The Mooing Cow at Western Sizzlin: The Lubbock Restaurant That Fed Families for $4.99

Bob York’s Western Sizzlin holds a permanent spot in a lot of local memories, and now there’s a behind-the-scenes detail to go with it. The mooing cow that greeted customers at the door? The writer who documented the restaurant’s history says his father handled advertising for the business and voiced that cow himself. He also worked as a busboy at the Indiana Avenue location, which makes this one of those stories that only surfaces when somebody who was there decides to tell it.

The restaurant side of the story is just as good. York ran two locations, 5202 50th Street near Slide Road and 8301 Indiana Avenue near 83rd Street. The steaks were USDA Choice and never frozen, and the operation bought and prepared more than $500,000 worth of beef locally every year. A 1990 ad in the University Daily promised a charbroiled steak with eight salads, six vegetables, two soups and three desserts for $4.99. York reportedly reviewed customer comment cards personally.

The Western Sizzlin chain was founded in Augusta, Georgia in 1962 by Nick Pascarella and still operated 31 restaurants at the end of 2025. What’s harder to pin down is exactly when York opened his first Lubbock location or when each one closed for good, which is why asking the people who ate there matters. So we want to hear it: what’s your strongest memory of Western Sizzlin, and what did you always order?