I don’t think the food there is any better or worse than Chili’s, TGIF or Applebees.
Well, yeah; if you’re looking for quality—as opposed to quantity, variety, or immediacy—there’s not much point in going to a buffet. Golden Corral has a pretty big variety of foods, most of which are okay, though none of which are good enough that it’s worth going there for that specific thing.
I went to one last week. It was enough, I will not be going again. Nothing, absolutely nothing tasted as good as anything I make myself.
Do they make the food bad so you will Not eat very much?
I’ve never been to a Golden Trough, but then I’m not one for buffets, as I’ve seen too many kids running up to stick their hands in a salad bar. I have this mental image, though, of large, cow-like humans shuffling alongside a steam table, piling large mounds of greasy food on a tray.
Yep, sounds about right to me, Chefguy.
Echoing what some others have said…it isn’t haute cuisine, but it ain’t bad. Big selection of vegetable dishes, and I happen to be fond of veggies. Savory steamed cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, buttered carrots, parsnips, even brussels sprouts. All things that I love but that most eateries seldom serve, or serve in minute quantities. I’ve never had any reason to complain about cleanliness, the one I eat at is very well kept. Overall, I’d rate it on the high side of OK. ymmv.
SS
If you have to feed teenage boys, take them to a Golden Corral. The food is in ample supply, though the quality is never any better than mediocre.
If you’re going to eat fewer than three heaping platefuls, eat somewhere else. Golden Corral is about supplying a large quantity of food, rather than quality food. They generally do have a great assortment of food.
I have to admit that I haven’t been to one in quite a few years, so they might have changed. But I doubt that they’ve changed much. Plus, of course, there are usually a lot of preteen kids running around unsupervised, even though there are signs all over asking that children be accompanied to the food bars.
Yep, Lynn, that’s the precise reason I’ve eaten at Golden Corral: my son + his friends = horde of 2-legged locusts! Instead of cooking vats of food or ordering 96 pizzas, it’s easier and cheaper to take them to a buffet. (Somehow, the little one seems to require the most feeding. I think DJ has a tapeworm!)
I just had to acknowledge this gem as it was really funny and conjured up an interesting Calvin-esque image.
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I have this mental image, though, of large, cow-like humans shuffling alongside a steam table, piling large mounds of greasy food on a tray.
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All types, but those are certainly represented. What’s always kind of :rolleyes: to me is people who literally have their plates piled several inches high, apparently unaware that it’s not “all you can carry on one plate”; you can go back 20 times if you want to, no point in needing a wheelbarrow for the first trip.
As for ‘is it bland to keep people from eating more?’, maybe, but I doubt it. I remember a local all-you-can-eat chain called Tyler’s in Auburn, AL back in the '80s where the food was MUCH better, and this was in a city where I was far from the only totally-broke-gotta-make-this-one-count-cause-tomorrow-it’s-a-couple-of-Krystal*-burgers-if-you’re-lucky student, and they managed to stay in business. (I do know of a really good all-you-can-eat place in Florida that was hurt so bad by snowbirds** they stopped having a buffet in winter.)
*Krystals is similar to White Castle for those who aren’t familiar; in the '80s you could get 2 of their tiny burgers and a drink for around a dollar
**Snowbirds- senior citizens from the northern U.S. and Canada who spend winters on the beach; most live on fixed incomes and have to make every penny last. While it’s easy to be sympathetic to that, they are the bane of many local restaurants, from McDonalds [where they’ll often clean out the salt/pepper/napkins/sugar packets] to the buffets [where, in the case of one, they would bring in foil, wrap food in it, put it in their purse, and go back for more- basically paying for one meal and taking two home.
It was definitely Golden Coral. Maybe it was before they switched to the buffet style.
The one my husband went to around the same time was also not a buffet. He hates them and avoids them like the plague. Also there was nothing laid out buffet style except salad fixin’s.
Also, I live in a small town. At that time, Golden Coral was one of three non ethnic or pizza places. none of the 3 were buffet style.
I’ve never understood this mentality and hope to shit that I’m never so cheap or desperate that I have to resort to that sort of behavior. I remember many years ago seeing a table full of military wives at a brunch buffet on a military base, who attempted to do this. They were all at least in the 250 lb bracket, and after they ate their fill (which was significant), they loaded up their plates one last time and then asked for a doggy bag! They were told that it’s “all you can eat, but that means here, not at home.” The crowd left after many ‘fuck you, bitch’ and similar comments. Sadly, the food had to be thrown away after being handled and exposed to any bacteria on their plates.
I third this opinion. Golden Corral is the restaurant of choice when dining with teenage males.
Golden Corral. I hardly ever eat there but when I do the food is good. The fried chicken is exceptionally good. I don’t eat more than one plate so when DH and I go there I don’t feel we are getting our money’s worth, unless we have a coupon.
That’s one of the reasons we avoid buffets. We once saw a crowd of people outside a Country Buffet, waiting for it to open. An armored truck stopped next to the doors, but the poor guy couldn’t get out of the truck. The customers were yelling at him to move the truck and they were pushing against the STEEL ENFORCED truck and making it rock.
I didn’t know it was actually a buffet. I only mentioned Hometown in the OP because of it’s skeevyness. I have eaten in many buffets, none of them good. As a general rule, buffets suck.
Before my dad died in 2005, he & I ate there fairly often. Breakfasts were especially good, but the dinners weren’t bad. Good friend chicken, good Bourbon Street chicken, and they had a house bacon vinigarette dressing that I LOVED.
I have gone back twice in the last couple years; the food was horribly bland now, and they had gotten rid of my dressing.
I see no reason to go back.
Ditto stoned college students. :o
There seems to be something missing from this story. What were people hoping to accomplish by pushing on the armored truck? Did they think there was food in the truck, or that the restaurant would open sooner if they took a hostage?