Went to Golden Coral last night...

spoonyspork
spoonyspork Posts: 238 Member
edited November 12 in Food and Nutrition
... and was pleasantly surprised!

Kiddo's birthday and he picked that (of all places, urrgh!) for dinner. I figured I'd just pick at stuff as I wasn't all that hungry and had been eating as normal all day. Then walked in and got a whiff of the butter yeast rolls and just went 'nope, gunna just enjoy this!'.

It turned out I didn't even need to worry to begin with. Did you know they list their nutrition info including serving sizes on all of their menu items, right at the bar? One of the staff noticed me carefully eyeing the calories and offered to weigh some things for me so I could get a good idea of portion sizes. Still ended up with an epic meal (a small sampling of everything I like there and larger sampling of my favorites including two butter yeast rolls... and they sent us off with a free half-dozen of them), but didn't feel bad cause I could log it with some sense of knowing what I got (and checking MFP's DB against the info on their site matched too)... and still stayed under maintenance.

Anyway, just thought that was pretty cool and might be helpful for people to know there's a buffet out there they can know what they're getting into ahead of time! This is the first time I didn't wake up feeling nasty and bloated after eating at a buffet (including before I started counting calories)!

Replies

  • Nataliegetfit
    Nataliegetfit Posts: 395 Member
    I am glad there isn't one of those any where near us. Good that it has the nutrition info, that is a help. I am eating much butter, but can have a cheat meal out about once a week and still do well. Keep up the good work, and don't ever let one bad choice meal turn into a whole day or even get you off for awhile..
  • htg20
    htg20 Posts: 116 Member
    edited February 2015
    Went there the other day too (though I really don't like it, and at this point the food was low quality....looked like it had sat there a while). But I did skip rolls or anything fried. Splurged on some crab salad and sweet potatoes with marshmallows. Didn't do dessert because we had birthday cake waiting at home. All in all, I felt I did well and focused on mostly veggies (even if the green beans do have ham and margarine). The one we went to didn't have any serving sizes or cals listed. I didn't bother logging, but I probably should have tried.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    I LOVE when a restaurant has the nutrition info readily available. I can't wait until the day they all do.
  • Laurend224
    Laurend224 Posts: 1,748 Member
    Is that the place with the chocolate fountain? :s
  • melimomTARDIS
    melimomTARDIS Posts: 1,941 Member
    those rolls are no joke. I can just eat them all day.
  • palwithme
    palwithme Posts: 860 Member
    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    I LOVE when a restaurant has the nutrition info readily available. I can't wait until the day they all do.

    I agree. It is a real eye opener and helped me to realize how I got heavy in the first place. Something that I thought looked healthy turns out to be close to 1,000 on some of the menus I see.
  • TriShamelessly
    TriShamelessly Posts: 905 Member
    I find that golden corral is fairly easy to eat right at as well. My kids love the cotton candy machine. The rolls can be a killer though as I could eat the whole half dozen if I lacked self control.
  • Sevendust912
    Sevendust912 Posts: 122 Member
    edited February 2015
    I've been to Golden Corral once, and just seeing many of the patrons there is enough to make anyone lose their appetite and never visit again.
  • spoonyspork
    spoonyspork Posts: 238 Member
    melimomTARDIS wrote: »
    those rolls are no joke. I can just eat them all day.

    This! They're like unglazed donuts. Soft and yeasty and just... yum! I had one first thing and when I started feeling full it was also the last thing on my plate. Skipped dessert as it's all kind of gross (even the chocolate fountain -- yes that's the one to the person who asked!). Meant to bring one of the rolls to work today and forgot. Hopefully they will still be there by the time I'm home!

    Also kept an eye on the bar and only got up to get a plate when my next choice was put up fresh... which also meant I ate slower and got a chance to feel full before going up for more.

    To Sevendust -- I know what you mean! It helped that we were there on a slow night so there weren't as many of the more ah.... 'interesting' patrons. Sometimes it's like browsing the 'people of walmart' site XD
  • dawnmcneil10
    dawnmcneil10 Posts: 638 Member
    I'm more excited that someone from the staff offered to weigh the food for you, that's fantastic!
  • spoonyspork
    spoonyspork Posts: 238 Member
    dawnmcneil10 wrote: »
    I'm more excited that someone from the staff offered to weigh the food for you, that's fantastic!

