Golden Corral was the GOAT buffet

[AnansiThePersona]

Golden Corral, for the non-Americans in the audience, is a Southern-themed buffet chain. Being a buffet, you pay money and go ham on food until you're full. Which, as an overweight child, was paradise to me. My siblings and I LOVED Golden Corral. We'd never seen that much food variety in our lives. So many options. They even had pizza. And you could eat dessert whenever you wanted. THEIR ROLLS. It was incredible.

If you're a child.

Last time I had GC was at my high school senior brunch and that shit was bad. All the meat is dry from being heated for hours. Dry-ass eggs. People just reaching out and grabbing shit. Mad flies in the establishment. Salty-ass food. It really sucked because I had such fond memories of it as a kid. But that's how most things are from your childhood.

So yeah, I think, if you've been there as a kid, GC was the GOAT and the food was incredible. It's not true in the slightest, but fond memories of eating dinner with your family in a place where you can eat whatever you want meant more than the bad food they sell.

Anyways, do you have any good/bad Golden Corral stories?

 

[pezzie]

I like their steaks. Best buffet steaks you can get at this price, since they'll make it to order. Too many buffets just have a pile of well done steaks sitting out under the heat lamp.

Everything else is alright. Not gonna beat any of the better higher end buffets but I'd do Golden Corral a couple of times a year.

 

[SwampBastard]

I used to load up on the "seafood salad" that was basically a shit-ton of mayonnaise, artificial crab meat, tiny canned shrimp, some chopped celery, and a tremendous amount of salt. I haven't been there in almost 20 yrs.

 

[thekonamicode]

I guess I'm too old to have grown up with this one, but also being from the south we had the Sizzler and Ryan's. Both were shit, but I was a kid and didn't know any better. Wouldn't set foot in any of these places now.

 

[Goddo Hando]

that's a weird way to spell

taco bar was OP when I was an 8 year old and the closest thing i came to authentic mexican was my parents taking me to taco bell (mild sauce)

 

[Dougieflesh]

I gotta disagree. I saw some nasty shit at Golden Corral, and the food was mid every single time I went as a kid. When I would come home from work I would see an ambulance there almost every single weekend wheeling someone out.

 

[Einbroch]

 

[Deleted member 11985]

I remember this one r/AskReddit thread from back in the day where it was asking for people in the know to spill the beans about corporation bad practices. Some guy replied and said he worked at a company that machines a part for some piece of kitchen equipment, and restaurants will send parts back to be repaired or replaced, occasionally. He said the parts he would get back from every restaurant chain would be fine except for Golden Corral. Their parts would always be covered in filth like they never washed the parts once, and he posted pictures of it and everything.

I'll see if I can find that reply again.

 

[Failburger]

It was all about that desserts bar. Cookies, cakes, brownies, ice cream for days!

 

[egg]

There's one about 5 minutes up the road from me. Haven't actually eaten at a GC since I was like 12 but I loved the fresh rolls.

 

[nsilvias]

went there once when i was in florida. it wasnt very good.

 

[BasilZero]

My first three visits were great - this was back in 2017 or so

last time I went to there was back in Mid 2019 and it was bad...

Don't have one anywhere close to my new home and absolutely not going there now in today's climate....

Loved getting the nacho chips with chili and cheese with Mexican rice yum

 

[ned_ballad]

I like them. It's a buffet, so it's quantity more than quality, but the quality isn't even that bad

Their food at least tastes like food and not salt.

But they're pretty expensive, especially on the weekend. It's not bad on a week day with a coupon, though

 

[johnsmith]

Golden Corral is so damn disgusting. I go like one every 5 years because my parents like it, and I always regret it.

There's some local American buffers that are ok, but the only buffets I still willingly go to are a few of the better Chinese buffets, though most are still terrible. I'm a sucker for chicken on a stick, and unlimited salmon sushi.

 

[Ultimate Bear Cub]

that's a weird way to spell

taco bar was OP when I was an 8 year old and the closest thing i came to authentic mexican was my parents taking me to taco bell (mild sauce)

Click to shrink...

HOOOO-LEEEEE-SHIIIIIIITAKE MUSHROOMS!

I completely deleted Ponderosa from my memory, but it's shadow imprint has somehow resurrected.

