Hoss’s Steak & Sea House

Visiting from Austin, Tx and had the pleasure of attending a rehearsal dinner at this steak house. Definitely a small town feel with family friendly vibes.
As far as the food, excellent steak and quality meat. The salmon is also excellent with a little spice and smokey taste. The mashed potatoes and gravy are what you would want and expect. The baked potatoes were average. Cutest unexpected part of the meal were smiley face shaped fries! Really cute! As far as price, I can’t say for sure since meal was paid for by wedding party.
Biggest pit fall in PA as a whole is the inability to enjoy an alcoholic beverage anywhere. This restaurant is no exception! Would loved to have had a beer or glass of wine with my meal.
Servers are friendly, fast and attentive.

Decently priced salad bar is a plus and fairly nice spread! Service is ok but a great steak! I’ll be back for the price!

It’s a different experience every time I go. Food is usually okay, occasionally the steak will be too fatty. Sometimes they don’t keep up with the salad bar. But for the most part it is okay.

So many different thoughts entered my head upon our first impromptu visit to this Hoss’s (or any Hoss’s for that matter) last month that I don’t even know where to start but first and foremost is why has no one on Unilocal spilled the beans about the bizarre ordering process where you order as soon as you walk in the door?
I mean I’ve seen that before at Ponderosa Steakhouses (which I wonder is that where Hoss’s «borrowed» the idea from since Ponderosa predates Hoss’s by a good twenty years) but ever since the chain blew up in the 90’s I haven’t seen a Ponderosa and a quick review of their site says the nearest one to me is around 150 miles away so this type of ordering has been out of my mind for a while.
We opted for some kids’ grilled cheese, kids’ burger, sirloin steak and a crab cake. The sides offered here are baked potato, French fries, steak fries, homestyle mashed potatoes, rice pilaf, baked sweet potato, onion rings, steamed broccoli, corn, or sugar snap peas. It’s been over a month so I forget what we chose but worth noting is that kids can choose/​sub sides from the adult menu without issue.
The portion sizes were acceptable for the price although as expected, the crab cake was most definitely big on crap & filler and short on the crab although kudos for actually baking it versus frying it.
Of course the Pièce de résistance of every Hoss’s meal seems to be the soup, salad and dessert and for the most part I can see why simply because of the numerous choices. Although I don’t go that way, the salad bar was well maintained and everything looked fresh. The soup area and dessert area were a bit of a dud though. The chicken noodle tasted great but the cheese soup looked like thick inedible sludge and the pot for the sausage potato soup was empty our entire visit plus no garlic bread was ever put out. As for the desserts, the soft serve ice cream was coming out thin & runny and a lot of the cakes/​puddings/​pies had a not so fresh-​synthetic-​hospital cafeteria look to them that was less than appealing.
The standout thing here was the service. Plates were promptly removed and drinks were refilled several times no questions asked. Overall our server was A+ and truly was workin’ it for the grat.
Hoss’s was solid no question but it’s definitely on the expensive side for what you’re getting and in the future while I would entertain the thought of coming back only if there were a coupon or discount in play to make me feel like I was getting some kind of ROI for my dining dollar.
(Sidebar foamer dork alert!!! There are some really cool pieces of train memorabilia on the walls and it’s awesome to be staring at a GG1 picture or two while taking a leak.)

Stopped in here for dinner as we were passing through town. Had seen a few billboards for other locations and said «what the hell.»
Just «OK» describes this place perfectly.
I ordered the steak tips with gravy and the wife «The Cleaver» 9 oz steak, both with mashed.
We then sampled the soup and salad bar, which was nothing really special. Basic salad makings. My only issue with the salad bar was the mac and potato salads. Both had far too much mayo and the potato seemed drowned in vinegar.
I tried the Chicken Noodle and and the Beef Barley soups. The Chicken Noodle was really noodles but rather strips of thick dumpling. Fine if you like that sort of thing but a bit too starchy for my tastes. However the broth was delicious. Wasn’t wild about the Beer Barley. A bit too much onion for me.
My steak tips were rather tasty, well seasoned. While I ordered them Medium, they were more Medium Rare, but tender and quite good. The wife felt the same way about here steak after sending it back for a bit more time on the grill.
While I would not go out of my way to go to one of these places, in a pinch, I would not avoid it.

Food is suboptimal and the service just to get drinks was worse

Hoss’s is just another reason I believe Central PA is superior to the rest of the United States. As a little girl I used to indulge myself in the delectable steak tips, baked potato AND the all you can eat soup, salad, bread, and dessert bar. Now as an adult I realize that the all you can eat soup and salad bar is all you need to have a successful life.
I’m just about to leave Altoona, but I had to go have lunch there with my cousin before I left. I’m pretty sure I have never returned home and not sunk my teeth into that delicious garlic bread. All of the things that are on the actual menu are AMAZING, but the salad bar is where it’s at. My cousin and I today both just had the salad bar, but when we ordered we were asked if we wanted to add a 99 cent half pound burger to our order. As tempting as that thick juicy burger sounded I knew that my 7 trips to the All-​You-​Can-​Eat bar just would not allow for it.
Every topping you could imagine is available for you salad. My fave conconction is iceberg lettuce, sunflower seeds, ham, hard boiled eggs, green and black olives all topped with vinagerette. Yummmyy.
Todays’s soups were french onion, italian wedding, and of course chicken noodle. I’m pretty sure there is a little old lady in the back with her own herb garden, hand making all these items. Today’s desserts for me consisted of cherry bread pudding and soft serve ice cream. Oh wait, did I mention they have a stove top simmering hot fudge, hot caramel, raisin sauce, and hot peanut butter to top your ice cream with. I think I need to go back now for another bowl.
So my cousin and I both had the salad bar and iced teas, our total bill together was $ 15.87. I mean really??? Does it get any better than that???
Thank you Hoss’s for helping to keep Altoona, PA in my top 3 places on Earth.

I hated Hoss’s as a 12-​year old girl. But now that I’ve aged 10 or so years I’ve grown to appreciate the simplicity, the ease and the friendly service. Hoss’s has surprisingly become one of my must-​go-​to restaurants in Altoona when I’m home even for short periods of time. When I had to eat dinner elsewhere and my family had decided to go to Hoss’s– I made the executive decision to enjoy a second dinner and meet them there just to have a bowl of chicken noodle soup and raisin bread. I don’t order off the menu very often– and usually stick to the all-​you-​can-​eat soup and salad bar– although my family has grown to love the steak tips, baked potatoes and steam veggies. I am beyond content with the garlic bread, thick noodles in the chicken noodle soup (that I crave on a daily basis), all of the salad toppings that I desire and a whole bar of desserts including soft serve ice cream, brownies, jello and pudding. It’s like having a home-​cooked meal at a restaurant. All of the waiters and waitresses are super friendly– and we never leave feeling we overpaid (if anything, I feel like I’m underpaying). See you next time I visit Altoona, Hoss’s!