Friday, July 02, 2010

The Phantom Returns

Two years ago I wrote an article called The Mystery of the Golden Corral. It was about a Golden Corral Restaurant in Lebanon, Pennsylvania that seems to come and go. One day there it is and then suddenly, poof. Since writing that article - POOF! It was gone! In the area a few times since I would drive by and there would be the empty building - restaurant sign gone. Closed.

Now, a reader just recently wrote to me and guess what - It's Baaack! Yes, out of the mists, the phantom restaurant has returned. Same location and same Golden Corral. This is really incredible. One can only imagine what happens with the owning of this franchise location.

This Golden Corral, I am told, has been redone inside to the "new" style - get your own plates design. This is a good thing because the only thing not great about Golden Corral is having to wait until your busy server comes around with more plates.

I have also been told that the food is good. It was when I was there last but that was BEFORE the disappearance AGAIN. So there is no telling if the cooks and staff disappear with the restaurant to another dimension and then reappear in mass when the restaurant fades back into existence. If you go now you can get the Ribs feature that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago.

Of course, it just occurred to me, what if you are inside eating when the restaurant starts to fade away again - off into the netherworld of buffet restaurants... Nah, probably can't happen. Or can it?

The phantom Golden Corral is located at 1147 Quentin Road in Lebanon. PA. Or is it???

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We stopped at The Golden Corral in Lebanon a few times since it has reopened. Friday afternoons for a late lunch, early dinner was the best time. The breakfast meals were not all that good and on the one time we made the mistake of going Sunday afternoon was bad. I was very angry, they were overwhelmed and the place was not clean the food trays were not filled and forget dessert, it was as bad as going to the buffets in the Harrisburg area - more like getting to the party after it was over and nothing was left but crumbs.

It's odd as Shady maple can be full and yet they keep things clean and the food coming - at golden Coral I could not even get mashed potatoes, there was a little scrapings and the ladle was laying in the bottom of the tray. They had a new, full replacement setting out of reach but even after a few minutes wait no one took the time to put it out. The meat selection was also wiped out, and when they finally put out meatloaf it was way too dry, much like it was sitting too long.


At this point in time, I don't think I will go back to the Golden Corral in Lebanon, definitely never on a Sunday. I heard the Dutchway market restaurant , just east of Myerstown Pa on route 422 does some buffets at their restaurant, I need to try Dutchway some day, may be similar to Yoders. I do prefer Pennsylvania Dutch style cooking and found any place where I can see Amish & Menonite individuals eating, I will like the food as we have similar tastes.