been going down hill and the new renovations to the restaurant haven't done much to improve it.
The only real draw to Ponderosa is the buffet, which is only one of two (the other being a Chinese restaurant) in town. But, the price of the buffet has gone up recently ($8.95, not including the drink) and there really isn't much on it. When we went on Tuesday, for a meat you had a choice between meat loaf and New Orleans Chicken. Neither of them looked appetizing. And, there were only a couple of side dishes.
Later, I discovered they had chicken wings, but they were hidden toward the front of the buffet, where they used to keep the soup and condiments.
The service also hasn't improved any. We were practically ignored by our waitress all night. She brought us drinks but no straws. I eventually had to go get straws from the server area myself. After she brought the drinks, we didn't see her or any other server so we were unable to get refills.
The only improvement I did like was Ponderosa finally moving the smoking section. It used to be in the front of the restaurant and you had to walk through it when you entered, exited and went to the buffet. Now it's hidden toward the back of the restaurant.