Review: The Golden Corral

The Golden Corral, located in the Robinson Town Square area in Pittsburgh, PA, has always been a restaurant favorite of mine. The Golden Corral is an endless buffet style restaurant that welcomes you with a smile and has you leaving with a smile. Ten bucks for the dinner buffet will get you a large variety of salads, breads, meats, seafood, sides, and mouthwatering desserts. Personally, it is quite a drive to this location and fighting through traffic, so when I heard that they were launching something called the 'Great American Seafood Tour', I was quick to grab my boyfriend and head to Robinson.

The Golden Corral's Great American Seafood Tour was still ten dollars for the dinner and the entrance wait staff was friendly and full of smiles. The sign near the entrance had featured 13 specialty dishes for this Great American Seafood Tour, all of which I couldn't wait to try! It looked like we had arrived before the dinner crowd, but as we chose our table; it looked like a stampede had torn through the Golden Corral restaurant. The entire restaurant floor was littered and all of the napkin dispensers that sat on the tables were empty.

We must have waited a good ten minutes before a waitress had stumbled over and gotten our drinks. It even took us overhearing a waiter tell another table that the entire restaurant was out of napkins since yesterday morning. Not a single napkin in the entire restaurant! Our waitress never asked if we needed anything, it seemed as though everyone was avoiding the napkin situation. We mentally bypassed that problem and headed for the food.

As we approached the buffet, it really looked like slim pickings. All of the regular buffet items were ravaged, signs that told you what items were had fallen down or were not there to begin with, foods had jumped from one container to another and it seemed like the cooks were not to swift at cleaning the counters or replacing the food in a hurry to accommodate the oncoming rush.

I headed for the seafood area right away with everything in mind from the advertising sign.

Maryland Style Crab Cakes, Crunchy Hawaiian Coconut Shrimp, Baked Tilapia Florentine, Grilled Lemon Pepper Tilapia, Shrimp Scampi, Spicy Habanera Popcorn Shrimp, Stuffed Tortellini & Shrimp in Lobster Sauce, Shrimp Flatbread, Seven Seas Shrimp Salad, baked Fish Topped with Lemon Herb Shrimp, Sweet & Sour Shrimp, and Shrimp Jambalaya were on the list, but not all on the buffet.

The Maryland Style Crab Cakes were flat out disgusting. The grease and breading had outweighed the taste of the crab... if there was crab in there. Forget about dining on the Crunchy Hawaiian Coconut Shrimp, the cooks never refilled it. Never saw the Baked Tilapia Florentine. The Grilled Lemon Pepper Tilapia was there and tasted pretty good, if your taste buds like being overpowered with the taste of lemons. Never saw the Shrimp Scampi. The Spicy Habanera Popcorn Shrimp was an adventurous taste test, with no sign above the item; it looked like a honey glazed shrimp... so I took one. The no napkins situation forced me to swallow the fiery shrimp, chug a full glass of water, and later on cause severe heartburn.

After the Habanera shrimp incident, I was forced to finish my meal sharing my boyfriend's drink due to the wait staff never checking back with us or to be found for that matter. The Stuffed Tortellini & Shrimp in Lobster Sauce, Seven Seas Shrimp Salad, Sweet and Sour Shrimp, Shrimp Jambalaya, and Baked Fish topped with Lemon Herm Shrimp were no were to be found either.

Completely dissatisfied with the seafood selections we were forced to fill up on the normal Golden Corral buffet items, which due to the whirlwind of guests and the cooks inability to keep everything stocked, wasn't too great of a selection either.

Generally I would say that Golden Corral Buffet is a very satisfying place to spend your well earned paycheck as well as fill up on some great food, however not for the Great American Seafood Tour. I highly recommend not attending this location of Golden Corral Buffet for the Great American Seafood Tours.