13 Dishes You Should Avoid At Golden Corral

Say you're starving but can't decide what food you're in the mood for. A whole array of food sounds appealing, and it's not practical to have them all ... unless you go to a buffet. Though you might be missing your favorite U.S. buffet chain, the now-extinct Old Country Buffet, the dissolution of the chain doesn't mean you have to give up buffets forever. Enter Golden Corral: the buffet chain with over 300 locations nationwide and a whopping menu of over 100 items. It seems a natural choice for folks with a big appetite who think variety is the spice of life. 

The only problem is, not everything at Golden Corral is up to snuff. I visited the chain during lunch recently and while some items impressed me — namely the fried chicken, fried shrimp, and pork barbecue — the majority of items were underwhelming, if not downright unpalatable. Of course personal preference will rule here, and not everyone will want to avoid the same dishes. But that being said, Golden Corral still misses the mark on a substantial number of its buffet items. If you're insistent on trying everything for yourself, go ahead. If, however, you'd like a guide on what not to get the next time you visit the buffet, you're in the right place. 

First up on this list of Golden Corral dishes to avoid is one that seems hard to mess up, but the chain still managed to: mashed potatoes and gravy. First, I'll note that the mashed potatoes and gravy are served separately — but seeing as they're right next to each other, it's only natural to pair them together on a plate. Unfortunately, I'd have to say that the mashed potatoes probably would have been more palatable without the gravy.

The gravy tasted exactly as one would expect from looking at it. It had a gluey, gelatinous texture and was rather bland, aside from the copious amounts of salt the restaurant added. The gravy was so salty, in fact, that I couldn't stomach more than a small bite of it. I tried a bite of the mashed potatoes sans gravy and wasn't any more pleased; they tasted like the instant mashed potatoes I always have in my pantry. All in all, this dish is a hard pass. Unless you're feeding a horde of picky kiddos, you probably won't find the mashed potatoes and gravy making it onto your plate, either.

It makes sense that you'd look for a veggie option at Golden Corral if you're trying to get a balanced meal in. However, there really aren't many available, and the vegetables the chain does have are nothing of note. In fact, I found a couple of them to be of poor quality. Take the restaurant's steamed vegetables for example. One look and you can tell how bland they are. 

Golden Corral's steamed cauliflower, carrots, and broccoli are situated next to each other in separate serving trays. Since they really weren't distinct enough to merit separate listings, I'm lumping them all together on this list as a collective "do not try this" item. Why? First, I'm not sure why you'd steam vegetables for a buffet. In my opinion, it's the worst way to cook a vegetable if you want it to have some flavor — which these definitely did not. There was no seasoning on them to speak of, and though the carrots retained some of their bite, the cauliflower and broccoli were mushy and lukewarm. No, thanks. 

Up next on my do-not-try list is Golden Corral's scrambled eggs. Admittedly, everyone has different scrambled egg preferences — maybe these will fit yours. But to be honest, I doubt it. First of all, they're not even close to being fluffy scrambled eggs. The eggs are dense and slightly rubbery — an automatic "no thank you" in my book. Second, they were (as I'm sure you can guess by now) horribly under-seasoned. I'm not even sure there was any salt on them.

Since the eggs were lukewarm and slightly slimy, there's nothing that could convince me to try them again. They were reminiscent of the scrambled eggs I'd get in a mess hall at summer camp. But honestly, mess hall eggs were better. Even if you're heading to Golden Corral for breakfast, do yourself a favor and pass these by — I promise, you really aren't missing anything.

Given that these two items were right next to each other on the bar, I assumed the thick green dip was some sort of spinach and artichoke dip. It's a natural (and incredibly delicious) pairing for tortilla chips. Alas, I would soon be proven incorrect, and it turns out that spooning this mysterious green dip on my chips was a mistake I won't soon forget. Though there was no sign above the dip, my best guess is that it was creamed spinach.

I should say that I'm not a fan of creamed spinach in general. In fact, I don't love the flavor of cooked or processed spinach, unless it's just given a quick sauté in a skillet. If you adore creamed spinach, you may have a different opinion than me — but given that the tortilla chips weren't anything to write home about either, I doubt you'd rave about this pairing. The chips tasted like they were from a bag, and the creamed spinach was lukewarm, salty, and too earthy for my liking. Try it if you must, but don't blame me when you decide not to finish the heaping spoonful you put on your plate.

