Golden Corral: Many choices but not all were delicious

RESTAURANT REVIEW

Golden Corral Buffet 17308 Bellflower Blvd. Bellflower, 90706 562-925-5557

by Debbi Fudge

LW contributor

In March, Sandy Bush and I selected the Golden Corral Buffet in Bellflower to review because of Sandy’s positive dining experiences some years ago at its San Bernardino location. Recognizing that change is mostly what we can count on today, we decided to experience the taste of today’s food at this long-in-business restaurant.

Our food selections came from an array of 96 dishes. Sandy’s lunch started with the broccoli cheddar soup, one of four soups available. My lunch started with choices among the 36-item salad bar. Each of us thought our lunches were off to a good start with tasty cheesy soup and crispy vegetables.

Next, we made our selections from the hot food bar. This hot food bar included 34 American food choices including one fish, five Mexican food choices, including tacos but no enchiladias, and three Italian food choices, including spaghetti and pizza. For entrees, we tasted fried chicken, pot roast, chicken livers, tacos, fish, sausage links and pulled pork. Resoundingly we agreed the pulled pork was the hot food bar entree super star—so tender and so flavorful. For side dishes, we tasted brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, green beans, refried beans and cabbage. None tasted delicious to either of us.

And last, we made our selections from the 18-item dessert bar. We tasted multiple cakes and pies, cookies, puddings, dessert bars and bread pudding. Of note, the soft serve ice cream machine was not working. While the cake frostings mostly always taste delicious to me, only one super star dessert emerged with the same super star dessert picked by each of us, the bread pudding. We agreed that the bread pudding could only have tasted more delicious if it had been served with warm vanilla sauce.

It’s very important to us that what we eat tastes delicious. This dining experience fell way short of that expectation. No, our picky eater friends who sometimes dine with us probably would not have enjoyed this restaurant as only a few dishes tasted delicious to us.

Yes, the parking area had handicapped parking spots very close to the entrance door. Yes, both the buffet area and the eating areas had very adequate space for walkers.

Yes, this location is easy to get to driving on surface roads for about 25 minutes.

The senior lunch price is $16.99 with drinks extra.

The Golden Corral is open Monday through Friday from 10:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m., and weekends from 8 a.m.-9 p.m.