Good Day all. You must read in its entirety to get the full experience. Please forgive me - this IS the short version! It occurred on Mother's Day, 5/11/25 (of ALL days) I was invited to attend a gathering at GC (Golden Corral) this particular extremely busy afternoon. First, I called the GC store 6 times before arriving at the location - no one ever answered the phone (OK, a busy day). When I arrived, I begged the manager to allow me to sit with my ten-member party which included children; and made arrangements to keep my "To Go" order ($34.32) behind the front counter as I sat at the dining table.
While there, I ate NOTHING, drank NOTHING, as GC staff checked every 2 mins to be sure that I didn't. I was finally asked to leave approx. 20 mins after visiting with family. The mgr. Told me that I could continue to visit IF I paid an additional $23.99 just to sit there. Since I didn't want to pay more than the $34.32 I'd already paid, I went to the front counter to retrieve the packaged food that was waiting there behind the counter. That same mgr. REFUSED to give me the food that I purchased, saying that I didn't ask for it properly, the way he wanted me to ask for it. GC's entire staff refused to give me my purchase and told me that I had to leave without it. I waited at the counter, as we went back and forth in this CROWDED (Mother's Day) GC restaurant. I requested my PAID FOR food for over an hour, to no avail. They just WOULD NOT give me the food that I purchased.
By this time, it was utter chaos, and the other patrons waiting in line had begun to chime in, also advising the staff to just give me my food so that I could depart. No deal! They were adamant! Finally I DID leave as they had requested (without my purchase). As I waited outside the restaurant, after a horrifying and shameful debacle, a member of my party went back in to retrieve my order, and they too were told they COULD NOT have the item that I paid $34.32 for.
P.S. While there, I was cursed by atleast 3 of the staff members (yep, they used the F-bomb) as they interjected their "take" on things. Additional info: The POLICE were called to the store over this! Since I did nothing wrong, the police suggested that I contact the GC corporate offices to get resolution, as it was a civil matter and was out of their hands.
So without delay, I reached out to GC Corporate offices. To my surprise, I HAVE NOT heard back from them either. I have been calling and leaving a message every day, 2 or 3 times a day since the ordeal. All I've been able to do is leave a message, requesting a refund for services NOT rendered. Golden Corral does not deserve the business they do. This patron is "former" forever! I wouldn't eat there if I were you. They treated me AND my party horribly; FYI - I wouldn't have believed this story either, if only I hadn't experienced it firsthand. Thank you.

3/10/2024
A proactive approach is what I was trying to do in preparing a manager to know as my guest arrive I would pay for all that attend my sons birthday celebration. Did I or should I prepay and then get a refund if I overpay for my guest? I was told to wait, it was Sunday and no tables could be held and when all my guest arrive then I pay. I was a little set back because I was ready to sit and have a cold beverage. I asked if I could buy a drink from a guarding of the register manager and he was confused and acted so. But said it will be on the house and started towards the register, reached his hand for my payment and charged me for a glass of drink. My brother was with me and wanted water, the manager had to make a second trip because he either didn't hear me or wasn't listening. We waited 40 people deep for all to arrive and then requested to sit at the left of the restaurant, but was guided to the very far right of the restaurant passed dirty tables and awkward table placement. A very nice server that didn't understand English well came and we immediately gave her a tip so we would be taken care of with no hesitation, delay, and confusion. And all of a sudden we have 4 servers at our table asking for our reciept for our proof of drink purchase our server was confused as to why they were there. I told the servers the manager charged me seperate for my drink and the others were charged on a different reciept (Had to find the reciepts) another language barrier.
We all decided to go get food and most of the items on salad bar side were low and evidence of spillage everywhere. So no fruit or salad fixings basically. I return passed the dirty staging tables of eaten food and plates and glasses and napkins to my table and there are 4 To go cups of dark soda. We like tea, but the cashier selected the size and flavor, we had to order all of our drink choices and all 10 glasses stayed at our table of six, plus more refills, believe it or not we still had room for our plates of food but it took a while to get our table clean and decent. While we were in a corner and could not see if any more guest were arriving. And if space and crowdedness was not already an issue a robotic container came and parked itself behind my sons seat, we could then not get out. People began to put their used articles in the robot, nice for them but not for us.
One nice gesture that occurred was I was given some scotch tape to put money on my sons shirt for his birthday tradition because I didn't have pins. More happened that just wasn't ok, but I believe the manager was more concerned about people not paying than the availability of food, cleanliness, and really understanding his customers.
Please excuse any an all typos, bad grammer, and incorrect punctuation.

