Golden Corral Buffet & Grill — Restaurant in Wilmington

My husband mother in law and I brought my sons to this location to celebrate my soon to be 8 year old birthday. Golden Corral is his favorite place to eat. Location #549 in Wilmington NC

We got our beverages , and the older white lady who was in a white management shirt on was ringing us up. Her name is Cheryl  Benson. I asked if this location took military discount, she said yes so my mother in law handed Mrs. Benson her military ID , who asked "who served? " My mother in law responded with" my husband." Mrs. Benson then said "we only give discount to those who served!" Now not only did my father n law serve our country for 22 years but my husband also served 10 years in the military,so my husband handed Mrs. Benson his military ID. So baffled my mother in law stated she was offended and in shock, and then proceed to pay for our meal.

Mrs.Benson  looked at my mother in law, while  in the process of handing her back our debit card, and says "I will give you your money back!" With an attitude.

In shock, my mother in law replied to Mrs.Benson with " I did not ask for my money back , I made a statement." I was very upset at this employees tone and attitude , then informed Mrs. Benson that she was exteremly rude and her response was exteremly uncalled for.

Mrs.Benson became combative in the conversation with myself n my mother n law trying to prove her point. My husband who was also embarrassed and upset took my children to away from the confrontation that was being caused by the employee.

My mother in law is a District Manager for a very well known company and I myself work in the medical field , we understand every business has a policy ; and their employees must follow those policy's. However they need to be dealt with in a professional manner , and not how this situation was handled.

If the company an employee works for has a policy that a customer is unhappy with, then said employee  states the policy and apologize for any inconveniences, that there is a way you can voice your feelings and highlight or write down where the customer can leave feedback. .

We have NEVER to an establishment to where in the same breath, not only am employee, but a member of MANAGEMENT,  told me the total and swiped my card then rudely tells us we can have our money back because of being offended by something. And not only responded rudely, but continue to argue in front of a line of potential customers who also have  small children in line.

We are not only appalled by her response to the situation but pure embarrassed. If it was not for my son who was celebrating his birthday at his favorite restaurant I promise I would have took my money back and left. I will never go back to this establishment. I will travel to eat at another restaurant.

She did apologize when we went to leave your establishment, however that does not erase the embrassment she caused. We will not return to your place of business, and I hope in the future there this incident can be used as a learning excercise on...

You figure,, after all the times I've been there I would have learned my lesson,, but NO! But Lord willing, this is MY LAST TIME! We went on a Friday Night and even with my Veteran Discount the dinner buffet for 2 was $34.00!! The lettuce on the salad bar was brown,, and I'm an Artist and I can't describe the shade of brown it was! And the pieces were the hard pieces, not the nice pieces of lettuce!! When we ask the Lady working behind the salad bar, she got some more out of the fridge and it was worse!! The overall appearance of the bar was complete disarray, cheese in the onions, olives in the bacon bits, etc, etc. We finally sat down and the ONLY THING that made the 1st part of our night "bearable" was our server, a Lady from Poland name Ava! She was Awesome! After salad I had some Shrimp, baked and Fried Fish and my date had some med. Well steak and "some kind" of seared chicken! The fried fish was Extremely Salty and the Baked Fish, the only thing I can compare it to was LIVER PUDDING!! It was Absolutely Discusting!! Her "Experimental" Yard-Bird" tasted like a High School lab experiment gone Waaayyy South!! And if that was enough to kick our stomachs into expulsion mode, The Roach crawling on the wall that Ava killed damn sure was! I never noticed what the sanitation score was but when I go back tomorrow demanding my money back, TRUST ME I WILL pay attention because while we were trying not to vomit @ 7:30pm they were actually pouring soapy water on the floor between the hot bar and the dining room and customers were "Skating Across" the place!! $35 will take you ALONG WAY in Wilmingtons's Rich and Diverse Dining Community, Do Not Waste Your $ and...

Since I'm giving this location a 5 I would have to have given the location at Monkey Junction (College Rd.) a 6 and really hate it got closed with no explanation or warning. Go here several times a year for dinner and 3-6 times a month for lunch. (Pro tip - get the takeout for lunch and then eat at work; I usually spend 5-6 bucks for more and better food than at a fast food place.)

Have I had less than optimal experiences here? Sure - the food can vary but cooking at volume it's not always going to be perfect, the steak and shrimp a couple months ago my wife found the shrimp to not be up to snuff compared to other places (Edit.. when she read this she asked to say it was the boiled shrimp and disgusting.) and as we were nearing the end of our meal a trio was seated near us with a young boy wearing no shirt(?!), sometimes the food I really want is empty but a few minutes later it's refilled. In the overall picture the few minor things I've experienced amongst so many other great visits are not enough to take anything away.

The few times I've actually been in-house for lunch rather than take away I'll always look for Queen Bee's section and when I'm not staying I always hope the manager (I'm assuming the blue shirt denotes manager), will ring me out or see me so I can say Hi.

My favorites (in no particular order): Pot roast esp. the fatty parts, meatloaf, cheeseburger, fried fish, steak if I'm there for dinner, a few shrimp mixed in and I always hope there's some non-crispy bacon but I know I'm a minority...