I love sauteed peppers and onions. The duo is one of my go-to veggie combos when I need to add a quick, easy, and nutritious component to any meal. This dish seems like a surefire win for Golden Corral; each vegetable is sliced into nice, thick chunks, and it's certainly not hard to toss them in a pan and saute to perfection. Unfortunately, this was another dish Golden Corral got wrong, and in my mind, there's no excuse for messing up a side that should be simple enough to get right.

You already know my first problem with the peppers and onions: They were horribly bland and had no identifiable seasoning. I'm not sure why Golden Corral eschews flavor at every opportunity, but that was my biggest overall complaint about the chain. Second, the veggies were barely sauteed. It seemed as though they spent maybe a minute in a medium-hot pan. There was no Maillard reaction to speak of, which alone could have done a ton to boost the flavor of this dish. If you're okay with bland, barely-cooked peppers and onions, then by all means, give these a try. As for me, I won't be enjoying them any time soon.

As a self-proclaimed bacon fanatic, this is another dish I find hard to get wrong. Yet you can probably tell based on looks alone why this protein was absolute no for me. I wouldn't even say I'm picky about bacon's texture, but this piece was way too floppy. Beyond that, it was incredibly fatty, greasy, and chewy — almost like it hadn't been cooked long enough. Those drawbacks alone would have been enough for me to dislike this bacon. Unfortunately, there's still more to say about it.

I'm not sure whether Golden Corral just goes with the cheapest cut of bacon on the market, but this was one of the most flavorless pieces of bacon I've ever had. Bacon doesn't even need to be seasoned — it just needs to be cooked long enough for its natural sugars to caramelize and its fat to cook up, which give it a rich flavor. This bacon was nowhere near acceptable. In fact, when eaten along with the eggs, you really could have convinced me I was eating at a camp dining hall. Unless you feel like paying out of pocket for cafeteria-quality food, pass this one up. 

If looking at the above picture has you thinking, "How on Earth can these wedge fries be considered 'seasoned'?" then we're one and the same. Nevertheless, Golden Corral insists on calling this dish "seasoned wedge fries" — personally, I think this should be considered false advertising. I love a good french fry, and I don't tend to discriminate too much between different variations of the food. However, this french fry had me rethinking everything I thought I loved about the side. Unless you're just planning on using them as a vehicle for ketchup, don't bother adding any to your plate. 

The fries were — you guessed it — bland as anything. Even a little salt and pepper could have made them more palatable. However, blandness on its own isn't enough to turn me against a french fry; after all, I'll still chow down on the plainest fast food fries any day of the week. Beyond being bland, these fries were also incredibly tough and dry. Had they boasted a crispy exterior and soft interior, I could have forgiven their lack of flavor. Instead, these fries didn't measure up to any french fry standard I have. 

I wanted to like the Bourbon Street chicken — and I might have enjoyed it on another day. Come to think of it, between most of the dishes on this list being bland or too salty, maybe I really did just visit Golden Corral on a bad day. Nevertheless, I can't, in good conscience, recommend any dish on this list, Bourbon Street chicken included. It looked tasty enough when I spooned some from the buffet on to my plate. Perhaps I ended up being so disappointed because my expectations were too high. Regardless, I wouldn't try this again.

The texture of the chicken was all off. It wasn't grossly gristly or soft, so I'll give it that. Rather, it was pretty tough and chewy which made for an overall unpleasant eating experience. Beyond the texture, the flavors of the sauce simply weren't there. I was expecting a savory, maybe slightly-sweet or tangy sauce. Instead, what I got was a mouthful of salt. I could sense a depth of flavor underneath, but the salt was far too overpowering for me to consider having more than a bite of this dish. If you want to try it, I recommend getting a small portion first. Test it for saltiness (I really want to believe the chain just added too much when I went). If it's not overwhelming, grab some more. 

