Golden Corral

IT’S A TRAP!!!
The last time I went, about 3 weeks ago I ended up with food poisoning for the entire weekend. I decided to return again today hoping things would be better, no food poisoning this time but everything was ass backwards. All the food was cold and the juice was warm, and this was with going there within the first 30 minutes of them being opening for the day. Up to this point, I have been a regular that has visited almost every Saturday and quite a few Sundays but after today and from the food poisoning from 3 weeks ago, I’m done.

Definitely not worth the price, at least at this location. The place smelled (not-​so-​faintly) like urine and mildew. Open tables were nowhere near clean. Absolutely dismal service. When we paid upfront, the cashier told us we could get our drinks when we sat down. Ten minutes in, no one had showed up at our table, so we got up to ask a waitress. They were all in the beverage room (no one was attending the front), and she seemed annoyed by our request. I don’t understand why the restaurant doesn’t just open a self-​service beverage station inside the buffet area, especially if serving soda to customers is such a hassle. The food was ok for the most part, but the service behind the counter was worse than the waiting service. The staff member assigned to the meat section (slicing sausage, turkey, etc) was on his phone with a visible line of people waiting in front of him. The two times I passed the section again, no one was manning it at all, and there’s no way for the customer to serve himself without someone behind the counter slicing. We found a hair on our pizza (sticking out under the cheese), which isn’t that big a deal because it happens sometimes, but when we went to tell the staff behind the counter, they literally laughed about it like it was some sort of joke, with me standing right in front of them. Oh, and get this, as we’re (quite visibly) eating dessert and almost ready to leave, a waitress finally introduces herself. «Hi I’ll be your waitress today. Is there anything I can get for you?» Usually better late than never, but not this time. Not coming back here again.

DISGUSTING! So it was my dad’s birthday and to please everyone we decided on golden corral because of the variety of food. We paid, got our food and ate when my son decided he wanted nachos. He went over to the chips and comes back saying there is a roach. I got up to investigate and sure enough a roach came out of the chips and was strolling along the buffet table and made its way to the wall. I was disgusted! I alerted one of the guys in the back and he immediately took the chips to the back. I asked our waiter for the manager who then came over and i told him what was going on. His 1^st comment was that i look familiar, wtf! And he started apologizing and said he would credit our meal. Problem was the waiter had thrown the receipt already. I told him that was fine, i really just wanted to alert them. He then said he would tell their pest control co to spray that area and gave me his business card saying it was good for 1 free meal. In my head im thinking «yeah right». BUT WAIT… that was not it! My daughter wanted cotton candy so we went over once and the machine was off. She noticed it was on when we were getting ready to leave so i asked the girl in the back for one and she told me to hold on. We waited… and waited… and waited all the while watching her cut a pie. The thing was there was nobody waiting for the darn pie! By this point im pissed so i asked again and she said she was the only one working that area. I told her i understood but nobody was waiting for pie and we were waiting for cotton candy. She gave me an attitude and i turned and got my stuff to leave all the while with my kids asking for their cotton candy. On the way out i spotted the manager and decided to let him know that i would NEVER visit this establishment again. If i could give no stars i would. Rude employees that hate their job and roaches are a definite deter.

Food was great, but the tables were sloppy and only two of six restrooms worked and they weren’t that clean. Not worth what we paid, but the servers were nice. Management needs to be replaced or retrained. They obviously don’t care anymore.

Good food but. Kids running around everywhere, dirty tables with plates stacked on them. Should have went to a nicer place not worth $ 30 for two. GO SOME PLACE ELSE.

I really enjoyed the food here.
Even tho it’s a little bit pricey it really get you satisfied
The burgers are cooked to perfection
The chicken is crispy
The soup is just the right temp
And don’t forget all the dessert choices you have Apple pie, Cheesecake, Chocolate fountains, You name it
So next time your in San Antonio I really recommend you come eat here you won’t be sorry

I have never been to a Golden Corral that was so dirty. Floors, tables, plates and silverware all very dirty. The only thing I ate that was worth anything was the fried fish and that was because I caught it when they just came out. Hot food was dry and not all that hot. Cold stuff was not always cold. If I hadn’t been in a group my family would have left and gone someplace else.
I only gave it one star but wouldn’t have awarded a star at all if I didn’t have to.

We stopped in at Golden Corral after spending the day in San Antonio. Since it was before the dinner rush, the restaurant was slow so we didn’t have to wait for any food. The prices were fairly inexpensive and the quality was comparable to hometown buffet.
The waitress was polite, the food was good, and it was nice that they had some sugar free desserts. Overall, this was a decent stop while on the road and we have to say that we enjoyed our lunch.