    Oh, heck yeah that was awesome! Like I said: they were pretty slow (for a Golden Coral next to an RV park during vacation season) so that's probably why that happened, but I was pretty floored and she got a good tip :)
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,024 Member
    The last time I went to the Golden Corral (in VA in 2009), my wife and I witnessed more obese people at one place than ever before. Partially because VA does have an issue with very overweight/obese people over 27% (current tied in 32nd place), but I distinctly remember seeing this one gentleman who was well over 400lbs sitting down and eating off of 3 full plates of food, then going back for more. Now at the time it was $10 for lunch, so it's probably much much more convenient and cost effective for him to eat at GC than grocery shop and cook his own food. This is a correlation on why buffets (regardless of what type of food) attract people with huge appetites and weight issues more than any other type of restaurant.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png


  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    The last time I went to the Golden Corral (in VA in 2009), my wife and I witnessed more obese people at one place than ever before. Partially because VA does have an issue with very overweight/obese people over 27% (current tied in 32nd place), but I distinctly remember seeing this one gentleman who was well over 400lbs sitting down and eating off of 3 full plates of food, then going back for more. Now at the time it was $10 for lunch, so it's probably much much more convenient and cost effective for him to eat at GC than grocery shop and cook his own food. This is a correlation on why buffets (regardless of what type of food) attract people with huge appetites and weight issues more than any other type of restaurant.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png


    I re-noted the same thing at our local Chinese buffet (long story there about forgetting to make dinner reservations on a friday night and every place being full). Lots of fat adults, lots of fat kids.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,024 Member
    palwithme wrote: »
    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    I LOVE when a restaurant has the nutrition info readily available. I can't wait until the day they all do.

    I agree. It is a real eye opener and helped me to realize how I got heavy in the first place. Something that I thought looked healthy turns out to be close to 1,000 on some of the menus I see.
    In CA, every chain restaurant has calorie counts. Of course most are approximations on the low end since they don't really measure out anything. So even at IHOP when they say that an omelet might be 900 calories, it's probably more likely to be 1100 calories.
    Really can't go wrong though if one sticks to more vegetable based meals with little or no dressings or sauce on the side.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png
  • luly727
    luly727 Posts: 202 Member
    We've been to Golden Corral on a few occasions, as my H can eat anything and everything and never gains a Lb ( i think he has tapeworms LOL) but last time we went i got salad first, with dressing on the side. Picked 1 piece of the fish, 4 small popcorn shrimp and the rest was 1 scoop of veggies/broccoli, peas, cauliflower. Managed to not get up for 2nd plate and avoided the dessert and rolls. I felt satisfied but not stuffed. They do have a wide selection of items to pick so I managed to stay within my calories for the day and enjoyed going out to dinner. So for me, it is someplace I can feel better about going to eat out.
  • Indigoblu1
    Indigoblu1 Posts: 127 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    The last time I went to the Golden Corral (in VA in 2009), my wife and I witnessed more obese people at one place than ever before. Partially because VA does have an issue with very overweight/obese people over 27% (current tied in 32nd place), but I distinctly remember seeing this one gentleman who was well over 400lbs sitting down and eating off of 3 full plates of food, then going back for more. Now at the time it was $10 for lunch, so it's probably much much more convenient and cost effective for him to eat at GC than grocery shop and cook his own food. This is a correlation on why buffets (regardless of what type of food) attract people with huge appetites and weight issues more than any other type of restaurant.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png


    The first and last time I went there was in 2004. It was dirty, filled with obese people with piles of food. With kids leaning over the food - who knows what germs were getting in there! Yuk.

    I just cannot do the "buffet" thing because of the food being exposed to so many germs. I think I'd much rather not eat.
  • spicy618
    spicy618 Posts: 2,114 Member
    I hate Golden Coral. Here in South Florida, we have every fast food and buffet you can imagine, it seems.

    We we're there last weekend. When we paid the cashier asks if you want 6 Free Yeast rolls, before you even get in the dinning room. The food isn't good, the desserts aren't either. Not worth messing up my whole weekend for it. However, my fiance loves it. lol.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    palwithme wrote: »
    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    I LOVE when a restaurant has the nutrition info readily available. I can't wait until the day they all do.

    I agree. It is a real eye opener and helped me to realize how I got heavy in the first place. Something that I thought looked healthy turns out to be close to 1,000 on some of the menus I see.
    In CA, every chain restaurant has calorie counts. Of course most are approximations on the low end since they don't really measure out anything. So even at IHOP when they say that an omelet might be 900 calories, it's probably more likely to be 1100 calories.
    Really can't go wrong though if one sticks to more vegetable based meals with little or no dressings or sauce on the side.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png

    When does/did the federal law go into effect? I know they pushed it back again by six months. All chain restaurants in all 50 states are/will be required to post their calories/nutrition information. (And then yes, we're supposed to know they are estimates, which is where it gets tricky). P.F. Changs' calorie list is going to be a hoot.
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