Golden Corral Buffet & Grill — Restaurant in Arlington

We went to Golden Corral tonight for my daughter's birthday, as per her request. She wanted to go for the all-you-can-eat dessert in lieu of a birthday cake. Everything was great; our server was wonderful. However, when we made our way to the dessert bar, we noticed that it was covered in flies. I alerted a lady server, and she went over to talk to the woman in charge of that area. The woman came over and only wiped down the counter but did not replace the food. Then I asked our server to please get a manager. The server went and spoke to the cashier, and they sent the manager my way. The manager assured me he would pull the pies, cakes, and cookies that were full of flies. However, the same desserts were just placed back on the counter. The manager was nowhere to be found. My daughter got no dessert, and we paid full price for a half experience. We gave them the opportunity to correct it, but it did not occur. I went and told our server that he was great, but this was unsanitary. I explained that I watched the lady put the contaminated desserts back, and he apologized. I then went to the cashier and told her that the lady placed the same desserts back. I explained that it was my daughter's wish to have this instead of a birthday cake and that I was looking for the manager. I also asked why I was paying full price for a dessert bar that I couldn't even let my kids eat at. Despite my efforts, I couldn't find the manager, and the cashier didn't go get him either. I waited around while my daughter played the claw machine, but still, nothing was done.

I would not recommend the dessert bar, and I am disappointed in the management for allowing kids and others to eat in these conditions. The lady at the cashier did hand my daughter a toy for all the money she put in their machine, but we won't be back. I explained to her that why am I paying full price for a desert bar infant even let my kids eat at and in told her that the manager I couldn’t find him and she still didn’t go get him. I waited around while my daughter is playing the claw machine here and still nothing is done. 10/10 don’t reccomend the desert bar and am disappointed in management and them allowing kids and others to eat . The lady at the cashier did hand my daughter a toy for all the money she put in their machine but we won’t be back. I will be reporting this to health and human services to prompt an inspection and I am now coming here to ask the manager to reach out to me since he was no where to be found at the end of all of this...

This is the second time I've been to golden corral in about 5 years and I'm still disappointed. It simply isn't what it was in the 90's or early 2000's. We only went because we were given a gift card and honestly we wouldn't have willingly paid for the experience we had. Though the appearance of the buffet line was more modern than I remember, several of the booth seats were in disrepair. I wasn't really excited about any of the food options on the whole buffet and some of the things I was kinda interested in were not stirred regularly or looked somewhat dried out. The green beans looked faded/yellow and we could tell they were canned and not fresh. There was plenty of fried chicken but no tenders. Two of the soups were empty or nearly empty. There were very few soup bowls left. The signs did not line up with what was underneath them. We did not see extra silverware available and had to reuse/lick clean what we had. I saw plenty of chicken and pork on the buffet but little to no beef other than the Mexican section and they often say they charge so high because they offer steak. No steak today. It was a $13.99 buffet dinner that probably should have been $10.99 or $11.99. The fountain drink was $2.99 and should have been more like $1.99. The quality and appearance simply did not justify the price. We still need to use the rest of our gift card. Maybe we'll try breakfast some Saturday soon, but honestly after that I doubt I will ever go back. It doesn't measure up to my childhood memories.

Update: Just gave it another try for breakfast. The value for the price was much better this time and I had a better experience so I will raise it one star. There weren't many options for fruit though. There was a woman yelling loudly at her children that was disruptive especially with the plastic dividers and I almost had to tell a manager. I might say without trying to be harsh that the general class of customers here is on the lower end so consider what comes along with the territory on that. I might consider coming again for a Saturday breakfast if I skip the $3 drink, but my wife...

This had to be the grossest restaurant experience I’ve ever had. For starters, it’s $23 a person which is outrageous for what I witnessed today. The food looked OLD, had a weird coloring to everything. The meat loaf looked super off color gray, the fish had a pink center and not white, the chicken was dry as heck that you could tell it had been sitting under a heat lamp baking for hours. There was some pulled pork looking stuff that looked super dry as well. Nothing was prepared with care. I’m shocked no one is sick after eating this food. The health inspectors really need to visit this place. There was some water or mysterious liquid falling from one of the vents bouncing off the glass near food….the kitchen floors were soaked with debris from food, trash, plastic, looked sticky. The grills have not been cleaned in DAYS you can tell because of all the build up on them and gross food that is sticking to it. The tubs they have sitting around random places are gross. The ice cream machine was a disaster with spilling ice cream every where. The lettuce at the salad bar was wilted brown. The person who put it out should obvious know that’s not good lettuce. The ranch tasted sort of off, All of the meat tasted off. Except for the popcorn shrimp. I ate an enchilada that had some mysterious BROWN shaded meat and it was not beef. You know how you can look at something and think that something doesn’t look “right” well i had that thought many times. Again It just made me feel like I shouldn’t be eating this. Who ever the manager is there does not care. If they did this wouldn’t be happening. The napkin holder at our table was filthy and had sticky stuff on the side and loads of dust so clearly that’s my sign that no one ever cleans them. So if they’re not cleaning the table right just imagine what the parts we don’t see look like. Place needs to be looked at for sanitary and health violations asap. I took photos but just a reminder these are the ones I felt like I could take but there’s more that I didn’t have the...