 

[TheSkullPrince]

Nah, that title goes go Hometown Buffet

 

[infinitebento]

in my hispanic household, my father would drag us to these shitty buffets and have us fill plastic ziplock gallon bags with food to freeze for later

ratchet as fuck

 

[Everybody Lies]

I'm in Jersey and I used to see commercials for it all the time just a few months ago. Never actually saw a Golden Corral, but their commercials were a daily occurrence up until a few months ago. Don't see them anymore. Looks like that business model is going to take a huge hit from Covid 19.

 

[AnansiThePersona]

 

[Goddo Hando]

HOOOO-LEEEEE-SHIIIIIIITAKE MUSHROOMS!

I completely deleted Ponderosa from my memory, but it's shadow imprint has somehow resurrected.

Click to shrink...

soft serve swirl after the meal was the reward for not running around while mom and dad ate

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Not Golden Corral, but I'll take part in the memory.

In the northeast, we had a chain called the "Old Country Buffet" that was usually built in to malls. As a kid, this was an unfathomable wonderland. Being able to walk in to a restaurant and peruse bay after bay of different kinds of food, combine them however I pleased, and eat as much as I liked, was an experience that never failed to blow my mind.

Going there was going to another universe. A universe without structure, without limits, where I could make choices not usually extended for me at my young age. The earliest vision of what heaven might look like I ever had was as a little boy in that restaurant.

Eventually these restaurants started closing, including the one near us. The world is small when you are a child and losing that restaurant was devastating to me. It was the only place like it in the entire world as far as I was concerned. My family never went to a buffet like that again so it became a distant dream of what it meant to be truly happy.

As an adult, I eventually drove by a very similar buffet chain called the "Hometown Buffet." I knew I had to go, but I kind of wish I didn't. Some things were the same: the island of soda fountains, the plastic cups and plates, the booth seating and large family tables, but some things had lost their shine. The counters of food that seemed endless when I was a boy now seemed so small. Most of the food was unappetizing. I left feeling... disappointed. Disappointed that I'd never get that feeling from my boyhood back again. It didn't exist anymore and maybe it never did. My memories are always far sweeter than the bitter truth.

I live alone in a cave now and only eat rare berries and snow. But sometimes, in my restless dreams, I still see that place. What I would give to go back there as I remember it.

 

[Transistor]

If by GOAT you mean Gross, Offensive, and Terrible, then yes, it is the GOAT

 

[Deleted member 4452]

I think I'm done with self-serve buffets forever.

 

[Jarrod38]

that's a weird way to spell

taco bar was OP when I was an 8 year old and the closest thing i came to authentic mexican was my parents taking me to taco bell (mild sauce)

Click to shrink...

That's a weird way to spell Shoneys.

 

[spyroflame0487]

Surprisingly some of the local Golden Corrals around here were pretty decent. As long as you stay away from the chocolate sauce fountain of filth, there's enough variety in items that they're bound to level out and be "ok". Steaks especially for the price was good.

I don't know how this business will survive post-COVID. I'm pretty sure they're doing takeout, but one locally already closed.

 

[Transistor]

Click to shrink...

Barf

 

[Goddo Hando]

That's a weird way to spell Shoneys.

Click to shrink...

oh my god shoney's breakfast--- we had one of those by us and the line was out the door on sundays-- but it supernova'd out and closed after a year

 

[TheOther]

Not Golden Corral, but I'll take part in the memory.

In the northeast, we had a chain called the "Old Country Buffet" that was usually built in to malls. As a kid, this was an unfathomable wonderland. Being able to walk in to a restaurant and peruse bay after bay of different kinds of food, combine them however I pleased, and eat as much as I liked, was an experience that never failed to blow my mind.

Going there was going to another universe. A universe without structure, without limits, where I could make choices not usually extended for me at my young age. The earliest vision of what heaven might look like I ever had was as a little boy in that restaurant.

Eventually these restaurants started closing, including the one near us. The world is small when you are a child and losing that restaurant was devastating to me. It was the only place like it in the entire world as far as I was concerned. My family never went to a buffet like that again so it became a distant dream of what it meant to be truly happy.

As an adult, I eventually drove by a very similar buffet chain called the "Hometown Buffet." I knew I had to go, but I kind of wish I didn't. Some things were the same: the island of soda fountains, the plastic cups and plates, the booth seating and large family tables, but some things had lost their shine. The counters of food that seemed endless when I was a boy now seemed so small. Most of the food was unappetizing. I left feeling... disappointed. Disappointed that I'd never get that feeling from my boyhood back again. It didn't exist anymore and maybe it never did. My memories are always far sweeter than the bitter truth.

