Golden Corral

I was beyond disappointed. Everything was bland and dry except for the baked chicken which was surprisingly delicious and the banana pudding so one star for 2 good dishes out of maybe 20 things we tried. The other star is going to the staff who were all very friendly. The dishes and silverware look as though they were bought well used from a elementary cafeteria. The booths and tables were all ripped and falling apart which is strange as this restaurant is less than a year old. I was almost embarrassed to be eating here. I blame pregnancy cravings for thinking that a buffet would be a good idea.

I think the doggy Park garbage can tastes better but really… I rather have hospital food that gives me a less distasteful after taste than this Golden Corals expierence did.

I’m here on business and I was actually surprised that there was a Golden Corral in NY. I usually go to Golden corral down south when I visit my parents. The food was very bland and barely hot. It wasn’t all that busy for a 6:30pm dinner rush. Staff was friendly and restaurant was clean. I hope they improve.

Food’s awful and there’s not enough. KIDDING! Selection and quality were terrific. Happy with everything we tasted. Steak was grilled to perfection. Desserts? Each better than the next. Carrot cake AND cheesecake? Yes, please. We’re less quantity– than variety-​driven. Perfect for sampling without committing to one item. Didn’t see a single person I know, which was fine for incognito binge. No judging. Yes, it IS a different «element.» Which made for fun, friendly and refreshing diversity. I’d return and recommend Golden Corral. But because of it’s low class reputation, I might not admit it.
Oh, they have cotton candy & make your own soft serve sundaes. Note to self: bring the kiddies next time.

Worst Buffett I have ever been to. After seeing their ads on TV and thinking this place looks pretty good \, I thought I might give it a try. The selection was ok but every thing I tried was bland and tasteless, a couple of things were not to bad. The carrot cake was the only thing I had that I can say was good. The one I went to was in a Rochester NY suburb, if they are all like this then I will never go to another one.

The place was full of undesirable «people.» Seating is so squished together that the man at the table next to me had to get up and move out of the way everytime the people sitting behind him got up or came back to the table. Everytime someone walked past our table, their bodys brushed our table. The food was not great but I have definatly had worse. The «steak» was just a bunch of chunks of inedible cords and grissle that we had to wait 10 minutes for, in no way was it classifiable as steak. These animals literally push you out of the way to get to the food they want. There is no order at all, it is a free-​for-​all. The «server» Chandra was very nice and attentive, clearing plates rapidly and asking if we wanted refills. We planned on getting cotton candy on our way out, but plans changed after we waited 10 minutes for the five employees working the dessert station to acknowledge us with no luck. They must not get paid enough to open cans of vegetables, rap with their homies and serve customers at the same time. I will not be returning.

This place is disgusting.. Leave it to rochester to screw up a nice place. management sucks and they always are running out of food. they need to run this place better than they are… it’s sad I’ve been to many golden corrals and this one is the worst I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if I will be returning soon at all. I’ll give it time and see if they can make improvements

We were there to drop by and pass a gift to a family member who was eating there. We were polite to the GM who stopped us thinking we were there for a meal without paying. I informed him that we were just there to say hi to our family and drop a gift, and pointed to a table. He responded extremely sarcastically and said «OH THAT TABLE WHO WAS RESERVED FOR 3pm??» and yes we arrived at 4pm. But what is the problem? We weren’t eating! And as far as I saw, it is a buffet and our family was still eating! The GM was sarcastic thinking he is better than everyone else, and obnoxiously rude. Not only did we not eat there, we plan NEVER to. Most disgusting place I have ever been. YUCK!

Service was terrible; I ate an entire plate of food while I waited on the waitress to bring me a glass of water. She finally brought me one once I got my next plate of food. The bathroom was disgusting! I gave the second star only because the food was decent. Find somewhere else to eat.

The most disgusting place I have ever been.
Unbussed tables, in edible food, unkept, messy… Where is the health department?
And not cheap. You can’t see the condition of the place until
After they take your money.

I love this place. The variety of foods is awesome and the desert bar is pretty amazing with a chocolate fountain and cotton candy!

Wow wow wow
I just came back from this nasty feed bag. I cant believe i ate here. It didnt even feel like the food was real. It was as though everything tasted like freezer burn. The drink station was dripping wet and smelled like mildew and bleach. The dining room smelled like feet. The staff in the back kept walking around the dining room in their rubber aprons that had stains all over them. I cant think of a good reason why they would have to come out there at all. Now i feel gross and can only hope i get the bubble guts and i dont have to taste this food again by throwing it up. Jesus tap dancing christ

