Me and dh visited a local Golden Corral buffet last night, a rare treat for us due to our budget and their prices.  The buffet area itself was very crowded, but people were hovering around the food, not just filling their plates and moving on as usual.  Turns out, they were waiting for more food to be brought out!  I love their rotisserie chicken, which was gone so headed for the fried kind - also empty.  I asked a worker behind the counter and was told it would "be awhile" before any chicken was ready.  We left forty-five minutes later, and I never did get my chicken!  If any was brought out, it was scarfed up without my seeing it.  I don't eat red meat, so I basically paid $12.00 bucks for a vegetable plate .

Many side dishes on the steam tables were just four-corners, with the bulk of the food gone or the pans were empty and clean and filling the slot. Many dishes were mismarked.  The tables were not being bussed, leading to people waiting to sit down or pushing dirty plates aside to get a table.  Just an awful experience.  Then, when dh went to get some steak, none was ready.  He asked about the meat that appeared done, that was on the top rack, and was asked, "just what the h*ll do you want??"  Can you believe it??  Twenty-six bucks we paid for this...

I sent a long email this morning, asking to be contacted but haven't heard anything yet.  Quite honestly, I don't even care if they send any kind of remonstration - we were turned off by the staff, the lack of planning, the cleanliness, just everything.  A shame, it used to one of our favorite places to go.

 I've seen people walk in and check out a buffet before putting their money down - I'll be doing this if there is a next buffet.  This has turned us off completely.  Liz

That is sad that your experience was bad. They probably do such a volume business that one unhappy customer complaint may not mean anything. If you had thought about it, you could have gone and spoken to the manager and see if they could have given offered some compensation. When we go to restaurants (which is rare) I'm careful not to go on certain days. Many people on fixed incomes get paid certain times of the month and you can pretty much guarantee certain places will be packed. I used to love buffets but I've had some unpleasant experiences similar to yours and so we just don't bother.

Aw Liz, what a shame. I am surprised to hear you had this experience, because our local Golden Corral has great service. I think the floors could be cleaner, but all in all, it's a good place to eat. (Especially with the military discount...gotta love that!)

I hope you get a response from your email. Please let us know how it goes.

I also had a bad experience at the Golden Corral got a baked potato off of the bar and it had a smell to it so I told the waitress and she snached it out of my hand I was so mad. My favorite thing they serve is the seafood salad and one time they were out so I just asked for the manager and they fixed some it took about 20 minutes but worth the wait for me.  This year on the 4th of July we went to Ryans they had the worst bbq on the buffet we ever had no rolls on the bar went and cooked some they were warm on the outside but still frozen on the inside well I went to get a refund which I could have gotten but they offered gift certificates which I took we went about a month later and everything was fine glad I spoke up dh would have just let it go I know it was July 4th but there were hardly anyone there and also one of the servers told me they had to refund a lot that day.

 

 

 That sounds terrible, I'm sorry you had such a bad experience.  We don't go to buffets anymore because of things like that.  Actually, I don't like eating out much anymore because it seems like a lot of places are like that, not just buffets.

That is awful.

I don't do buffets anymore. I also don't do crowds anymore.

I hope that you hear from them.

I received an email this morning saying someone from the local restaurant would contact me, which he did shortly after I got the email.  The manager was very factual, saying that they had gotten behind at lunch and once they were behind, there was almost no chance of catching up, especially on a Sunday.  We talked a while, he explaining all the ins and outs of buffets (it was kind of interesting, really!) and of course is going to send us comp tickets.  I told him that's the ONLY way we would go back, that our experience was that bad -  we're even re-thinking all buffets at this point (so many have been so crummy lately...).  I also said that I would be glad to send a more complimentary email if our visit is positive this time.

On the staff and dirty tables problems, apparently two servers were no-shows (but shouldn't there be back-ups for them....?).  He kind of glossed over the cursing grill guy, making me wonder if that as long as the guy does his job, they'll look the other way on his attitude...   I had mentioned that our waitress was seemingly unruffled by the confusion, methodically cleaning tables and serving drinks.  At one point, she dropped a loaded tray of dirty dishes but quietly and efficiently cleaned it up, then turned and offered me more coffee - much calmer than I would have been!  Well, the manager said she'd only been there three days and will receive some kind of award they give for her good service. 

So we will go back, but honestly, probably just to use the tickets.  We've been disappointed with most restaurants lately, and buffets in particular...Liz

 Edited for spelling.

That's good that they followed up with your complaints. Do you feel like all your issues were satisfactorily addressed (besides the cursing grill guy)?

Please let us know if your visit using your comp tickets was better.

TizzyLizzy:

On the staff and dirty tables problems, apparently two servers were no-shows (but shouldn't there be back-ups for them....?).  He kind of glossed over the cursing grill guy, making me wonder if that as long as the guy does his job, they'll look the other way on his attitude...

Managing a place like that must be a difficult. Working in service industry jobs is tough whether you are management or staff. The pay isn't great so people aren't always "motivated" to do their best. Managing people who aren't happy and look for excuses to act out isn't easy. If a manager cracks down on bad behavior, they usually look forward to retaliation. And even if you have one or two good people on staff, the ones with bad attitudes can make life difficult for everyone, customers included.

TizzyLizzy:

So we will go back, but honestly, probably just to use the tickets

Try to pick a quiet time or off peak hours, not near a payday. Its sad thought, that you have to adjust that much to try and get a good experience.

Toni, he did say that Sundays were always extremely busy, but I hadn't thought about paydays and first-of-the-monthers, thanks.  He said lunch is always better than dinner, too.  Funny, you don't see a recession when you're at a restaurant (or at WalMart).

Nope, I definitely wouldn't want his job as manager, and I'm glad different people are called to do different things in life.  The guy truly was interested in my impressions and opinion on things - I hope they appreciate his interest in and committment to his job. 

We've just gotten so burned at restaurants lately. Am I just noticing it or has the economy made it worse?  Like I said, I really don't see a decline in the number of people eating out.  Liz.