8 Underrated Golden Corral Buffet Items You Shouldn't Skip Next Time

Whether you're a longtime Golden Corral veteran or the national buffet chain is still mythical in your mind, there are a few things you should know about the buffet before stepping foot inside. For example, the decades-old buffet wasn't always a buffet — it started out as a steakhouse, which may explain why its steaks are still pretty popular among customers. Second, the chain is fairly affordable, with meal tickets in most areas sitting at under $20 for the all-you-can-eat buffet. However, the most important thing to know about the buffet is that though many items are definitely a miss, a few are underrated keepers that you shouldn't skip out on the next time you go.

Given that the buffet has a plethora of items on offer, it only makes sense that the quality would vary. When I visited Golden Corral for the first time in over a decade, I was pretty underwhelmed by some of its featured offerings, like the glazed ham and the pizza. But I did run into some items that I would eat again, and to my surprise, some were hidden toward the back of the buffet line rather than being placed front and center. Without further ado, here's my definitive (albeit rather short) list of underrated Golden Corral buffet items you should try the next time you go, based on flavor, texture, and freshness. 

Would I call Golden Corral's mac and cheese a perfectly satisfying mac and cheese? To be honest, no — it didn't deliver on some of the elements central to my idea of a perfect mac and cheese (namely, some oven-baked crisp and a breadcrumb topping). However, I'm not sure the mac and cheese receives enough credit for what it is: a (likely) stovetop mac and cheese with a creamy sauce made from a yummy blend of cheeses. 

Again, don't dive into this mac and cheese expecting a gourmet experience — you won't find it here. However, this is absolutely a step up from even the best boxed mac and cheese, and I'd call it an especially great choice if you're dining with picky kids. The flavors are subtle without being bland and are gentle enough for any palate, while the creamy texture is instantly indicative of a homey comfort food. The mac and cheese was still warm when I spooned it onto my plate, an indicator that it was a relatively fresh dish and that I wasn't the only customer who enjoyed it. 

My next underrated Golden Corral menu item pick was actually my personal favorite of the dishes I tried. While I wouldn't call the buffet's fried chicken James Beard-approved, it was still a really, really good fried chicken, especially considering that fried chicken isn't necessarily Golden Corral's specialty. Now, I'm not claiming this fried chicken holds up to the homemade fried chicken in country kitchens — but for being an item in a secluded corner of a buffet, the quality of the fried chicken surprised me.

I'll start with my favorite part: the breading. Who doesn't love a nice, thick, crispy coating? As a particular fan of fried foods, I may be biased, but the outside of this fried chicken was delightful. Despite being rather thick, the coating was still light enough to almost melt in my mouth, and it was seasoned with an ample amount of black pepper. It was slightly oily without being too greasy, a pro in my book. The chicken on the inside was delightfully juicy, tender, and flavorful — while I've had bad experiences with fried chicken being too dry, that wasn't the case here in the slightest. Even if you don't typically opt for fried chicken (which I don't), I urge you to give this one a try the next time you're at Golden Corral.

Golden Corral's pork with gravy is a prime example of the sayings, "Don't judge a book by its cover" and "Don't knock it until you try it." Had I not been on a mission to sample everything my Golden Corral had on offer, there's no way I would have picked up this dish, which is evidenced by the meager amount I put on my plate (pictured above). Before taking a bite, I was fully prepared (and expecting) to be severely underwhelmed, mostly because the texture of the gravy was a huge turnoff. It was gelatinous and fell into globs on my plate, leading me to believe the dish would be as unappetizing as it looked.

Thankfully, I was wrong. Though it was lukewarm (which is definitely a knock against this dish in terms of food safety), the flavors were all there, and had it been hotter I probably would have been delighted. I was right about the texture of the gravy, though. It was pretty gelatinous, but I didn't mind so much when eating it with the pork pieces, as the texture of the gravy faded into the background a bit. Meanwhile, the pork was tender, juicy, and had been cut into the perfect bite-sized chunks. If you spot this dish at Golden Corral and it's hot, you should put a spoonful on your plate — if it's lukewarm, maybe wait until a fresh batch has been made.

I highly doubt the average consumer would pass up on Golden Corral's pulled pork with BBQ sauce if they saw it on the buffet, but I'm including it on this underrated buffet items list just in case. Pulled pork BBQ is pretty hard to get wrong, and fortunately, Golden Corral didn't. I wouldn't say it's the best pulled pork BBQ I've ever had in my life, but it had all the hallmarks of a good pulled pork BBQ: juicy, tender pulled pork with a flavorful pour-it-yourself BBQ sauce available on the side. 