Alright so were do i begin, A few weeks ago me and my father decide to take a stroll and stop by Golden Corral, After seeing the negative reviews on Unilocal!perhaps i figured people were overreacting or just ‘picky eaters’ and oh boy was i wrong.
So many things wrong with this place, Lets start off with the entrance. So you walk-​in and line-​up cafeteria style, pick a tray, choose drink and pay then find a table. I immediately had to go for the protein so checked out some steak and fried chicken as well as a baked sweet potato and cesar salad. Lets start off with the chicken, I find it so hard to believe that they don’t know how to cook chicken mines was undercooked and pink’ish. To top it all off i seen some stuff happening with their employees in the kitchen which ruined my appetite and led me to believe Golden Corral wasn’t a very sanitary place and i’m talking about little things such as «kitchen workers talking over the food, not using gloves, women touching there hair (with no hair net) and loud talking etc. just unprofessional.
No to mention that the lack of fresh food was astounding, Mostly everything i had chosen to eat was sitting out there for ATLEAST 5+ hours since the chicken wings i ate were dry, the baked potato was cold and over-​baked (hard), the sauteed livers were chewy and not to sound picky which i’m far from it, it was just terrible. Never again will i be coming to this restaurant, Id rather visit Old Country buffett or something.

I honestly can’t believe we came here. The only good thing about this place was probably our bus girl/​waitress Alana. The steak was way over seasoned/​salty and the wings were just dry. I would say the food is a little better than cafeteria food and that is not worth bringing my whole family here for.
I was at the desert bar and saw that they ran out of rice krispie, I asked this girl in the back if there was anymore and she said «uh, maybe» in a sarcastic tone. My brother and I both looked at each other thinking, is she serious? Without saying anything else, she took out the rice krispie and started complaining about some guy working there and then just throwing rice krispie on a plate in front of me. I cannot believe I was disrespected like that. Unless management gets things through to their people, this restaurant will never be a success because of this type of people working here. My family and I will absolutely never return to another Golden Corral after this meal.

I came here one time, and that will be the last time… ever…
This is one of those places I walked into based on word of mouth and forgot to check Unilocal for.
Lucky you, you didn’t make the same mistake (I hope) since you’re reading this now.
Heed my warning.
NONE SHALL PASS
Time to start it off
I’ll skip the uninteresting explanation about how long it took me to get seated, and how one customer asked me «Da f— you doin son gettin dat close to me?» when the line condensed. I’ll even skip the part about two people screaming obscenities at eachother and being escorted out the front door… I should have turned around… but I didn’t…
Enter…the crypt.
Let me tell you something about little kids and chocolate fountains… actually you might be eating so I won’t go too into detail. But if you look in the fountain you’ll see some of the grossest looking stuff floating in it I’ve seen in my life. Their greedy little unwashed fingers dancing through the flowing chocolate and into their mouths happily as the fountain goes unguarded, and then right back into the chocolate. Upon seeing this I was immediately wary about what else this place had in store for me…
I grabbed a plate to get some food and saw many of the same customers putting their grubby hands all over the food, the line (or whatever it was) out of control, and the employees looking flustered and unsure what to do. I noticed a smudge on my plate and made sure to avoid putting any food where it would touch the smudge… but I immediately hated my decision.
I started (and finished) with what I believe was some form of fried chicken. It looked like chicken, and felt like chicken… but it tasted like a weird mixture of turkey, breading, and maybe a bit of chicken…
Shortly after that a lovely fight broke out. I think someone took the last piece of chicken that someone else wanted.
No. Really.
That’s what it was about.
The chicken was gone. So fists started flying.
Seems a bit childish, but the funny thing is they were both adults.
Either way, the staff looked terrified, diners looked completely okay with it, the entire place was just hell.
I got up from my seat and went to where I had paid, I explained I was leaving since I didn’t feel like watching a UFC match with my meal, I explained I had less than half a piece of chicken and was told «oh well». So, I didn’t feel like arguing, and left.
This was by far the single most miserable dining experience I’ve ever had in my life.
Do not enter :(
Oh, by the way, I never met my waiter. Just saying.
Edit; I’ve linked this page to their Corporate management as well, and pointed out many things they could do to fix the store. Will update on the response I get.

Having never eaten at a Golden Corral I didn’t know what to expect. I love the garbage plate and Dino BBQ when I’m in Rochester and now I have a new favorite we will be going to. This place is hard to beat at under $ 30 to feed my family and make them happy.
5 star buffet in Rochester. Easily the best quality buffet in the greater Rochester area.
Everything is made fresh and I love being able to see everything being cut up and prepared in front of you so you know what you’re getting.
The Chinese buffet is nowhere near as good as this place.
Banana pudding has the classic nilla wafer with fresh bananas and tasty vanilla pudding.
Bread pudding is always my favorite and this one is worth the cost of the whole buffet cost.
Meatloaf hit the spot until I tried the fried chicken which beats KFC and old country buffet.
The freshly ground slider burgers are heaven between two buns. Get the sautéed mushrooms to put on them.
My friends enjoyed the chocolate fondue and cotton candy as well. Kids loved the Mac and cheese and bourbon chicken.
The family can’t wait to come back.

