I woke up at 5:30 today, looked at the clock, and decided since there are lots of things I need to get done today I might as well get up. I heard a bunch of banging around in the kitchen, too, and was wondering what in the world was going on in there since Keith was supposed to have left for work already. Since we are in the hot time of year the crew at his work have been starting to come in at 5:30 instead of 6 so they can leave a little earlier at the end of the day and not be in the heat for that last half hour. Except this morning he forgot. So when everyone else leaves early today he'll still be stuck there for that extra half hour. Or if he is smart he'll just leave when everyone else does despite the extra half hour.
He had to leave work early yesterday so we could go for his follow up on his endoscopy, which came out fine with nothing other than irritation from the acid reflux, no cancer or other big issues. The doctor said the meds he is supposed to take should help things heal up and then with diet modification it should be manageable.
We were talking about salad bars the other day and how there is nowhere in this town to get a good salad bar since the demise of Fresh Choice, and while the Golden Corral may have a salad bar, it's certainly not someplace we'd ever want to set foot in again. I really think the joke is on the consumer there, the people who named that restaurant had probably seen human behavior at a buffet before and realized that we did look just like corralled animals, all milling about and shoving into each other, and trying to get to those troughs of food. I'm surprised there isn't someone standing around in Golden Corral with whips and cattle prods to keep everyone moving along.
Anyway, salad bars. I googled salad bars in Bakersfield and I did actually find a local restaurant that is a soup and salad buffet. And why haven't I discovered this before? It's called The Garden Spot and I have seen the sign for it before but I guess I thought it was some kind of vegan/vegetarian restaurant even though I should have known better, it seems like most residents of Bakersfield are quite carnivorous.
I read some reviews for The Garden Spot and most sounded good except for the ones complaining about how it's an 'old people's' restaurant and they had 'old people' food like pudding and jello, and how the decor was kind of funky and not unlike a cafeteria. So, despite the review from the old person hater, we tried it out yesterday afternoon, and we made it in time for the 'old people's' happy hour, where between the hours of 2:30 and 4:30 you got the buffet (including a drink) for $5.95 if you were 55 or over. Well, I'm over 55 so I got dinner for $5.95, and it was not bad at all. You get your salad first and then pay and on to the breads and muffins and soups. The decor WAS funky and not unlike a cafeteria, but I was glad to finally find a salad bar that wasn't located in a corral.
Showing posts with label golden corral. Show all posts
Showing posts with label golden corral. Show all posts
Friday, July 20, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Terrible Lunch at Golden Corral
On Friday we decided to go out to lunch as part of Keith's birthday/Father's Day weekend. We were driving across town to go look at a patio store to see if they had any hammocks, a patio store that as soon as we walked into we realized that we were way out of our element. A patio set for $2000.00? Um, no.
Anyway, we thought about going to the Burger Depot for lunch, a place we have never been to because it's a long way from the house but we were driving by it on the way to the expensive patio store, and in hindsight we should have gone there. We could have sat in an Amtrack train car for lunch.
But instead we decided to try the new Golden Corral, a buffet restaurant that opened last year and has been doing booming business ever since. We had gone by there once and had actually gotten out of the car and up to the door and then saw the line that reminded me of waiting for a ride at Disneyland and said, no, we'll wait until it's not so crowded. People in Bakersfield had been so eagerly awaiting the grand opening of this place that the local news even did a story on how anxiously people were waiting to strap that old feedbag on. It's an all you can eat place and since Bakersfield is one of the fattest and least healthy cities in the country, it's PERFECT! Eat until you have to be taken out of the restaurant in a wheelbarrow because you can't move? YEAH HOWDY!
Anyway, it's not too bad with only a few people in line, so we get our drinks and pay for our buffet lunch, then go to find a table, most of which are taken, and finally find one right off of the main buffet floor. Where we could look down behind the salad bar and see the not so clean floor.
