Average food for average people in average surroundings--that's Golden Corral. Where they stand out, and the reason I visit, is the variety of healthier vegetables. Their grilled steaks have also gotten better in the last few years--less gristle and fat, more grill flavor. (You still need to ride herd on the cooks, who are as likely to offer you well done when you request medium rare.) Service was up a notch at this location, where the Millennial working my area was attentive, but also seemed to enjoy her job and the customers. read more

Came at prime time dinner (6:15pm) Food was all from yesterday at best. Worst part, the guy on the grill gave me a mostly raw steak and told me my waitress would correct it, huh?!? My husband had same trouble with the steak until we finally gave up. Waitress was great! read more

Went in for breakfast Sunday morning. It seemed typical buffet food. They were not as busy as we thought they would be. They had a big selection but most of the food was lukewarm. Service was fine, Our server checked back with us several times. Might have been better if they were busier, maybe food wouldn't have been sitting so long. read more

Let me preface this with I did not want to go there but didn't have a choice. The facility was fine in good condition. The staff was fantastic and attentive. The food was the worst for your money! Sure it's all you can eat, but why if the food tastes so terrible? The salad bar had brown lettuce, the steak was allegedly sirloin but looked like it had been boiled and absolutely flavorless. The chicken was the dryest I've ever had, even the rolls sucked. It cost us almost $100 for a family of four and we could have went anywhere else and spent that much for a delicious meal. If you're looking to be a big back then look no further than the Golden Gristle, if you're looking for a decent meal go elsewhere. read more

So we had a very good waitress but the food WAS HORRIBLE should of demand our money back. It was old dried out cold nasty no good meat at all. We got there at 5:15pm. We will NOT be going back . read more

Just not the same as it used to be. It's just ok since it reopened. Food is mediocre at best on most days. Service has been lacking also had to wait several times to get a drink or even a spoon. read more

Everything was COLD. The chicken, fish, macaroni and cheese, shrimp. All COLD Even the salad bar and the drinks were COLD! Step up your game! read more

I love Golden Corral in Columbia, Missouri!! They remodeled their restaurant and improved a lot!! I love their all you can eat fat tender juicy delicious steaks after 4:00pm mostly!! I like how you can get your own drink refills!! I love their fried fish shrimp cheeseburgers mashed potatoes and gravy pizza fried okra fried mushrooms, etc!! Great place to eat!! Great buffet with big variety of foods!! The buffet and drink together is not too expensive and too me is reasonable!! I love their steaks!! Great salad bar!! The price for a buffet and a drink is perfect!! Not too cheap and not too expensive, it is reasonable!! And worth it!! Plenty of places to sit with clean tables and atmosphere is atleast above average!! Servers are very polite and kind and helpful!! Please be sure to tip them great if you can afford it and they do a great job!! It's the #1. Best buffet in mid Missouri for my opinion!! I love this restaurant!! I eat there a lot or occasionally!! read more

The ambiance is excellent, the food was very good, the service was good and prompt, the prices reasonable. I think it's the best Indian restaurant in Columbia. read more

The plates and bowls I would pick up to use were dirty. Food was not being put out that needed refills. Some food looked like it had been sitting out too long. Golden Corral has went down hill with the quality of food and the cleanliness. read more

It's a solid buffet and one of the few that give good comfort food and a dessert bar that got about any sweet you want not Grandma Level but really close Give it a try ! read more

I love the place! All the food has tasted amazing, and was fresh every time I have visited. The staff has always been friendly and accommodating. I love the atmosphere as well. read more

I don't have a problem with the restaurant, just trying to limit my visits to buffets. It's too easy to overeat.