Pepperoni pizza should (at least in my mind) be another easy win for pretty much any restaurant. However, it's yet another Golden Corral dish that didn't deliver. Now, I wouldn't call this the worst pepperoni pizza I've had, and it managed to avoid some of the pitfalls that I think make a pizza bad. It had an appropriate level of tomato sauce, the pepperoni was pretty good, and the cheese blend was flavorful. Though this wasn't the worst dish I tried at Golden Corral, I still can't recommend it for a couple reasons. 

First, there was entirely too much cheese on this pizza. The cheese was so thick, in fact, that the dough underneath it was barely cooked. This resulted in a soft-bottomed pizza that didn't feel all that safe to be eating. Beyond that, the crust has no flavor and a doughy texture. Honestly, you can't convince me that this wasn't a frozen pizza, and not even a great frozen pizza; it tasted like a passable attempt at nuking a frozen pizza, which left me under-impressed to say the least.

It shouldn't be too hard to roast a flavorful chicken leg, so though I wouldn't necessarily call this one horrible, it just didn't deliver enough for me to keep it off of my do-not-try list. The biggest offender? The leg was decidedly lukewarm, a huge buffet red flag and possible food safety issue. When I bit into it and was confronted with pink meat inside, I didn't feel safe enough to keep eating it (though fortunately, none of the foods I tried at Golden Corral made me ill). 

Aside from the chicken's obvious potential food safety hazard, the flavor wasn't good enough for me to want to try another piece, even if it was served at the appropriate temperature. Though the chicken leg wasn't as horribly bland as some other items on this list, it still didn't have enough flavor to be noteworthy. It was slightly sweet and mildly salty on the outside; other than that, there was no flavor to speak of, which rendered me unable to recommend this to any Golden Corral diners. 

Golden Corral's carved glazed ham was at the front and center of the restaurant's buffet. There was even a glowing light shining down upon it, as if it was pleading with customers to grab a slice. So, grab a slice I did — and I did not go back for another one. Why? Though the ham wasn't bad, it wasn't nearly good enough to justify the price of a meal at Golden Corral. I was left wishing I had just bought a grocery store ham to take home instead. 

To put it simply, this ham just tasted like ham. There was nothing special about it, and the "glaze" didn't even add enough noteworthy flavor to the outside. Beyond that, the meatwas served lukewarm. Though it may not pose a safety hazard, I didn't appreciate the middling temperature; I wish it had been served either hot or cold. It would have been an indicator that the restaurant put some thought into the presentation of this dish. The ham was incredibly lackluster, so if you're planning on going to Golden Corral just for this protein, I'd recommend rethinking your dining decisions. 

I love pot roast. It's one of my favorite cozy winter dishes, and despite boasting a serious depth of flavor, it's also generally incredibly easy to make. Given that, there's no reason in my mind for a pot roast to be bland As long as all different elements (beef, potatoes, carrots, and onions) are cut roughly the same size, it's easy to create a balanced flavor and texture in the dish. Unfortunately, Golden Corral didn't achieve a good pot roast, and I was especially underwhelmed because pot roast isn't hard to get right.

Aside from being bland, the textures and balance of this dish were all off. The beef was dry and chewy, not tender or melt-in-your-mouth. Beyond that, the potatoes were cut entirely too large. The piece of potato in the picture above was about half the size of the average potato in that dish. I will say the potato had a nice, melty texture, but because it was so thick, no seasoning penetrated through to the inside. So taking a bite was akin to eating a soft, boiled potato. Unless that's your jam, pass on this one.

I'm not sure whether Golden Corral buys or makes its sausage patties, but I will say that this was better than some other foods I tried (though, it was ultimately not very good). I'll start with the pros. Unlike other items on this list, the restaurant's sausage patties were actually pretty well-seasoned; they boasted a good amount of flavor with a slightly spicy kick. If I was making this list based on flavor alone, you probably wouldn't see the sausage patty here. Unfortunately, though, its texture totally missed the mark.

I don't know about you, but I prefer my sausage patties to be pretty juicy on the inside — I certainly don't expect them to be tough or dry. Given the exterior appearance of this patty, I wasn't expecting it to have the texture it did. Rather than being moist and succulent, it was hopelessly chewy and dry inside. Though the flavor was good, it wasn't nearly good enough to redeem the awful interior of these sausage patties, which is why I'd recommend passing them by the next time you head to Golden Corral.