Eat and drink as much as you like for only a few dollars! Well, we tried it and guess what? We liked it! I was as surprised as anyone that I liked it. You cannot call the Golden Corral ‘Haute Cuisine’ but it is great in terms of ‘value for money’ and choice.
The first time we visited the Golden Corral on the 192 there were eight of us. Three adults, three teenagers and two youngsters descended on the restaurant about 0900 to find it ‘heaving’. We were welcomed and seated quickly and the house rules were explained to us; Drink any amount of juice or coffee and eat any amount of food for the single charge. We did not need any prompting. And kids were cheaper than adults. I recollect that the bill for the eight of us was less than $50.
My 16 year-old nephew at 6 feet and very fit started by tucking into a couple of steaks, some chicken legs, gallons of OJ, bacon and eggs. That was his first plate. His fourth plate consisted of jelly and ice cream.
My fourth plate was a large stack of freshly cooked pancakes, butter, maple syrup and strawberry jam with a side of vanilla ice cream. My wife started with a plate of fresh fruit, followed by a plate of pancakes and finished with a selection of coconut and choc-chip cookies.
All eight of us ate enough to last us until dinner time.
The restaurant is very much cafeteria style and has a very busy atmosphere. I would not rate it highly in the ‘ambience’ league but it is not designed to compete in that market. It is designed to offer a quality, value-for-money, cafeteria style eating with choice; and it does this excellently.
Your drink keeps being refilled without asking. Clean plates are brought to you before you need them. The place is clean and the food tastes good. I could not find one item that I could have wanted that I couldn’t find or the staff couldn’t get for me. Steaks to apple pie, pancakes to salad, fruit to choc-chip cookies, OJ to milk shakes etc, the Golden Corral has everything.
Breakfast is served up to about 11 o’clock when the lunch menu starts to come out. I don’t think anything changes much, but the emphasis shifts from eggs and pancakes to steaks and stews. We didn’t visited for dinner but I cannot see much changing.
I still rack my brains on how they make a profit, but they obviously do.
There are a number of outlets around Orlando. We have used the outlet on the south side of the 192 between the I4 and the 27, and one near the Premium Outlet Mall (just off the I4).
The Golden Corral may not sound like your style but I would suggest you give it a try.