I would like a representative from the corporate team to contact me and discuss a pertinent customer service complaint surrounding the store manager, Tammy that occurred on Saturday 7/29/2023; via phone at *******322 or *******@hotmail.com. I am very disappointed in the quality of service I received upon arriving to pick up my order placed online through Door Dash. Upon arrival, I explained that I was here to pick up an order for Kelvin, my husband, and showed Tammy the receipt on my phone. She still hesitated to give me our food. Tammy stated that I have to confirm the order first before she could give me our food. After several minutes, I still had to call my husband as proof that the food was indeed ours and while doing so, I felt humiliated and embarrassed, as there were other customers around at the time of the interaction with the store manager Tammy. I explained to her several times that I WAS NOT a door dash driver, but was the actual customer who was simply picking my food up. As a regular customer of Golden Corral, I feel that I was not treated fairly. Because of this blatant ignorance displayed by your employee/manager, I will no longer recommend anyone eating at your establishment. What should have taken only 2 minutes turned easily into over 10 minutes of me attempting to retrieve the food that we ordered that was stated to be ready at 1:09pm. There should be regular training on more positive and effective customer service, especially with management. As an African American woman, the behavior shown by your manager Tammy allows me to question whether mistreatment by all African American customers at this magnitude is often tolerated by the company. This is unacceptable, as there are far greater life obstacles to worry about rather than being harassed by a leader of your team. I am disgusted, feel disrespected, and am willing to go out of my way toward choosing to spend my hard-earned money at a restaurant outside of your company. Customer service is everything and if the customer is not happy then something should be done to cultivate an environment more conducive to equality. My husband had to explain to Tammy several more times the exact same thought process that I was attempting to explain. It costs nothing to be kind and to listen. We are all human and indeed make mistakes. But I am owed far more than an apology. I will never set foot in your building again. I am hurt and angry by the behaviors shown from your employee, someone that you've hired to represent not only herself, but the vision of the company as a whole. Is this how all African Americans are treated? There are many other available restaurants in your area to experience. I know that many would rather spend their money on positive customer service instead of being treated like a peasant not worthy of the simple opportunity to pick up food like everyone else. While I don't know how far this message will reach, being treated with dignity and respect goes a long way in my opinion. My hope is that this will not happen again. Please know that you have lost a valuable customer thanks to the above and beyond efforts of Tammy to ensure that my experience was horrible.

On August 7,2018, my brother, mother and myself visited the Golden Corral restaurant on NC Hwy 55 in Durham, North Carolina and were met with one of the most heinous forms of racial discrimination-- asking to show a receipt following the purchase of our meal.

As most people are aware, customers purchase their meal at a cash register located in front of the restaurant where a cashier sits and takes your money. Then, the rest of the dining experience is completely self serve. The manner in which the restaurant is set up leaves very little opportunity for a customer to steal anything or leave without paying. However, as my family and I sat down to eat our food, a server stood over our table and literally watched us begin to eat. When I asked why he was standing at our table staring at us, the worker asked to see a receipt for our purchase. I was immediately stunned but reached into my purse and handed the worker my receipt. I also asked why he needed to see my receipt when my family and I had left the cashier station only 5 minutes prior. We thought that there was no reason on Earth why someone would suggest or even accuse us of having not paid for our food. Ridiculous.

We watched as the worker made notations on the receipt and explained that he had to check for our drink purchases. I had water, and both my brother and mother had tea. What was the issue? Is this particular Golden Corral location having a problem with customers not paying? How so? And, if so, why harass, humiliate and degrade everyone else? If the restaurant is having a problem with customers not paying, then there needs to be a better way in which to handle it. The current policy is discriminatory and racist. As a paying customer, I have the right to sit down and eat in peace, without being stared at by a restaurant worker because he thinks that I stole my food. That is insane!

There is no disclaimer or sign anywhere inside or outside the restaurant warning customers of this ridiculous policy and Golden Corral underhandedly implemented it for a very strategic and sneaky reason. If customers knew beforehand that they would be asked to produce a receipt AFTER sitting down to eat, they may think twice and go elsewhere. My family and I were not the only upset diners that evening. During our meal, we saw two other parties who expressed their discontent at the receipt policy and I even spoke to one of the other customers about it. This woman stated that she was unhappy and planned to file a complaint.

If Golden Corral thinks that what happened to Starbucks could and would not with Golden Corral, the people in the corporate office are fooling themselves, only. I have pledged to get the word out via social media about Golden Corral's racist receipt policy. It is no secret that a large number of African Americans live in Durham and thus Golden Corral feels the need to keep us in check using a disgusting policy associated with an abysmal history of deep-seated racism in places of public accommodations.

When will it ever end?