We got up the courage to eat out-Golden Corral

[MOboysgirl]

We weren't planning on it, but had to eat out on day 22 of our first whole30.  (Due to being delayed and still having a two hour drive home, to our "safe" food.). Yes, at first I panicked , but knew this day would come eventually. Time to think fast.  We almost went to Texas Roadhouse but I was still leery, having to trust the cook in the back, behind closed doors.  Then I saw, Golden Corral.  A place I haven't been to in years.  My first thought was, "worse case scenario, we can always fill up on salad bar."  After we paid $30 for 2 people (ouch) I was really hoping we could eat more than just salad.  At first glance, it didn't look promising.  So I slowed down, and looked harder.  I asked the grill chef about the prime rib. Yup, butter.  Then I told him of my "dietery restrictions"  all of this conversation taking place with me bending down to talk to him under the sneeze bar.....   I then asked about the steaks- "does the seasoning have sugars?" Bless his heart, he knew the answer,"yes."  And then I kindly asked him if he would be willing to make two dry steaks, using only salt and pepper.  "How would you like those cooked?"   And a loud voice inside my head sang, "HALLELUJAH."  So we filled up our salad plates with a plethora of veggies, dressed with oil and vinegar and " look, over there by the chocolate fondue fountain, fresh fruit!  (And thinking, all those poor people are ruining their fresh fruit.  They're missing out on the glorious favors of fruit!.). We still had a few minutes to wait for our medium rare steaks to be done and I didn't want to be rude and not be standing there with open arms, I.e. Open plate,  so I continued to meander around.  The harder I looked, the more I found.  Next to the vat of melted fake cheese product was beautiful steamed broccoli and cauliflower. ( I asked, once again, yelling to someone under the sneeze bar.) steamed with water only. Who-hooo, Load me up!!  I held two plates in my hand, and hollered with excitement to my husband across the room-" no butter!!!"   And then a 12-13 year old boy walked up to me and said, "the butter's over there."  Bless his heart.   Further down the line I found baked potatoes and baked sweet potatoes.  After confirming the very completely plain, we each grabbed a sweet potato, that was so moist, it didn't need a thing to be added to it.  

We were very satisfied with our $30 meal. We thanked our grill chef repeatedly and also asked the manager if there was a comment card and told her about our experience with her chef.  We asked her to recognize him for his knowledge and willingness to help.  She let us know that she also has a manual that list every ingredient in each item they serve and if we ever wanted to look at it, just ask.

We left the restaurant feeling very accomplished and proud of ourselves.  We were the minority leaving that restaurant, feeling good.  Not only physically but mentally.  You can go out to eat on Whole30!  I might even be willing to let someone cook me something, behind closed doors.  We'll see.

[Rfallo]

Good for you for asking about sugar on the steaks. I would have never guessed that it did! I think GC has many options as far as the multitude of cooked veggies, the yummy salad bar, etc. Texas Roadhouse you would have walked right into their fresh-baked rolls with the honey butter margarine. Plus peanuts on every single table (and the floor). Not the best option.

[Josh P]

My wife and I went to Golden Corral yesterday and we found out that the steaks are packaged in a seasoning with sugar before they are cut. The manager took a picture of the package and the second ingredient was dextrose. Looks like the steaks are not compliant for the Whole 30. Just wanted to let everyone know.