Valentine’s Day is less than a week away, and so is the opening of a hotly anticipated restaurant.
Golden Corral, the North Carolina-based chain of buffet restaurants, is opening its first Clark County location at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at 11801 N.E. Fourth Plain Blvd. The restaurant seats 400 and definitely doesn’t require reservations.
Though he initially hoped to open the all-you-can-eat buffet in October, franchise co-owner Ramsey Zawideh said opening on Valentine’s Day puts everyone “in a good mood.”
“We wanted a sweetheart of a day for our opening,” he said.
Whether the restaurant would offer any deals to commemorate the grand opening or the romantic holiday, Zawideh couldn’t say. He does expect a large turnout.
“We’re really looking forward to it,” he said. “We think we’re going to make this place shine.”
News of Golden Corral’s arrival was immediately met with wagging tongues. It would be the first location in the Vancouver-Portland metropolitan area. Hungry people were reportedly walking in while the building was under construction.
But construction ran into a smorgasbord of problems, Zawideh said, such as equipment arriving late and subcontractors being scarce. Opening day skidded by in October, then again in December.
“There was some state approvals that needed to happen, city approvals that needed to happen, some construction issues, some weather issues,” he said. “I really can’t point to one thing in particular.”
One example: a rooftop air conditioning unit didn’t start getting built until contractors were ready to install it.
“We were hollering and screaming and all that kind of stuff,” Zawideh said. “That alone caused — that was close to a month, waiting for those to come in.”
The 11,000-square-foot restaurant will anchor a new strip mall called Orchards Crossing, though none of the other tenants have been announced. The restaurant will have 181 parking spaces and more than 200 employees.