At first I was going to give this place one star. I mean… it’s a (kind of) dirty, noisy place with an endless buffet of food that doesn’t even taste (really) good. What else could it possibly deserve? But then I realized what it actually was supposed to be. And, I reconsidered my rating.
«Golden Corral» is not supposed to be a place to go on a «date night». It’s not supposed to be elegant and dimly lit and romantic. Heck… the food is not even supposed to taste all that good. There’s just supposed to be LOTS of it and it’s supposed to be cheap and filling. It’s a place to go with a bunch of (sometimes) picky kids and have every single one of them leave happy and full with a smudge or two of chocolate and God knows what else on their faces and the front of their shirts. And, it’s supposed to not break the bank while doing so.
On this past Saturday I was a parent chaperon for a trip from Buffalo to Rochester with 20 Boy Scouts ranging in age from 11 to 16. First we visited a museum and then we went to the boys’ holy grail of restaurants… «Golden Corral». I called ahead of time and spoke with Tony, the manager, so he would know we were coming and to find out what time the lunch prices end (Boy Scouts are thrifty, you know). Well, that Tony was a peach of a guy… answering my questions… promising me an area for my group to all sit together… and even throwing in free drinks for my posse. Fantastic!
Upon arriving everything was all set for us. The boys were delighted to all be sitting together. And, the buffet proved to be everything that it should be. Lots of carbs and meat, and most of the veggies drowning in butter and cheese sauce. Pizza? Yup. Spaghetti? Yup. Steak? They’ve got it. Asian food and Southern food and Italian food and American food? Oh yeah. Cookies and cakes and pies and soft ice cream and hand scooped ice cream and three kinds (!!!) of chocolate fountains for dipping fruit and candy into. They’ve got it all! Even a decent (and fresh enough) salad bar for me. Yippee!
And, as I watched «my» boys filling plate after plate of chicken fingers covered with chocolate sauce… and pizza with pickles… and macaroni and cheese topped with mashed potatoes and gravy and a meatball or two… I realized that this place is EXACTLY what it’s supposed to be… and it does it well. Everyone was happy. Everyone was filling up. Even the picky ones found stuff they «loved». So then I realized that this place is A-​OK… and I happily put down my salad fork… and I went to grab some cotton candy for my dessert.

My kids have been bugging us to go here since they ate at one in Wyoming. We arrived on a night that there wasn’t a line out the door and into the parking lot. You enter the doors, and immediately get into a buffet type line for your drink, before you pay. I should have immediately nixed the meal when the glasses I picked up alternated with sticky or still covered in gritty dish soap. But no… the kids wanted to eat here. So, the host goes off telling us when he waves we can come to him. Ten minutes later we lose interest in watching which apparently works out well, because he forgot about us. They seated us at a 4-​top table, pushed a chair up to the end of it, in the walkway. THIS IS A BUFFET. People need to walk in the walkway. So, instead, they were pushing that chair into the table. It was very, very unpleasant.
Cleanliness… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. My husband went thru the entire stack of forks to find a clean one. The knives were disgusting… not quite clean but not quite dirty. There was literally two in the pile of 40+ that were clean. The ketchup bottles had dried ketchup all over them.
The food. DISGUSTING. First, if you are on any sort of a whole food diet, trying to eliminate preservatives, gluten free, soy free, etc., you already know you shouldn’t eat here. But, I will reiterate it. They don’t even offer real butter, only margarine (soy based, and I am soy free). Everything was breaded or contained some sort of filler (I am gluten free). The salad bar looked like a bipolar rabbit had gone through it, lettuce erratically cut, randomly placed trimmings. Every dressing had soy in it. Grrr. The steaks were about the only thing I could identify as a whole food that I was relatively certain had no gluten or soy in them. And, the only gluten free dessert was the cotton candy. (If you count the ice cream, you can’t have the cone).
The line for the steak was 20 minutes or more. I don’t know why, because the grill was huge but only ¼ full and there was clearly a large line. They would cook 10 or so, then put a few more on. They should hired someone that can run a grill, because that is what holds the place up. And, the steak line wrapped around the buffet, so you couldn’t really get to the other food unless you ticked people off by asking them to move.
The waitress walked by us repeatedly, asking what our drinks were so she could refill them, but never did.
I won’t ever go back. Not even for my kids birthday, when they get to pick what they want to eat.

