Jun 21 2010
Pizza Ranch: Family-Friendly Eating in the Midwest
If you happen to be traveling the small towns and back roads of the Midwest, especially Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota, you may come across a chain of restaurants called Pizza Ranch. If you’re there at mealtime, especially if there’s a buffet offered, I recommend stopping in. You’ll come out with a happy tummy.
Most Pizza Ranch locations are found in smaller towns, although some mid-sized cities like Mankato, Minnesota, have opened restaurants as well. We’ve eaten at eight different Pizza Ranches in Minnesota, and each has something a little different–Glencoe has Cherry Coke and chocolate milk available, plus a slide for tots who finish eating before their parents; Norwood Young America features antiques and a children’s play area plus some of the friendliest ranch hands we’ve seen; Alexandria has toys for the kids to play with; Waseca has figured out the pizza to perfection; and New Ulm has plenty of room to move.
The pizza at the ranch is, of course, the highlight, and even if you purchase the buffet, you can have them make a pizza to order. When it’s ready, they’ll bring the first slice to you at your table. While my favorite Taco Pizza is often on the buffet, I often have to ask for Buffalo Chicken, and my son likes to request Barbecue Chicken. Bread sticks and dessert pizza are also on the buffet, so you can make a meal of it.
But wait, there’s more! The salad bar at Pizza Ranch is plentiful, with a nice variety that includes fruits and veggies. One of the reasons we started frequenting Pizza Ranch is that my doesn’t-eat-much daughter, who doesn’t eat pizza, would eat peaches, pears, applesauce, pudding, and crackers, and could get milk with her kid-priced meal. (Kids pay by their age at Pizza Ranch.) It was as good of a meal as she’d eat in any restaurant.
My favorite part of Pizza Ranch, though, is the chicken. In fact, my brother (who happens to work for Pizza Hut) claims it should be called “Chicken Ranch.” The broasted chicken is delicious, and when paired with broasted potato wedges, or mashed potatoes and gravy, it is possible to visit Pizza Ranch and not touch the pizza.
Pizza Ranch displays a western decor, and there’s usually country music playing to round out the theme. There are always tables already set up for groups of six (and often more), which doesn’t always happen at restaurants. My kids love the napkins, which proclaim, “Hi there, I’m a napkin,” and enjoy perusing the menus that list all the Pizza Ranch locations. We’ve joked that we’d like to take a vacation and see if we could manage to eat all of our meals at Pizza Ranch locations. (Pizza Ranch, are you listening? Will you take us up on our dare?)
The price is right; for our family of six, we usually leave with full stomachs from the buffet for around $35. Of course, if you don’t want to gorge yourself on the buffet, you can order regular pizza or broasted chicken, or get a take-out or delivery order.
We’ve found Pizza Ranch to be filled with good food, fair prices, and friendly staff. If that’s the kind of eating you like to do, Pizza Ranch is the place for you.
Want to see what my kids think of Pizza Ranch? This is from a while ago, but it wouldn’t be much different if I remade it today.
I’ve lived in Minnesota for a total of 8 years (in two different times in my life) and I return to the Twin Cities every year to visit family – I have to admit I’ve never heard of Pizza Ranch. We’ll have to check it out next time!
By the way – which do you think is better: Davanni’s, Punch, or Pizza Ranch? Ever tried Beek’s in St. Louis Park? That’s the hub’s fave.
(We are big pizza fans!)
Colleen at Travel Mamas´s last blog ..Marriott Loves Tots Who Travel
What a great review about Pizza Ranch – Thank you! We love hearing from families that enjoy our food and love to visit our stores. We would take you up on the challenge to go on vacation and eat at all of our soon to be 150 locations!! Thank you for this great review of Pizza Ranch. We hope that you will continue to visit us as you travel throughout the midwest!
Colleen,
Davanni’s and Punch are only in the metro, and I have to admit we’ve never eaten at either of them, so I can’t do a comparison. What I really like about Pizza Ranch, though, is that they offer so many things that everyone can leave happy.
Linda
You’ll be happy to know that Pizza Ranch is plentiful throughout Iowa!
Jody´s last blog ..Register to Win a Wisconsin Dells Getaway
I just wanted to add that their Mankato location has a room you and your kids can go in to shoot baskets for free. We didn’t find this out until our second visit there and we thought it was a hoot to find this tiny gym inside their restaurant! Had a blast burning off some of the way-too-many-calories I ate. LOL!
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Yeah, I could gorge on their cheesy bread sticks all day long…or the chicken, yum!….Oh, and their chicken gravy is tops too! The kids and I also love and request their BLT pizza.
Thanks for the info about the Mankato Pizza Ranch. We haven’t been to that one yet, but it won’t be long!
Living in rural North Dakota, we are avid Pizza Ranch eaters as well. Cooperstown and Jamestown are our most frequented locations but now Fargo has a Pizza Ranch also which is great!
Katie´s last blog ..Summer Baseball-500th post
We love PIZZA RANCH here in Red Oak Iowa. It is sooooo nice to take a big crowd of people there and know there is plenty of really good food and room for all of us….and our Grandchildren are such picky eaters….not at the PIZZA RANCH…they love all the food and eat heartily. My youngest Son and his Wife live in southern Missouri and would like to see a PIZZA RANCH there also, I couldn’t help but notice you don’t have any PIZZA RANCH’s in Missouri, is there a specific reason for this, or are you thinking of expanding to Missouri…I hope so, and I hope you build your first site in the Nevada Missouri area. I recommend everybody to visit the PIZZA RANCH…you’ll LOVE it…and will be a returning customer.