We grab a plate and start looking around and most of what we see is not real appetizing looking. They have different sections with what is supposed to be mexican food, grill food, your typical cafeteria food, pizza, and seafood. Then across the way is the bakery and a chocolate fountain with some marshmallows and what looks like cubes of cake to dip into it. There was a large variety of food, but lots of the steam table bins were empty and most of the food really didn't look all that good, soggy green beans and mashed potatoes, and salisbury steak, and fried stuff that I wasn't sure what it was.
I got a piece of fried chicken and some potato wedges and then got a plate of salad. The chicken was half raw, the potato wedges very dry, and the salad was well, just salad.
Keith got a variety of things to try, along with some rotisserie chicken that was still bleeding, and some barbecue chicken that was also rather pink inside.
The atmosphere in the place was not real pleasant, very loud and very cafeteria feeling. All we needed was for someone to yell out FOOD FIGHT! The service was slow, too, with me having to go hunt someone down to get refills on our iced teas.
So, now that we've eaten our half cooked chicken, lets try the dessert bar. It was okay, because dessert always tastes good no matter what, but the cookie I tried hadn't been baked long enough. The soft ice cream was good, though. I don't see how anyone could screw up soft ice cream.
So, we were definitely not impressed with Golden Corral and would not ever go there again. The rest of Bakersfield will, though, because it's ALL YOU CAN EAT AND I'M GOING TO EAT UNTIL I BURST!! YEAH!
So, not the best most relaxing lunch we've ever had and a total waste of almost $25.00. Lesson learned, don't go to places that serve buffet style. Ever.
Anyway, we thought about going to the Burger Depot for lunch, a place we have never been to because it's a long way from the house but we were driving by it on the way to the expensive patio store, and in hindsight we should have gone there. We could have sat in an Amtrack train car for lunch.
But instead we decided to try the new Golden Corral, a buffet restaurant that opened last year and has been doing booming business ever since. We had gone by there once and had actually gotten out of the car and up to the door and then saw the line that reminded me of waiting for a ride at Disneyland and said, no, we'll wait until it's not so crowded. People in Bakersfield had been so eagerly awaiting the grand opening of this place that the local news even did a story on how anxiously people were waiting to strap that old feedbag on. It's an all you can eat place and since Bakersfield is one of the fattest and least healthy cities in the country, it's PERFECT! Eat until you have to be taken out of the restaurant in a wheelbarrow because you can't move? YEAH HOWDY!
Anyway, it's not too bad with only a few people in line, so we get our drinks and pay for our buffet lunch, then go to find a table, most of which are taken, and finally find one right off of the main buffet floor. Where we could look down behind the salad bar and see the not so clean floor.
We grab a plate and start looking around and most of what we see is not real appetizing looking. They have different sections with what is supposed to be mexican food, grill food, your typical cafeteria food, pizza, and seafood. Then across the way is the bakery and a chocolate fountain with some marshmallows and what looks like cubes of cake to dip into it. There was a large variety of food, but lots of the steam table bins were empty and most of the food really didn't look all that good, soggy green beans and mashed potatoes, and salisbury steak, and fried stuff that I wasn't sure what it was.
I got a piece of fried chicken and some potato wedges and then got a plate of salad. The chicken was half raw, the potato wedges very dry, and the salad was well, just salad.
Keith got a variety of things to try, along with some rotisserie chicken that was still bleeding, and some barbecue chicken that was also rather pink inside.
The atmosphere in the place was not real pleasant, very loud and very cafeteria feeling. All we needed was for someone to yell out FOOD FIGHT! The service was slow, too, with me having to go hunt someone down to get refills on our iced teas.
So, now that we've eaten our half cooked chicken, lets try the dessert bar. It was okay, because dessert always tastes good no matter what, but the cookie I tried hadn't been baked long enough. The soft ice cream was good, though. I don't see how anyone could screw up soft ice cream.
So, we were definitely not impressed with Golden Corral and would not ever go there again. The rest of Bakersfield will, though, because it's ALL YOU CAN EAT AND I'M GOING TO EAT UNTIL I BURST!! YEAH!
So, not the best most relaxing lunch we've ever had and a total waste of almost $25.00. Lesson learned, don't go to places that serve buffet style. Ever.
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