Golden Corral Buffet & Grill — Restaurant in Kingsport

Service is usually good. The servers try to get to you and keep glasses full and pull used plates.

My problem is with the management who sets the menu.

Years ago, there was coconut cream pie and oreo pieces on the dessert bar. You could make your amateur version of a "Blizzard" by mixing oreo with ice cream. There were also gummies and other goodies to suit other tastes.

The coconut creme pie is gone as are the oreos. They have replaced these with the gimmick fountain.

The soft serve is grainy with ice crystals and no smooth taste.

The hot food items are also not what they used to be.

I wish I was as smart at their management at figuring out how to put out mediocre food just good enough to get you in the door and poor tasting enough to reduce consumption. They have hit the supply-demand curve perfectly and are maximizing profits while the consumer does not get the same quality of meal they got ten years ago.

The local Ryan's restaurants are out of business so they do not have any serious competition. We went to Mama's House once and it was OK but not impressive enough to want to go back.

The selection of mediocre food is such that when you have a group of 5+, you go here as other, more focused, restaurants will not be acceptable to at least one person in the group. The entire group shows up and finds something that is "good enough" to put some food in the belly. The servers are almost always pleasant and efficient. People like me who remember the old days become bitter about the removal of coconut pie, oreo and other candy pieces, and the reduction in quality of the soft serve ice cream.

You walk in, pay your money, eat less than you did 10 years ago, and walk out praying for the day that another mega-corporation decides to produce a buffet with the same quality as this place had 10 years ago. If this day ever comes, it will force the management here to either start providing something better than mediocre, or Golden Corral will go the way of Ryan's.

For now you go because you want some hot food or salad and the alternative is expensive plate food that narrows what each person eats.

Billionaires of the world, please compete with these folks who have an unofficial monopoly on this niche so they will either raise their quality of offerings or go the way that they forced Ryan's to go a few years back. Right now, you keep going back not because you cherish the food but because they offer something that is acceptable to a diverse group of people. If I never set foot in this place again, I will not miss anything as it currently operates. However I realize that when with the entire family or with a large group of people, I...

We’ve been coming to Golden Corral for years…….and only because our kids enjoy it, mostly because they have ice cream. There’s the first problem. The ice cream is out of order VERY frequently. Also, what they started serving within the last year can no longer be called ice cream. They changed whatever their mix is and now it’s basically frozen vanilla flavored water. It’s gross. It doesn’t look or taste like ice cream….and when it’s the primary reason we come that’s upsetting. It’s like the last nail in the coffin. It immediately turns to water, forget about adding hot fudge. Just plain gross and kind of insulting to continue to charge the same price while quality has gone wayyyyyyyy down. The food is barely mediocre anymore, it’s seriously gone down hill. Often times things are cold or have clearly been sitting far too long….I’ve seen regular items out that look like they’ve probably been reheated for several days to the point they aren’t even the correct color anymore. I was there one time where the offerings looked like something you’d see at a homeless shelter. Think multiple kinds of beans and wet noodles you have to dump sauce on. I don’t know what’s going on with the desert section but the women who work that section are just plain nasty to customers for absolutely no reason. The banana pudding has recently taken a nose dive too. The last time we went it was like soup. It shouldn’t have been out for customers. You have to go to 3 separate places for silverware. You get a fork when you pay but knives and spoons are in separate locations. The rest rooms are absolutely disgusting and smell terribly of sewer gas. They have NEVER not smelled like sewer gas. Why over a period of many years has this not been fixed? The air conditioning doesn’t work. You think they’d let you know before you pay….hey maybe slap a sign on the door. The only way to get excellent service is getting a table in Rob’s section. Rob is awesome and takes great care of anyone in his section. I feel taken for every time we’ve eaten here in the last couple of years but it’s gotten even worse. It used to be well even if the food was awful today hopefully the ice cream is working and that will save the meal. But not anymore. Told the kids we aren’t going to continue to give business to a place that clearly has little regard for...

There was some good and bad experience at this establishment, and I might as well start with the good. To start off some of the food I had tired was amazing! Such as the Ham and shrimp. The restaurant was kept very clean at the buffet and the lobby and seating area as well! We got there and were greeted as soon as the door opened, no wait time, and our service was beyond amazing.

Now the issues we did find was a bit...off To start off, some of the food was interesting and needed some work, I forgot if it was pumpkin or sweet potato pie, but it had way too much cinnamon that you couldn't enjoy the flavors this pie had to offer. The mango ice was nothing but colored water, and the banana pudding was bland. The steaks needed better trimming, and it was warm, I had asked for a rare, and he had taken the steak that had been sitting beside him and tossed it on the grill to warm it up. The bathrooms, both male and female, had issues. The males restroom was nasty and filled the room with an aroma where it made you not want to eat when you returned. And in the female bathroom , a worker with an apron had walked out of the handy cap while a handy cap female was waiting for it, and washed her hands and left. Any worker with an apron should remove the idea to prevent cross contamination. When we asked to speak to a manager, he was very nice and understood the situation and said he would have a talk with the servers.

Would return again but would expect...