US/NC/Durham/Golden Corral

page type::article thing type::restaurant format::buffet town::US/NC/Durham year opened::2005

About
The Golden Corral location in Durham, NC is just opposite the Super Target in the South Square shopping area. It opened in 2005 and is managed by Platinum Corral Golden Corral franchise.

Food Selection
The food selection is offered in "giant buffet" format, including the following: This list is far from complete, however. Drinks are served while you wait in line to pay for entry, but the waiters are usually pretty good about checking for refills. If you want to leave a tip but don't have change, you can ask for extra cash from your credit card (sometimes they will ask you first).
 * salad bar
 * stir-fry chicken
 * stir-fry vegetables (peppers, onions)
 * fried catfish
 * hush puppies
 * Cajun "dirty" rice (spicy)
 * bread rolls (subtly sweet) - the waiter will sometimes offer to bring you fresh ones with butter
 * fried chicken
 * pizza
 * dessert bar
 * ice cream
 * toppings

Comments

 * The Tuesday kids' special is great for families -- kids under 12 (or is that "12 and under?") are 99 cents each.
 * An anonymous poster adds: "Kids drinks are always free, except when they get a larger to-go cup we charge 43 cents for the cup."
 * Quality of most dishes is not always quite right, e.g. one time the stir-fry chicken was rather dry, and last time we were there (2005-07-19) the "dirty" rice was a bit hard (either undercooked or sat out too long) – but the buffet has so many choices that I've never gone away unsatisfied.
 * Can be very busy at times, though this seems to be happening less often as the novelty wears off; waiters will usually handle the seating for you during busy times. Other times they will let you seat yourself.
 * Certain tables are positioned so they get a strong, continuous blast from the A/C in hot weather – which can be refreshing if you're hot, but tends to make the food get cold very quickly. Check for drafts before sitting down if you want to avoid this.
 * The walls are decorated with a lot of historical photos of Durham from the late 1800s onward; wish they were on the web somewhere...

Tarheel Crocheters report
The Tarheel Crocheters (TC) were looking for a new place for their monthly meetings, after the abrupt demise of the Hillandale Road Shoney's in September 2006, and tried this location of Golden Corral. One of the TC (the one who usually calls to reserve rooms for meeting) was told previously that the TC could have one of two separate meeting rooms (they are side by side, separated by a removable partition) for their monthly meeting, and on that basis the TC did in fact meet once at Golden Corral in one of the meeting rooms in the summer of 2006.

When the TC arranger called ahead to reserve the room for the next meeting, however, the GC General Manager said that they required a minimum of 30 people in order to reserve the room exclusively: i called & spoke with the gen mgr @ golden corral @ south square & he wanted us to have about 30 people in order to use the mtg rm exclusively. That's not what i was told before, & I mentioned that to him. He said we could use the room, but he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't put anyone else in with us if he needed more tables. So, we decided that we'll be meeting @ ihop.

Also, another member of the TC reported that the door locks in the women's bathroom were not just broken but missing completely. She reported this situation to someone in charge (more than once?), but he seemed uninterested in fixing the problem. She also filled out a "comment" card reporting the problem.

As a result of these issues, the TC have decided to meet at the IHOP near Costco in the future.