I’m disappointed in service a lot of tables were not clean Sunday 10, 2014 around 4:00pm. This restaurant was not up to par, kids running around and yelling and were not accompanied by parents. I asked for a manager and could not been found.

Went for dinner on a Saturday night with my family. After paying & entering the main part of the restaurant, I noticed how unkempt the store was. The carpet was sticky to my feet. There was an overall miasma of the scent of an unwashed McDonald’s children’s playground despite the smell of food. There were numerous empty tables that had not been cleaned. We had to stand around while a busser cleaned a table for us & swept up the disgustingly coated floor. Once I was finally able to get to the food, I continued to be unimpressed. Even though the place was busy, the food appeared to have been sitting out for quite a while and appeared unappetizing. I selected a number of things and one I got to eating the food was truly gross. Soup had been out too long, fajitas overcooked & dry, peas also dried out, mac&cheese was bland… I could go on. Anyway, our visit was horrid and I will not be returning.

When I lived in VA I went to Golden Corral several times a month. This was my first TX Golden Corral, and lord, it will spoil me. They had sooo much more food choices then VA. I went during lunch, so it was a bit slow and some of the food didn’t seem so great/​tasted like it had been sitting out for a while, so I want to go back for dinner one day, but outside of that, it was really good.

We were one of the first people through the door when they opened and it seemed as if they weren’t ready to be open yet. The bottled soda/​water bins had no ice in them so my bottle of water was room temperature.
Tables were dirty from I would assume the day before, since we were first people of day to sit at them. Floors needed a vacuuming as I saw bits of old food here and there. Some of the food was great, other food that should have been hot was cold/​slightly warmish.
Our server was friendly at least.

On Friday January 4^th, my mother and I went to your store on SW Military drive. It was near 4 pm. She wanted to get there before the early bird special ended. When we got to the register, after a long wait behind a large indecisive family choosing beverages and another family who didn’t know who was paying for whom. We finally get to the register. My mother says, 1 adult and one senior early bird. The little girl says that the special is over. Our reply was that we were in line for several minutes behind said families. «Hospitality» manager Nick Prosser finally came and question why we wanted a discount. We mentioned to him the situation. Every time we said something, he questioned it. Are you sure? How big was the family? Did you get here before 4? He huffed and puffed until we were just frustrated, said never mine and sat ourselves. What we didn’t know is that we sat next to an elderly couple who encountered the same situation. They brought this up to manager Charles Burch. He said he’ll look in to it and walked away. Over 20 minutes went by. When he returned, he informed them that he reviewed the tapes and discovered that the people were NOT in line before 4 and they would not get their discount. He spent over 20 minutes to save $ 6 +/​-​. To me that seems a bit wasteful. I’m sure he makes a decent wage. And to waste nearly half of an hour of his wage to save about $ 6 seems like 1) Bad Management and 2) Poor decision.
My mother and I frequent your establishment on average, 2 times a week. Sometimes more, family (10 or so) likes to get together and have a big breakfast on the weekend. By my calculations, just my mother and I eating twice a week comes out to about $ 2400 give or take. When I mentioned this to Mr. Burch, all he could say was… that’s company policy. WHAT? Are you kidding? I also mentioned that the couple that he did not take care of informed me that they were going to go back to the senior center and tell everyone not to go to Golden Corral because of this. Great PR work Mr. Burch. You all have been around for 40 years. You food is good; your servers are some of the hardest working people I have seen. I use to own a bar and restaurant. To go through that much effort to save $ 3-​$ 6 dollars… if one of my employees did that. I would have them fired. Because of his actions, I, my readers (I have a food blog), my family and friends are considering NOT returning.
The Silver Lining:
When I asked for all of the numbers to corporate and a regional manager, your kitchen manager approached me, a very nice lady by the name of Rachel. She was the first one to apologize. She has given me a glimmer of hope for the management at store #925. She spoke with me and said she was sorry. She even went as far as thinking of other ways to avoid this in the future.
No I have not posted this on any of my social media feeds because I wanted to get feedback from you all first. But as you can see… I have a following. I know one man and his friends and family will not make a dent in an otherwise large and solid company. But I can make a difference for the senior community and dinning community here in San Antonio. In short… my biggest pet peeve about the entire situation are the people that we not able to save a little money. The elderly couple told me and my mother that they can’t afford to eat there all the time. They like the special because they can save money and get a free drink instead of water. THAT is what made me angry. That $ 6 might not mean a lot to Mr. Burch as he wastes time and money looking over video footage. It might not mean a lot to the bottom line of you all. But I can guarantee you that it means a HELL of a lot to the elderly couple that comes once a month when they can afford it. Mr. Burch did not even offer them a coupon or a discount on a future visit. He simply said… it’s company policy.
Thank you for your time.
I will be forward this letter to my media contacts. I think that this is a sad excuse for a manager and policy. I recently went to another NON-​corporate Golden Corral. The service was WAYYY better. The staff was friendly and looked like they were having a good time. The manager was on the floor and attentive. She was even walking around with a coffee pot. I WILL be going to that location… but never again will I or my family or my readers or followers go to the corporate store on SW Military Dr.

