Golden Corral

This location was awesome the first few years after it was open. I’m sad to say, I will not be eating there again. It was dirty, the food was not as good. It attracts a seedy clientele and is just not kept up to the good standards it once had. The barbecue chicken was awful. I used to love their recipe! What happened, GC??? All the while, their prices are way higher. Save your money and go elsewhere.

While visiting family in the area it was decided to stop in and get our eat on. Upon entering and needing the bathroom, I was shocked at how dirty the men’s room was and a family concur that the women’s was equally as dirty based on my statement.
If this is what you let us see, What is it we don’t see?
I’ve hit up a few GC in the past, but this one was Mmm, not the best.
Staff was great-​super nice, but the quality of the food lacked when compared to others I’ve ate at.
All feed back is positive.

Despite low expectations, this place was a Wonderland of gluttonous pleasure. The spinach is fresh, coffee free, desserts elaborate.
The only downsides: waiter kept staring at my crotch, 12 bucks is a bit much, and my blood sugar got waaaay too high. (easily avoided with the average amount of impulse control)
Best of: banana pudding, spinach, imitation crab, sweet potato casserole, green beans, ice cream, all things chocolate
Worst: Chocolate chess pie

I have been to plenty of Golden Corral’s. When I moved here my husband and I decided to try this one because it was closer to home. Upon entering the restaurant we felt as though it was not too dirty but definitely not spotless clean. The food is definitely hit or miss. There have been times when we went and the food was great and then there were times when we went and the food was eh. The service wasn’t too good. I think our server was so busy talking with friends and cleaning up the same table for 15 minutes that she forgot to refill my drink.
I would say the events they hold are pretty neat. They have madden contest, movie nights and other things. I’ve never seen that at any other GC. Overall this place isn’t too bad. If I may make a suggestion… clean up a bit and teach your servers some customer services skills. Other than that… you’re good to GO!

For what it’s worth, up until now… I’ve never posted a restaurant review Pro or Con. Reason being, we all have our personal tastes. What might be poor to one person, may be great to another. In this case, however, taste has nothing to do with it. It was the preparation that made this experience so disappointing.
For me (and many others), there is nothing better than Baby Back Ribs. When I saw the advertising for the Ribs Special, I was all in. Couldn’t wait to try all the different sauces.
Once I got to the serving line, the Ribs looked great. Nice color, sauced very nicely. Looked perfect. That all changed once I sat down. Where the meat should have been falling off the bone, I was shocked to find the meat very well done… to the point of burnt crispy. Putting a fork or knife into the meat… the meat actually broke apart. What wasn’t burnt was tough and chewy. To me, I must have just gotten a bad piece. So, I went back up… watched as the cook placed a «fresh» slab of ribs on the cutting board. Again, they looked perfect. I had him cut off a section, plus a portion from another piece. I got back to the table… both pieces… dried out and over cooked… on the outside. Once you took away the outer meat, the inner meat was very good. Normally, even if a bit overdone on the outside, it’s still excellent. But these were beyond «well done.» These were all burnt to a crispy doneness. Completely dried out. The only thing that would have caused this was to have taken refrigerated ribs and placed them on too hot of a grill. The outside burns quickly while waiting for the underlying meat to cook. Ribs need to set out for a bit before cooking in order to ensure an even cooking throughout the piece of meat. There is no reason for us to have had the experience we did. It was excellent quality meat, but so poorly cooked. Hopefully, this was something that has since been corrected.
There was one other thing that became annoying. Every 15 minutes there would be an announcement calling out another «winning ticket.» If your receipt number was called, you could go up and claim your prize. It wasn’t until leaving that I passed this counter filled with a very cheap assortment of children’s toys. Really? A counter scattered with this cheap junk? It’s like… no thought or effort was put into this lame idea. This just cheapens the overall impression of what Golden Corral used to be. Put the time and effort into ensuring quality foods and service and you won’t need such cheap gimmicks that surely serve no real purpose.
The hot buns, always the best… and is the only reason for two stars. When you fail in preparing Baby Backs, there is something wrong.

Food taste fresh and clean. I’ve been here with my family several times and we have enjoyed ourselves each time. Keep in mind that this is not a fancy four star restaurant. It is a great place to bring your family for dinner after the movies or after church.

For golden coral it is the best one I’ve been too by far. Clean and well staffed. Food was fresh and good.

This place is nasty… not worth 12 a person! Food is very gross not fresh… and the place over all is very dirty… service wasnt good… our table was filled with dishes and no one was coming around to pick it up… over all im never coming here again!

