Golden Corral Buffet & Grill — Restaurant in Davenport

I think maybe Austria spoiled the hell out of me, or maybe my German ancestry is trying to make a stronger appearance. I used to work in food service because I had to hop from job to job to find my true calling. However, while in the food service industry, I was so horrified by what I saw 👀 I only stopped eating at any and all restaurant or fast food places until I vetted them thoroughly. Unfortunately, when I am dining with friends or guests, I am at the mercy of their lower than my own high quality standards typically because I believe a lot of the people here in the Quad Cities area or USA in general have just become used to less than average or crappy service and a lack of quality or consistency? that should appear and shine above all else in sight, smell, and physical touch! But places like Golden Coral will always be less than even good and always spiraling to worse. The women at the front of the line sneezed into her 🤧 arm right into all these glasses that were face up like it was OK. And when I let her know I didn't avoid Covid19 for 6 years to come here and get sick, please take another glass from the rack. I don't want the one you sneezed into? And she got an attitude 🙄? The waitress on the floor, however, was very friendly and helpful, attentive to our needs, and tried her best to serve even if the place couldn't fix what was going on there. All of the food looked and smelled like it had been there all day or way too long, and no one seemed to be checking the temperature or anything. I have never been so disappointed in a place to eat before in my life it really sucked. The thing is, the good clerk said it was packed all day long during the special, where the meal is discounted. So it is just like anywhere. Most Americans are poor or trying to conserve money by skimping on the things they consume, this is why more than 1/2 the country is diabetic, obese, or just a bunch of overweight chunky junkies. I ate at the Red Lobster in 1979, and I was not impressed, even if my future fiancé, a country girl from Alexis, Illinois who had never been to a bigger city other than Galesburg before and never eaten out at a so called "fancy restaurant" loved it, but it was really a joke, probably because I just moved back here after living in Maine for over a year and ate some of the best lobster I ever had even until this day! But my soon to be wife cried tears of happiness, and she was so impressed, so that is it. Some people more than others passively accept these conditions, but I will NEVER EAT AT ANOTHER GOLDEN CORAL AGAIN... DON'T WORRY ABOUT YOUR JOB THOUGH!, THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE THAT DON'T CARE ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THEIR FOOD IN THIS AREA THAN NOT and, they can't close the doors on every eating establishment? Or can they?, well, if no one complains... yeah, so maybe you all will be fine? But I won't be there! even if my budget won't allow me to go anywhere else, I can cook way better than that, and I won't eat food that looks like it was made or cared for to be served to animals, not people... PS The Christmas display was cool,...

I was quite excited to find out Golden Corral now has To Go ordering of food, particularly that the 20 piece chicken was reasonably priced, as I had an extended family picnic coming up soon. So, I ordered it for pick-up at 11:30 that morning. I had a few delays in my day, and didn't get there until about 11:50, but I figured it would be best not to get there right on time, so it would definitely be ready - I have mobility issues, requiring the use of a cane, and standing around gets painful pretty quickly.

First, there are no instructions in the confirmation email, for where to claim pickup orders, so I went to the cash registers area and explained what I was there for. Based on dress and manner, I think the man who I spoke to was a manager. He looked up my order on the computer, in a way that made me think no one knew I was coming, and so my food was not likely to be ready to just grab and go. This was confirmed when he asked me what kind of piece distribution I wanted (i.e. legs, breasts, etc.). I don't remember if there was a way to specify something like "dark meat only" on the online order system.

So, I had to stand there, for about 15 minutes, trying not to get in the way of employees and customers - many of whom clearly looked at me like they were wondering what on earth I was doing lingering in that high traffic location - while my order was made up more than 20 minutes past the time it was set to be ready.

The chicken itself was good, as usual. It was boxed in a large cardboard flat, with a foil pan inside, to hold in the heat (see pictures). The latter of which somewhat served it's purpose. The accompanying dinner rolls were in a white paper cake box, and the manager had put several single-serving packets of butter and honey-butter in a white paper bag. Overall it was a good thing he included those, which I hadn't thought of - though I think it should be noted that the rolls at GC are generally in the heated sections of the buffet, and they are much better warm, so them being entirely unheated was a bit disappointing.

Not a great start to using their To Go ordering option. I am actually used to fast food and similar restaurants not being entirely organized for online order pickup, as I was an early adopter of these tools for several local restaurants. And the main reason I like them is, again, because of my pain and muscle weakness issues, it means less standing around for me. But normally there's at least some apologies for an order not being ready on time, and often they'll specifically suggest I take a seat if it will be a while before my order is ready. Neither of those happened in this instance. And really, if you're talking about a restaurant in which a To Go order was all but non-existent before the online ordering was put in - like a buffet - I would expect a bit more effort on the location's part, to be aware of online orders coming in, and have them ready on time. Not a great customer...

My gosh this is sad as I used to Love this place the last time I had been here Mamy years ago... I've still been hearing from friends that this place is still good and Ive been yearning to come back But, we were so let down... by the food mostly. There was hardly anything that was actually Delicious, and tasted worthy of the $18/person, w/a drink, price. Such low quality fair they've gone down to now that I at maybe a total of one plate's worth of it all as I picked my way through 3 plated of different items to try.. The good: The Fried Cabbage, even though it weirdly had No meat in it, was Delicious!, The fried catfish was Good! The Burbon Chicken was good, not the best buffet version I've had as it was kind of dry, but pretty good, I tried their "Mexican" fair and their Tortilla Chips were surprisingly Delicioso! Their Frijoles Pintos were good, the grilled Jalapeños were good, now the Nacho Meat, pass, the just FlourTortillas were terrible.. how can you go wrong with tortillas?? Some are better than others si, but Bad texture and taste Tortillas?? Must have scrapped the bottom of the Cheap Tortilla barrel for those things, lol. The refrerido beans were ok. The Meatloaf, the Worst, Driest I've ever taken a bite of.. the fried Shrimp were pretty good, the Collard Greens, not very good taste at all. I'm used to mine, which people that taste them say are about the best they've tried, but Idk, these are just weird tasting. Barely any meat, we like ours Meaty! Lol. Their yellow rice, Yummy! White ricez just ok. A few other veggies i didnt have time or room to try. The salad bar is a pretty good, average buffet size bar that it should be, no complaints there, lol. Didn't try the steak, no time. The pizza, raggedy.. The Desserts: Smh... 🥺 I enjoy me some cookies and Carrot Cake but theirs, just No. So sad, as I Love these things, plus tried a tiny Brownie, tiny Rice Crispy Treat, both also pretty bad. Sad to say.. I could barely eat one bite of any of these and had to sadly throw away all of the desserts I tried.. The ice cream was Okay, but definitely tasted Cheap, not creamy or very vanilla flavorful at all.. Soo Disappointing y'all! We live an hour away from here and were soo excited to take our youngest son to try for the first time so this was a huge let down.. We felt our time and money had been totally wasted... The atmosphere and decor have also gone downhill. Tables and carpets al look so dirty and dingy. And are too close together. A lot of bigger sized people eat here and we could see them having trouble getting in and out of their tables/chairs and around others... it was uncomfortably close. Zero conversation privacy... GOLDEN CORRAL OWNERS, PLEASE REFURBISH AND DEEP CLEAN OR CHANGE THE CARPETING AND UPGRADE YOUR FOOD CHOICES SO THAT IT ALL MATCHED THE HIGH PRICE TO EAT HERE. PLEEEASE! As we will, sadly, not be back until, if ever, that...