Line out the door…
Wow, where to start. Monday night, line out the door. Must be a good sign, right? This place is horrible. It’s filthy inside, the clientele is obnoxious, the food looks good but each bite makes you think you may be paying for it later (like food poisoning or something). The kitchen can’t keep up with the crowd, at least ¼ of the food trays were empty.
The way the line works you almost feel like cattle going to slaughter and really, that’s a pretty apt analogy. I went with my 15-​year old son who also couldn’t wait to go here. Favorite quotes of the night from him were «I feel like I need a shower» after we were seated and «I can’t believe all the nice places we had to drive past to get here, like Red Lobster.» HAHAHHAAHH… What does that tell you???
There are 3 food areas once you’re done standing in line with the other cattle, holding your drink, which for some reason you need to do before you make it to the cashier. It’s kind of confusing. One area is the salad bar, which is pretty easy to get around b/​c this is NOT a salad bar crowd. Then the main area where you can get the wings, fried chicken, steak, etc. Last is the dessert area.
So we went through the first time. A ton of the heating trays were empty. I mean, a LOT. We slowly made our way around til we got to the grill where the guy was cooking the steaks. They were small sirloins. We hit that twice. Once was decent (for a buffet it was decent), the second time was grisly and inedible. The guy asks you how you want it cooked, then takes the next one up and throws (yes throws) the steak on your plate. They’re all pretty much cooked the same (well done) so I don’t know why they ask how you want it cooked.
Then there’s the stress of the super heavy people just butting in line everywhere. Each time this happened I thought of saying something but the last thing I was looking for was to get berated by 800 pound people in stretch pants with bellies hanging out from under their shirts in front of a whole line of people. Some of these people were pretty belligerent. This was not the hill I was going to die on.
On the upside, the tacos, baked potatoes and pot roast were all pretty good. I love wings. Even crappy wings. But these were bad and slimy. I’m sure they weren’t microwaved but they had that kind of consistency.
We finally went to give the dessert area a shot and there was almost nothing there. I mean like nothing. I found a somewhat unbruised strawberry (of the 2 left sitting there) to dip in the chocolate fountain but it was gross. The soft serve ice cream machine was broken. My 15-​year old didn’t even want anything up there. That says it all. He didn’t even want anything from the fountain.
The waitress was very friendly. They guys behind the grill were working their asses off. But the food was just not good. I mean, I knew I’d leave feeling sick after this place but I assumed it was b/​c I was going to eat an embarrassing amount of food, not b/​c the food was gross.
I was more annoyed that they were unable to put keep food in the trays. So I went tray to tray and took pics of each empty one. I have 31 pictures from that sweep of empty trays. I found the manager Bobby. Poor poor Bobby. I just started winging through the pics on my phone and he looked up, defeated and seemingly on the verge of being confrontational, but he held it together. «What do you want me to do,» he asked. I was actually afraid he’d give us coupons to come back. I told him well, we ate what we could find so I wasn’t expecting or asking for a full refund. He met us in the middle and gave back half, which was fair.
He explained his head chef (yes, there’s a head chef) quit in the middle of the shift. I’m sure he said «F this» and ran screaming for the door. It’s a zoo in there. Pushy patrons jockeying for food, butting in line like nobody else was there waiting. Just classless.
I think this staff is hanging on for dear life. I wouldn’t go back there. I would never let anyone I know go there with a strong warning and I hope poor Bobby finds himself a better spot. Nobody deserves to work in an environment like this. If I could give it 0 stars I would.
I have no problem eating crap and I love China Buffet on occasion, even though it’s really not very good. This is just really bad. Like, REALLY bad.
I’m bummed, I’ve been watching the commercials for this place for months and was so psyched to get a gluttonous place like this in Rochester to just go nuts at but it’s really just awful.
Good luck to the staff… I know you’re trying. I’m sure the waiters on the Titanic had it easier. At least the ship eventually went down and they could be at peace.

ok so there was a formidable line here to get in at 3:30PM on a monday afternoon, and no it was not a holiday weekend. By the time we left at around 4:30 line was out the door.
Of course this has to do with it only being open a few weeks, but still how many restaurants can draw a crowd like this on a weekday? Inside was mayhem, but the employees did a great job of directing traffic, keeping the peace, etc.
Very «eclectic» group of diners, here. Basically a carbon copy of who you would find in any middle America walmart. People were aggressive at the buffet; understandbly so. If you are flustered easily by rough around the edges people, dont come here.
I actually liked SOME of the food here. Yes some of it was too salty, but the yeast rolls were melt in your mouth perfect. Other stuff I thought was good was the fried chicken, any of the rice dishes, the ham, green beans, spinach and pulled bbq chicken. Mashed potatoes looked like porridge, ick.
They ran out of a few things including the ribs, and rotisserie chicken, but really could I complain?
I know GC is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I think there are some good dishes among the smörgåsbord of fat laden over salted comfort food, and if you dont like one thing you can go get something else.
The choc chip cookies were sickeningly good btw, wish I had saved more room for them.
The price is about 8.50 for lunch, and 11. 50 for dinner. Good value I must say