I have eaten at many GCs in the area. This is the best one I’ve been to, in Matthews. The food is good and fresh. I go about 11:00 AM or 4:00 PM, so the lunch food has just come out or the supper food has just come out. It is always fresh cooked and delicious.
The restaurant is clean and restrooms clean. Watch the tile floor by the bathrooms. They mop these frequently and the tile is slippery. I once slipped and fell, with no apology from the manager (Bill), when I told him what happened.
One tip, when I go for supper, I get there about 10 minutes before 4:00 and sit at the table or get a small salad until 4:00 when the supper food is put out. You pay for lunch and get supper.
Overall, I like GC very much and will continue to go. It is perfect for groups.

I had never been here before and was reserving my attempt at eating here for a day when I was not heavily invested in having a good meal. I was pleasantly surprised. I assumed it was going to be like Ponderosa up north… terrible.
For a $ 12 a person buffet, GC has a lot of freshly prepped food. The dishes are turned often and have good flavor for the setting. The food is meat (sirloin, ribs, pulled pork, meatloaf), sides (mac & cheese, veggies, sweet potatoes, and the like), salads bar items, some stir fry dishes, soups, and desserts (cotton candy machine, cakes, ice cream, etc). For a cheap night out, at an all you can eat buffet, this is probably some of the better quality you will find. The desserts are not at great in quality at the main dish items. I was expecting the worst, and was satisfied with what they have.
If you want a cheap buffet that isn’t going to leave you with post meal MSG sickness of death that asian buffets tend to give, I recommend this place.

Breakfast was terrible… how do you ruin breakfast. It is like they are not even trying… I even complained, she pointed out they have made to order eggs and omelets. That was almost edible… if I had started there maybe… so best tip I can give, «start there!» It doesn’t get better…

Hadn’t been in years, decided to come based on nostalgia and I was so indecisive on exactly what I had a taste for but I was starving, and my go to Basil wasn’t open, so why not try the place that has everything right? Wrong. Bad decision.
Most of the food was greasy and just not well prepared. The medium «steak» was tough and dry. The fried chicken was just ok. I did try out the salad bar and I was pleased, but you don’t come to a buffet and pay 12 bucks for a salad.
The desserts were all terrible and clearly made with cheap ingredients. The chocolate fountain was weak as you could tell they tried to thin it out by cutting it with oil or something. The frozen yogurt was tasteless. Oh, but those fresh hot rolls were great! Good thing I can get great, fresh, hot rolls at other places because I will not be coming back.

For a buffet this place has a good selection. Food was fresh and tasty. Excellent wait staff.

The food is as disgusting as the people who eat here.

Food is hit or miss. Good luck

I’ve been there a couple of times. The service is good… the food is marginal… but what turned me off is when I saw this old guy drooling as he walked toward the food. I’ll never be back!

Food is great. Place is clean. The clam chowder is not bad but could be better. Great selection of food. Our server Sophia is amazing. She’s very friendly and efficient. I will definitely come back here.

Reasonably good food and lots of it. Service was attentive without being intrusive. We will return.

I’m teetering between 1 and 2 stars here, but maybe I’m not a true buffet aficionado. Don’t get wrong, not all buffets are evil. But this Golden Corral epitomizes everything I dislike about them.
I went on Sunday after church (mistake no. 1) and was shuffled through the line where I picked up my drink. Side note: They have horchata as a beverage option. I descended into the masses gorging themselves on mediocre food. The crowds, the loudspeakers announcements that children needed to be accompanied by an adult at the buffets, and the waitress whose first words to me were «Receipt?» were a huge turnoff. Yep, they even check your receipt to make sure no one is pilfering mediocre food. Refills are hard to come by.
Sure, they have «Asian» food, «Brazilian» churrasco steak, tacos, fried chicken, and every other Americanized food imaginable, but is it good? Not really. I tried both the brisket and the churrasco steak, both were about 50% fat! The bourbon chicken was overcooked in something more like a cheap BBQ sauce. The only highlight was the yeast roll and mac-​n-​cheese. Even the carrots were heavily coated with butter or oil one. Blugh! People actually line up en masse for this???
I don’t mean to moralize here, but I’d rather be pleasantly full from a quality meal than stuffed with bland, fatty foods served from a trough! Enter at your own risk!

Strangely, I don’t think that I had been to a Golden Corral for years. Then in the last three weeks, I’ve been multiple times. I don’t know why. To make it even more interesting, I actually ate more at the salad bar than I did at the meat/​entrée bar. Go figure.
The salads are actually pretty decent. I’m not an expert by any means, but I really enjoyed the variety of selection when it came to lettuce, as well as toppings for the salads and even the various soups they had.
Don’t get me wrong, I went back and picked up a few sides here and there to go with it (don’t want to spend my $ 10 and eat a salad), but I didn’t gorge myself on all you can eat ribs either.
Sweet Tea Report: The sweet tea in the front (where you pay your bill) is almost always excellent. But the sweet tea in the back — where the servers get your refills — is almost always not sweet. So ask your server to get your refills from the front and you’ll be good. Otherwise it’s horribly not sweet.