I live alone in a cave now and only eat rare berries and snow. But sometimes, in my restless dreams, I still see that place. What I would give to go back there as I remember it.

Click to shrink...

Ahhh yes, Hometown Buffet

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Ahhh yes, Hometown Buffet

Click to shrink...

You can never really go home again.

 

[Brinbe]

ponderosa. i miss the one by us in PA

 

[Einbroch]

Heads up to my buffet connoisseurs: Hometown Buffet, Old Country Buffet, and Ryan's are the same thing.

 

[Ferrio]

As a kid I loved it. Haven't stepped in one for 25+ years, but I'm sure I'd think it's hot garbage now.

 

[Deleted member 60582]

As a kid yes, GC, Western Sizzlin', Sizzler, and Ryan's were hard to beat. I fucking LOVED GC.

Unfortunately, GC was also my first job and it took about 2 days for me to be done with it. The only thing I'd still eat from there would be their rolls because they're fucking amazing.

 

[Jeremy]

Something like Fogo de Chao leaves these low rent buffet places in the dust.

Plus you get unlimited meat carved tableside by just raising a flag at your table...

 

[klastical]

that's a weird way to spell

taco bar was OP when I was an 8 year old and the closest thing i came to authentic mexican was my parents taking me to taco bell (mild sauce)

Click to shrink...

Yo, you get it. Taco bar was the shit!

 

[Cross-Section]

I went to Hometown Buffet for breakfast a handful of times as a kid with my grandparents. Don't really remember much besides feeling the fullest I'd ever felt in my life.

 

[hydruxo]

Golden Corral is so gross, and incredibly overpriced. If you're a fan of people putting their hands all over your food before you get it then this is the place for you I guess.

In general buffets feel like something that needs to just go away. The only buffets I feel comfortable going to anymore are ones where everything is served to you via the people who work there behind the counter. I don't trust random people to not be nasty and grab food then put it back.

 

[Rover]

Go to a Brazilian rodizio and never speak of this again

 

[Pedrito]

Click to shrink...

LOL. I was in Myrtle Beach 2 years ago and we went to Golden Corral. It was my first and only time eating there. I wasted way too much precious stomach space on that bread which was surprisingly delicious.
Apart from that, I remember the waitress being really nice and the other customers being almost all morbidly obese.

 

[Empyrean Cocytus]

Made sure to go to one every time I was in Florida or California.

 

[Jersey_Tom]

Go to a Brazilian rodizio and never speak of this again

Click to shrink...

This guy gets it.

Dinner AND a show.

 

[Indy in the Fridge]

I remember this one r/AskReddit thread from back in the day where it was asking for people in the know to spill the beans about corporation bad practices. Some guy replied and said he worked at a company that machines a part for some piece of kitchen equipment, and restaurants will send parts back to be repaired or replaced, occasionally. He said the parts he would get back from every restaurant chain would be fine except for Golden Corral. Their parts would always be covered in filth like they never washed the parts once, and he posted pictures of it and everything.

I'll see if I can find that reply again.

Click to shrink...

meh, they just kept their machines seasoned like an iron skillet

i hate that i was too young to truly appreciate their buffet. my childhood basic ass preferences were basically wasting my parents' money.

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

Thread titles that make your soul vomit.

 

[Mahonay]

 

[Cream Stout]

not a huge fan of golden corral.. i prefer the hybrid hibachi/chinese buffet joints i've been to in nova for that kind of food experience

 

[skeezx]

Click to shrink...

that is one sad and mournful pic

 

[Lobster Roll]

Golden Corral, where ...

The salty food is too salty
The sweet food is too sweet
The meat is all grey
The desserts are all sloppy, goopy messes
Everything is lukewarm
You feel depressed the very moment you walk in the door

 

[Akira86]

Ponderosa was trash lol. A kiddie buffet. You want a real man's buffet you go to the Iron Skillet.

chargrilled steaks on tap.


Fogo De Chao's buffet isn't that elite. The meat is good though.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

just thinking about it makes me wanna barf

 

[Wraith]

Pretty sure I got food poisoning there once. Never returned. That location's now been closed for years.