I've been to many Golden Corrals over the years and this is the WORST one I've experienced. This includes this same restaurant only one year ago. I don't know what happened since March 2025, but something has gone terribly wrong to see this type of decline! Much of the food was lukewarm and some of it looked like it had been sitting out way too long as it looked dried out on top. The bbq chicken breast was severely undercooked so I didn't attempt that. The only thing I had that was at an acceptable level was the fried chicken, which was piping hot and delicious! Everything else was so, so at best. A minor annoyance was the fact that many dishes were mislabeled or missing a label so it was difficult to tell what some of the dishes even were. They were busy but not all the tables were full and the service was also lacking as far as refilling drinks and even giving me a straw after I asked for one...twice. I get to Columbia once a year and am inclined to not visit this place again unless I see some reviews that say it's improved. I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT YOU EAT HERE...At least in the current state of management. I'm going to reach out to the manager (I couldn't get the floor manager's attention before I left) as well as their corporate office if I can find a number. I may also contact the Department of Health to hopefully trigger an inspection before somebody gets sick. PS...I originally gave them 2 stars but after typing my review I downgraded it to 1 star, which felt apprpriate. read more

Went after the re opening. Staff was rude hardly cared when ringing us up. The food was better before the fire and the selection was cut in half read more

The store wasn't particularly clean, and the food was disgusting. It was so nasty that it was almost inedible. The food was great before the fire. We used to go often. Now however, we only plan to try it one more time. If it's not clean, and the food is still nasty, we'll never go back. read more

Excellent service. Great food. Nicest Golden Corral we've ever been to. Very reasonable prices for the buffet.

False advertising on the website. They are NOT doing cafeteria style dining. Our city opened it up six weeks ago. More than enough time to update the website. Also there is no omelet station. The whole of their breakfast consisted of cold eggs, hard biscuits, bland gravy, and no bacon in site. Normally I don't leave bad reviews as you can see from my other reviews. It has to be bad. In the end we complained calmly and professionally. We did get a refund but were then kicked out, taking the spoon from my 79 year old mother's mouth. I worked in the industry as a server for over ten years. This was a very bad experience due to lack of competent management. I hope if we ever go back, big if, they've got things back in order. read more

Golden Corral - There is no omelet bar six weeks after it was announced it could be added back. Yet they are still advertising it on the website. - Buffets Near Me - Columbia, Missouri

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I attempted to call the corporate office about an unfortunate experience that I had with both a guest and manager at this location and no one called back. I have yet to receive my refund also. Not a good look read more

Disappointed in the dessert section as Coconut Cream Pie, The Chocolate Fountain, and Chocolate Pie were illuminated after reopening. Didn't see Steaks after 4 today either read more

Normally when you go to Golden Corral you expect reasonable prices and decent food. The dwell time of some of the food doesn't seem to be desirable. The gravy and cheese dishes sometimes have the skin (film on the top) forming. The main proteins are normally good but sometimes they have nothing prepared at the carving station. The salad bar is good and the deserts are mostly good. Sitting next to the wait station on the north side of the building had a "unique" smell. They need to step up their game a bit read more

Functional, not tasty, pleasant or a desirable eating experience. If you like community eating then this maybe okay. I was hungry and by myself, no way my family would enjoy this place with cafeteria food, people picking thru food and no-frills wait staff. Okay if this what you expect from a basic buffet. read more

The 1-star is for my experience eating there around 9 p.m. on a Friday night. Half the food was empty or about empty and what was left looked scorched to the pan. The beans and such were filmed over and looked unstirred in hours. On the positive side however, if I was someone looking for a job where I could hang out with my fellow employees and eat free steak dinner about an hour before the restaurant closes...definitely a 5-star, this place is for you! (If you don't mind that the paying customers are staring at you wondering why the service is so poor while you load up on meat and desert!) read more

The best one I have eaten at in a long time. I travel a lot and get a desire for veggies which Golden Corral has tons of. This is not a white linen place and I don't expect that. I want to get it, eat my veggies with a piece of this and a taste of that and this one was way better than most. read more

When I say that I love this place....it's awesome I especially love their brunch.....I am a very brunch type person and their brunch menu is awesome read more

Staff is very friendly, however it's merely cafeteria food. Only good parts were probably the salads and steaks, but everything else tastes pretty bland. They do make sure customers wear masks every time you go to the buffet because of Covid and they distance tables as well so that's a plus. read more

Do not go later in the evening. The food was terrible. The ribs were tough.the worker could not cut into them. The sirlon had been sitting out . The salad bar was the only decent thing. read more

