Golden Corral Buffet & Grill — Restaurant in Durham

GC runs some awesome dinner specials but they are only on Fri. eve, Sat. & Sun. I do not drive at night so that leaves Sat. or Sun. their busiest times.

I am physically disabled & dine alone (with my Service Dog) this restaurant favors large parties over those dining alone. Time before last when I went there I was enjoying my meal when a large party was seated in the same area - THEY LITERALLY TOOK OVER - forcing me to rush through my meal & leave.

On 10/2 I went for their shrimp special. I found a table, got set up then went to get my food. When I returned the waitress had seated a very large party taking over the entire area; I could not get back to the table I had setup at because the large party was blocking it; I had to move to a less desirable area & a smaller table.

They listed 6 items for the shrimp special; they did not have 2 of these items at all. The shrimp skews were not cooked & they were cooking so few at a time there was a long wait for them. When I asked the manager about the cocktail shrimp (there was none out) he had a few brought out. When I went back later to get more; there was more than 4 inches of ice covering the shrimp. It took me several minutes to get a couple shrimp out then I gave up. I know they have to be kept on ice but it shouldn't be so much ice that diners cannot access them.

They have steak that they cook to order (well they are supposed to cook to order). There were quite a few steaks being cooked simultaneously on the grill. I told the cook very clearly that I wanted my steak RARE, he repeated "RARE". Then proceeded to cut one of the steaks on the grill in 1/2 & put it on my plate. When I went to eat it I found it was medium well to well done/ cooked way too much for me. In the past GC used to cook steaks to order now they take short cuts that ruin the meal.

The other problem was that there were NO RULES in terms of children going to the food/ desert bar unattended by adults. I am not talking older kids but kids 3 to 5 years old. I walk with a walker & several times almost got barreled over by kids running throughout the restaurant; their parents did not try to stop them & neither did management. Being Sunday, the restaurant was very crowded, navigating from my table to the food/ desert bar with my walker & service dog is difficult under the best of circumstances but these kids were just running wild not using any care where others were walking.

The other thing that bothered me (because it will eventually effect cost) is that these children were taking bags & bags of cotton candy & other desserts (& some food items) far more than any child could consume then when the families completed their meals & were ready to leave all this partially consumed (& some untouched) food was left on the table. There was no monitoring or regulation.

In regards to be forced out by the large party time before last; I did write a customer review on the GC website & asked that someone contact me to discuss it further NO ONE CONTACTED ME. After yesterday's incident I again contacted GC via their website review - LET'S SEE IF THEY CONTACT ME OR IGNORE ME...

I’m not a fan of buffets but promised my partner we’d go. Glad we did. A lot of fresh food & wasn’t any piles of filler deep fried beige stuff, canned veg & cheap meat that we are used to from our previous State. There was a great selection - You name it they had it. The place was packed - it was 530pm on a Saturday. A massive rainstorm had made it extra busy. There are 4 dining rooms so it didn’t feel like you were all in one big room. The decor is basic but comfortable. The servers were amazing. The brisket was out of this world, but the very best thing was the steak. I couldn’t believe it. I think it might be the best steak I’ve ever had! including many amazing steakhouses in Europe, the Caribbean, Britain and America, over decades. I’m not kidding it was that good. There were good choices of fresh veggie accompaniments.

We finished with some really good soft serve ice cream topped with chocolate dipped strawberries. Even the coffee - which was made fresh, was outstanding.

This change my mind about buffets. The price was pretty good, drinks are extra & ordered with cashier before sitting down.

We left a tip at the table but didn’t see much of that going on which i thought sad as the staff were really amazing & couldn’t do enough for you.

Everything was the temperature it’s supposed to be, the plates etc were extremely clean. Everything was topped up and if anything was out (like the strawberries) just ask and it appears in minutes.

I’ve given 4.5 stars as the seafood section was lame & the bathrooms were a nightmare, half the stalls were out of order & the others I’m pretty sure were housing the possessed. The soap was out. I don’t know if I can really blame them for the loos, they were hit with very heavy traffic but still, I might need therapy after that.

We’ve been back several times and it’s been excellent every time - had to upgrade to 5 stars because they...

EDIT: Came back on October 28th. Complete 180. Clean, food stocked, great atmosphere!!! They fired a certain group of people and hired a certain group of people and this place has really changed for the better!!!! Awesome job.

It was okay. I’m giving 3 stars, and here’s why:

First, the renovation looks amazing. The wood tones, the stone wall with the fireplace, very cozy and inviting. The seats were decently comfortable too.

When we walked in, the ladies at the register were just… there. Not rude, but not friendly either. Total for our family of 3 came to about $59 — $18.99 per adult (dinner pricing after 4pm), $12.99 for my 10-year-old, and $8 for drinks. Pretty standard.

Tip: get cash back at the register if you plan to tip your server; I always forget!

Now, let’s talk about the dining experience. It was crowded, but hey, that’s expected at Golden Corral.

What really dropped the experience for me at this location was the food quality. The cucumbers were cut ridiculously thick, and the overall prep just seemed careless. They did a decent job keeping items refilled.

While we were eating, the manager had to make several loudspeaker announcements asking staff to clean up, vacuum, restock bathrooms, etc. That was a little uncomfortable….felt like we were eating in the middle of a staff meeting.

As for dessert; my go-to items are the banana pudding and apple cobbler. Sadly, neither were available, even though the signs were still out. When I asked the lady at the dessert counter, she responded with a very snippy “NOT TODAY” and kept it moving. Not the vibe.

Shout out to our server Zuzu, though. She was pleasant and attentive.

My daughter summed it up perfectly: “I wish they put as much effort into the food as they did the renovation.” She LOVES Golden Corral and barely finished one plate. That says a lot.

We’ll stick with the Burlington location moving forward; much...