Because I was trying everything on the buffet, I only got a small piece of pulled pork. It was a choice I quickly regretted. I could have eaten a whole plate of this alone, and if I ever return to the buffet, you'll probably find me with a plate of pulled pork BBQ and fried chicken. You can tell the meat is moist and succulent from the above photo — my biggest problem with it was that, again, it wasn't served piping hot. The BBQ sauce was stellar, and though I'm betting it was bottled (it tasted like Sweet Baby Ray's, one of my favorite pork BBQ sauces), I'll never knock a solid bottled BBQ sauce. It was yummy for being a classic, easy-to-do dish, and it's one Golden Corral staple you shouldn't skip. 

I'll be the first to admit that I'm definitely a biscuit girl, but that also means that I'm pretty picky when it comes to biscuits. So trust me when I say that Golden Corral's biscuits are very, very solid. I could tell they were going to be yummy just from looking at them — they're perfectly golden brown biscuits that showed off flaky layers on the side. It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that these are genuinely some of the best casual dining biscuits I've tried. 

Golden Corral's biscuits had everything I look for in a good biscuit: a crispy exterior, flaky interior, and buttery flavor. It especially delivered on the crispy exterior — I'd say these biscuits even verged on being overdone, but the result was a lovely, satisfying crunch upon biting into one that pleasantly surprised me. The biscuit was also flaky and tender without being dry in the slightest. Where I normally slice a biscuit in half and slather it with butter, I didn't feel like this biscuit needed it — it had enough moisture and buttery flavor to be delightful on its own, and had I not been trying every dish on this visit to Golden Corral, I would have had at least a few more. 

You shouldn't be surprised to see another fried food on this list of underrated Golden Corral eats. I actually almost missed the buffet's fried shrimp offering — it was shoved to the very back of the breakfast section in a tiny corner, and I could have very easily overlooked it. Fortunately, this dish made it onto the last plate of food I tried, and I was glad I had the presence of mind to only grab three. I could have easily eaten a bucket of these.

Where do I begin? Golden Corral's fried shrimp were a fried food lover's dream. I'm salivating just looking at the photo above — the golden brown coating is dreamy and leaves no doubts as to how crispy the fried shrimp are. The breading was obviously salted and it didn't taste like much other seasoning was used, but I hardly minded. Sure enough, these little bite-sized shrimps were delightful. The light, satisfying crunch of the outer breading gave way to a tender shrimp inside. It wasn't chewy in the slightest, and while it would have benefited from more flavor, that wasn't a big enough flaw to keep me from wanting to stuff my pockets with these.

In case you didn't know by now, you should never order chili at Chili's — but that's not the case with the chili at Golden Corral. Out of the sparse assortment of soups, stews, and chilis available at the location I visited, I chose to try the Timberline chili, purely because it looked the most appealing. I had one big qualm with this chili, which was that it was thinner than I'd prefer — I like a chili to be thick and chunky, and the pieces of meat in this one were too small for my liking. However, that wasn't a big enough complaint to keep me from liking this chili.

The Timberline chili boasted more of a spicy kick than I was expecting, which was a welcome surprise considering the blandness of some of the other dishes I had tasted. I think the beans were slightly overcooked — they were a little soft — but again, they weren't unpleasant, and I didn't count that against this dish. A subtle sweetness rounded out the chili's flavor profile and I'd call it a pretty balanced dish. If you're a general chili fan, there's a decent bet you'd be happy with this dish, even if not blown away.

Last but not least is another pretty standard dish that was unassumingly hidden toward the back of the buffet. I'd put Golden Corral's yellow rice in a similar category as its mac and cheese — while not being the best yellow rice in the world, it was still pretty good, especially considering how lackluster some other dishes were. It tasted like boxed Spanish rice, but I wouldn't say that's a bad thing (who doesn't love boxed instant rice now and again?)

I really appreciated the texture of the yellow rice. It retained some bite and wasn't mushy in the slightest which, given how overcooked some other dishes were, came as a pleasant surprise. Its flavors were present but mellow, so if you have picky kids, there's a good chance you could get them to eat this. I think it would have benefited from some diced veggies; other than that, it was a pretty standard, perfectly good yellow rice that I could definitely have again if I continue visiting the chain. 

To compile this list of underrated Golden Corral buffet items, I went to the chain and tried (mostly) everything available on the buffet. Seeing as only eight dishes are featured on this list, it probably comes as no surprise that I was severely underwhelmed by many of the items I tried. This probably gave me a slight bias toward the foods I enjoyed, and while I wouldn't call any of them the best versions of the dish I'd ever had, they're all menu items that I'd happily eat again when visiting Golden Corral.

I picked these items based on flavor, texture, and freshness. Though a few of the items weren't served hot (like the pork with gravy), they tasted good enough to earn a spot on this list anyway. All had an enjoyable texture that corresponded with what you'd expect from a well-cooked version of the dish, and each dish on this list boasted at least some richness of flavor, even if it wasn't particularly deep.