Not as good as Hometown Buffet but it’s close.
Pizza is fair.
Lasagna is good.
Plenty of veggies.
Best banana pudding and bread pudding around.
More selection than Furr’s and Coyote Canyon.
They have Mexican drinks like jamaica and horchata, which are awesome.
It’s kinda pricey but you get your money’s worth.
GC has Italian, seafood, steak, Chinese, Mexican and homestyle food covered. Now all it needs is a Japanese/​sushi section as well as Greek, Thai and Indian so it can be a legitimate buffet that has everything covered.
It’d be nice if bussers did their job by clearing the tables, or waitstaff.

We went here on a trip to visit my brother and it was decent. It’s very comparable to Hometown Buffet, but with many more selections. I give it 4 stars because of how affordable it is and all the selections. Other than that, it is like any other American buffet. It is a bit filthy, busy and crowded, but if you don’t mind then you will be fine!

ill give it 5 stars :) i love their food and its affordable for lunch buffet. this is our fav buffet so far.

Don’t know why this place got bad reviews. Ended up going here twice during my visit to San Antonio.
Pros:
* Salad Bar has every veggie topping you can think of. It’s not cheap iceberg lettuce, you can actually choose spinach or romaine as well along with grilled chicken breast and sirloin steak.
* Lot of Variety. There are several stations you can visit. If you want the American southern classic they have everything from fried chicken, oysters, calamari, mashed potatoes w/​gravy, biscuits, steamed veggies, baked sweet potatoes/​potatoes, meatloaf, potroast, liver, etc. If you want Chinese they have everything from fried rice, chow mein, orange chicken, etc. If you want Italian they have lasagna, spaghetti, pasta, pizza, meatballs, garlic bread, etc. If you want Mexican, they have enchiladas, quesadillas, nachos, fajitas, tamales, and a taco bar. Their dessert station is awesome ! Cookies, brownies, cobbler, pie, rolls, cupcakes, muffins, squares, bars, jello, rice krispies, fudge, ice cream with unlimited toppings, and a chocolate fountain with strawberries to dip.
* Staff is friendly are quick to take your dirty plates and fill up your drinks.
Cons:
* They only have a carving station for roast turkey and ribs at dinner time.
* They use a load of butter or lard to grill their meats along with onions/​peppers/​mushrooms.
* Fruit station is limited. They only had apples, peaches, pineapple, watermelon, along with cottage cheese.
* Not enough fish available — only had baked flounder and fried catfish I believe. No salmon !
* No Japanese station. They pretty much covered all the comfort foods, but if they provided a Japanese station — sushi, sashimi, tempura, miso soup, yakitori, teppanyaki, mochi, teriyaki sauce, etc. It would have been complete.
All in all, you can’t go wrong with golden corral and its massive variety to choose from. Whatever you or your guests are craving, this place will satisfy it. This was my first time at this chain and I definitely will be going to one in California.

It us a Golden Corral; don’t expect five stars and it is not above average but it is average three stars… Food is standard; staff is nice… Just wished people watch their kids because they like to play in food instead of putting food on their plate… Basic buffet style etiquette…

This GC seems like one of the larger and newer style GC restaurants. I consider GC to be the king of buffet style eating. Cheap food and lots of it.
A few problems that need to be noted about this place however. Biggest thing I noticed was the dinnerware. It was filthy. I pulled 4 plates before finding a clean one; then every salad plate I pulled had a greasy film all over them; then with dessert, the first ice cream bowl I pulled had moist strudel all over it. Don’t think the dishwasher is very motivated here.
The meat all tasted good, but the salad bar here is scant. Very few items to choose, though GC salad bars are usually skimpy with choices.
There are 2 good things about this particular location: the staff and the dessert bar. Staff is always busy and smiling. Got a happy send off on the way out. Those little things mean a lot. The dessert bar, despite unclean dishes, has many choices that are good.
That being said, will not go here again. Number one obligation by an eatery is cleanliness.