Very good food everything is either good ie above average but there are a few stand out like the barbecue that really go above and beyond. that's on top of them being a great value very good service would recommend to anybody looking for a buffet. read more

Fantastic food. The steak was flavorful and tender. Our waitress Shellie was great! read more

I give this place 5 stars. I haven't had Golden Trough I mean.... Golden Corral in ages but the fam wanted to go. Surprisingly it was delicious! For a buffet everything was tasty, hot, fresh really good!! read more

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Like Glenn I travel and really get nostalgic for fresh vegetables cooked just right with some snap left in them, so I end up at Golden Corrals all over the country. This is one of the best with good friendly service and food flying out of the kitchen to present the entire array as fresh as if you ordered it. I try not to go to GC off peak, because all buffets suffer when customers are few and keeping everything fresh gets cost prohibitive. read more

Does it get any better than Golden Corral? No, no it does not. For the places it competes with, it really beats them all. I've enjoyed their salad bar from being a child to kinda adult. I never order anything off the huge menu board, just eat as much salad bar as possible. read more

Hello Dear Golden Corral My son and I enjoy the meals are the best. The food is cooked to the finest. The discount cards help us to come back sooner. Thank you. And some day Golden Corral will retune to Moberly Mo. 65270. We sure do miss the restaurant. But always glad to go to Columbia Mo. hello thank you read more

The wait staff is great. But the place is soo dirty, I honestly don't see how they can get away with putting food out for hours that is supposed to be refrigerated, and the chocolate fountain is a health hazard when little kids are constantly sticking their fingers in it. read more

I ordered a large amount of food online, paid for it and got a confirmation and pick up time. When we arrived to pick up, the resteraunt was closed for the day! The next day the manager said she couldn't control it because it's handled by corporate. She would do what she could to get my money refunded but it was also handled by corporate. No food- no money and a house full of hungry people. read more

It's my favorite place to eat! Food is always good and fresh, presented nicely and they never run out. The management and staff are friendly and professional too. If you like buffet, you can't go wrong here. read more

Dirty!!!! This food tastes watered down and banquet frozen dinner reheats. Never again.... read more

no comments or suggestions.... food was great though i saw some areas where it seemed like there should have been more out but upon a second trip thru the buffet i noted that several bins had been restocked with fresh food... KUDOS to your server there named trinity (20ish age wise and blond, almost looked like a teenager) she was absolutely FANTASTIC... once she told us her name, of course someone made a joke about the "matrix" movies and from that point on she was absolutely hilarious with our group, we had a great meal and she gave us a lot of laughs and the whole time (while she even tried to squeeze in a short break cause she sat next to us while she took her break) even thru her break she made sure our glasses were filled with drinks along with everyone else in her section and even took time during her break to sweep up little messes she saw we were only in columbia on a short trip but if we did come back thru i would absolutely come back and would even request her as our server so impressed we were by her i gave her a 10 dollar tip on a 40 dollar check which i rarely ever do... this girl deserves a raise in my book read more

Went there in the evening, around 7:00PM. The buffet was fully stocked, and mostly hot and fresh. Only a few items were slightly dry: the fried ravioli and the outside of the meatloaf (the inside was tender, juicy, and tasty). I was excited to see a pretty good selection of southern vegetables, including greens, fried okra, and creamed spinach (which was nice and fresh, no gross buffet skin on it). Lots of fruits, as well. The steaks were tasty if poorly trimmed. The salad bar included tuna salad, egg salad, and seafood salad. The seafood salad was delicious, and mostly seafood rather than celery. I was pretty enthusiastic about everything I ate. Haven't enjoyed a buffet this much in a long time. I cannot speak to the dessert area as I had none. I can speak to the service. A+, the waitresses were on it, making sure my guest and I had full glasses, and asking if there was anything else we might want or need. Overall, this was a great experience, much much better than I had expected. CoMo Golden Corral tows the line. read more

I don't know how nasty your restaurant is. Why does it take 5 hours for Stanly Steamer to clean your place? Trying to sleep at the hotel across the parking lot, now 1 am... can't sleep because of your bugs. read more