I don’t recall how many years after I came to Fayetteville to work, in August 1995 at Fayetteville State University, that the second Golden Corral location in Fayetteville was built on Ramsey Street. This Golden Corral location was a favorite of mine, often visiting at least twice a week. The staff were friendly and DeWayne was a good waiter for many years. After they closed this location, DeWayne and others were moved over to the newly built Golden Corral, located at the same location near the Mall.
A slide presentation and brief notes on a GC Ramsey Street visit in 2014.
The new Golden Corral was not necessarily better, or even as good as the old. The serpentine, undulating serving areas of the old locations provided a more friendly, less frenzied approach for customers to fill their plates. The new serving line was long, very long, almost spanning the entire length of the building and straight. The problem with this long straight line was that other customers were always “coming at you” from both sides and sometimes even behind you. Another negative aspect of the new Golden Corral was that the environment was incredibly “LOUD”. Sound bounced off the walls easily and became almost deafening. Oh, and there were certain sections of the restaurant where there was not enough room between the tables, on each side. Few want to have people and waiters/waitresses brushing against you to “get by” while you are eating.
Another negative was that DeWayne was never quite the same “happy” self in the new GC as he had been for years at the GC on Ramsey. I think the new was a more harried pace.
After Golden Corral moved out of this location, it was taken over by a Chinese restaurant. I don’t recall the name of the restaurant. Might have been “Supreme Buffet Hibachi”. I do recall before they actually opened, I was thinking that they didn’t need another Oriental restaurant in this area. I was a regular customer of the “Little China” restaurant which was just a few steps away, next to Ollies. But, the new buffet was good and I almost stopped going to Little China. Finally, when I did return to Little China, they had discontinued their buffet and I didn’t go back afterward.
After the Oriental restaurant left, “Fred Chaisson’s Grandsons Buffet” opened. I became a regular here also.
I include the two pictures below, because they look like the Ramsey Street location of Chaissons. The corrugated tin siding, and the neon pig on the red wall were familiar.
“Fred Chaisson’s Grandsons Buffet” on 3901 Ramsey Street fell prey to COVID. They closed when other restaurants were closing their buffets, and never opened again. And after a couple of years, I was riding by the other day and looked over to see that they had torn down most of the building. And by later that day, they finished the building demolish. Today as I rode past, it looks like they have cleaned up the rest of the parking area.
Not too long before I saw that they were demolishing the Ramsey Street location of Chaissons, I had heard/seen a report on WRAL about a shooting that had occurred at the Chaisson’s location in Hope Mills. The positive of this was that I didn’t know they had a Chaissons there, and I will probably visit at some point.
In writing the last paragraph, I was reminded of the Chaissons location which was down in Lumberton, NC. I’m not sure if there was a fire, but at some point the location stopped being a restaurant and fell into disrepair. The problem might have been the flooding in 2016 and not fire. *And, I correct myself. I just did a Google StreetView of the location down in Lumberton and see that it was a Fuller’s Restaurant and not a Chaissons.
Fuller’s has the same “country cooking” type buffet as Chaissons. I know I visited the above location in Lumberton at least once before the fire. It has been a long time since I ate at Fullers in Fayetteville, on Eastern Blvd. Most times when I go past it, it appears to be closed.
Bill Gibson, II 