Let’s review Golden Corral.
The all-you-can-eat buffet chain that was founded in North Carolina serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner via one of the biggest buffet stations in town. While there used to be two locations, we are now down to one at Maple & Ridge. It’s been close to four years when I last dropped by, and figured now was a good time to revisit and see if they’ve taken that time to improve.
The buffet costs anywhere $11.99 to $16.49 for adults, depending on what day of the week or time you stop by.
If you’ve ever been to Furr’s, Ryan’s, Hometown Buffet, or even the recently closed Ourrs, you probably have an idea of what to expect. Golden Corral is the last of the all day American buffet options in town. And anybody old enough to stop by Furr’s, Ryan’s, or Hometown Buffet was most likely at Golden Corral when I stopped by. It wasn’t exactly a busy place for the under 40 and 50 crowd.
I went right around 11 a.m. so there was a brunch mix of breakfast staples along with chicken, tacos, salads, pizza, burgers, desserts and more. Here’s a brief sample of what they had:
I tried a bit of everything, and Golden Corral met my expectations… albeit low expectations.
One section had a yellow caution sign that I ignored. Next time, I’ll listen.
Let’s start with the burger and pasta. The noodles had a yellow discoloration to them, as if they had been sitting out for an hour. They probably were, and tasted like it too. The burger was drier than the Play-Doh burgers my daughter makes me at home. So far, we weren’t off to a good start.
Next, I had a taco and rice. The beef was suspicious. There was a hardened brown layer of what looked like dry refried beans. I mixed it up and found some grease with some ground beef mixed in. There was a bit of reluctance as I filled my taco with ground beef. Even more reluctance as I took my first bite. Not good, but better than the burger so it was a positive.
The best part of my meal was probably the pork and rice, mashed potatoes and piece of fried chicken. While it wasn’t spectacular, it was like going to vote and choosing the least of 1,000 evils from all the options at Golden Corral. I’ll say the mashed potatoes and gravy had a very gritty and chalky aftertaste as if it wasn’t mixed all the way. There was a powdery texture that made me consider snorting it in hopes of mentally transporting me to another restaurant.
For dessert, I tried the carrot cake and well… after two bites, I got up and left.
I probably won’t go back for another 5-10 years.
Happy Dining,
Eddy
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I went to Not so Golden Corral several months ago and I was devastated. I waste $40 on 2 adult buffets . I emailed them and told them I wish they would Shut down and bulldoze the place . It was Awful 😞. Hopefully in 5 yrs it won’t still be present .
Thankful my nearby location is nothing like that. That’s on the staff.
It depends on the golden corral, we’ve been to several and one was okay the one in Elizabeth city, NC was very good, the two in Virginia beach area were terrible.
All golden corrals are different. Depends of they are franchised owned or corporate.
I work at one in texas. None of the food looks like this. While yes some may think the foods horrible some may think its excellent. It also depends what managers on duty as well to how fast fresher food comes out.
Also let the manager know about the experience so they can Hopefully fix the situation. If they dont hear feedback they wont make it better. Also do the survey on the reciept!
The 2 Golden Corral restaurants we visit are very good. You can’t beat the price or the chance to sample different food items. We go before 4pm, so we get the lunch price and supper food.
I guess it depends upon the flow of eaters that keeps the food good.
Last time I went to GC buffet was with a 30% off giftcard and still felt like $70 for a family of four was a waste of money…my teens did not enjoy the food. We only get their yeast rolls ToGo now. I’d rather go to a local Chinese buffet to buffet-gorge.
Perhaps to be a food critic your opinion would need to matter. Numerous people love Golden Corral, and im.sure their palates are just as sophisticated at yours.
Well I suppose it mattered enough for you to take the time from your busy schedule to stop by here.
Eddy,
We have not visited Golden Corral in years also.
I suppose our biggest turn-off was the number of unsupervised kids going to the food area and destroying it. You could not staff enough help to keep up with them. It was not the skids fault, but the parents that did not take the effort to accompany them.
I went to golden carrol in chesapeake va last sun was eating a salad and found something hard in it while chewing it was a piece of plastic showed it to waiter who told manager she came over and was very rude and unconcerned informed me I could leave not eat any more food and she would give my money back. How very rude I didnt ask for money I was concerned that there may be more in salad and someone would swallow it and choke