Hometown Chinese Restaurant

Taiwanese cuisine in Davis. I recommend getting the Pork chop over rice and/​or Hook pork over rice (~9). It’s big enough as a meal itself or in my case, it lasts me two meals.
It is spacious and there are plenty of seats and tables. It is self-​seating after you order at the register. They charge $ 0.50 for credit card use. No one really serves you, but there is a lady that comes around to collect dishes if you are too lazy to put it in the cart yourself.
The food takes a little while prepare, so if you come during the dinner hours, be warn! The food is good though. The gravy they put over the rice is sooo good. They also offer boba drinks.

I was quite surprised to find the food very good. Its close to authentic. I got the szchuan fish, garlic eggplant, and the dumplings. They were great, but a bit on the oily side. The dumplings were great, not sure if they are handmade but they taste that good to think so! I would go here again. Best you can get while in Davis (;

If you want to know where all the Taiwanese students hangout in Davis, this is the place! Never knew this place existed even when I went to college here because I never explored this apartment style business complex. Since it was my first time here, I thought someone would come up and seat us. Nope! You walk up to the counter, order, your food, pay, and seat yourself. When your food is ready, they call your number and you walk up to the counter and pick it up yourself.
This place is super spacious! So spacious that the right half of the restaurant doesn’t match the left half. The right side of the restaurant has dining tables and chairs that are all black, while the right side has more flimsy tables and chairs. Flimsy meaning the plastic chairs and simple desks that you get from ikea.
I ordered the zha zheng mian. It was just meh. Lots of noodles and tofu bits and cucumbers. Not enough peanut sauce and meat. Took a couple bites and didn’t feel like eating it anymore. The boyfriend ordered the pork chop with gravy over rice that came with a tea boiled egg! That was pretty good. If I come here again, that’s probably what I’ll be getting.

I love this place and even after moving out of Davis, I crave it all the time and always make a stop here when I’m back in town. This is definitely one of my favorite restaurants in Davis, and I think the food is DELICIOUS.
I usually get the porkchop over rice (one of their most popular items), and the portion is fairly large especially for the price. I have also tried many of their other dishes, such as shredded pork with bamboo, but I still prefer the porkchop over rice.
In terms of service, you order at the counter and then seat yourself so it’s fairly casual. The servers are usually very friendly and polite. This last time that I went, the server (an elderly man) who was working was extremely nice and brought the food to our table instead of making us have to go get it. He also started up a conversation with my friend and me, and I thought that was very welcoming of him.
Overall, great food and great service! It’s tucked into the back a bit on E Street, but I highly recommend trying it at least once, especially if you’re from Davis (:

The food was good. The broccoli and rice were good.
The young man and the young lady who work there were nice, however there was an older, very rude woman with long hair who sat right behind the counter who ruined the energy of the restaurant. She was sorting through the money and the credit card papers and her energy was dark, unfriendly, negative and mean. The place needs some happy energy, more flow, maybe some candles. They need some fresh air and the woman counting money should stay out of sight. By the end of the night the mean boss woman had all of the cash and papers spread out on the counter, she never looked up from her money, she never smile and she never acknowledged her customers. Please try to create a happier environment for the customers. The food was good but there was a negative, rude, NASTY vibe because of the mean, rude woman counting money. She was dismissive, hurtful and disrespectful. I was worried that her stringy black hair would end up in my food.
More about the mean boss woman… she was front and center behind the counter and she gave off a nasty, toxic vibe as if she hated that we were there. Maybe she hates men — that is how it felt. I will not give my money to a woman who refuses to smile or greet her customers. WTF! she was sending us hate/​seething as we were handing over our money. As we left the restaurant she glared at us and she seemed happy that we were leaving. Does anyone in Davis offer congeniality classes??. If so, please enroll this woman IMMEDIATELY!!. It is unfortunate because the young woman/​waitress was very nice. The mean/​rude boss woman is in the wrong business and she should stay home. Other comments below will also mention the angry boss woman behind the counter and how she does nothing but watch movies on her laptop and glare at the customers. There was a nice older boss man at the back table peeling string beans, she should join him. The angry boss woman belongs out of sight. What could have been a nice meal turned into something ugly, sinister and dark, we left feeling DIRTY because of the mean spirited, rude woman counting her money. It was about the worst possible feng shui to place this toxic energy front and center
More about the unhappy, angry woman… it was strange how she was seated directly behind the counter as people approached and ordered and paid. She was right in front of us as we ordered, yet she refused to look up or smile. As I ate my meal I was forced to look directly at her the whole time. Her dark energy never changed, she never warmed up, she never smiled. I feel sorry for the people who have to work there. She seemed very unhappy. It is unfortunate that she needs to spread her unhappiness to those around her.

This place is so red, burning red, that it’s really hard to miss, even though it’s tucked away in the middle of what appears to be an apartment-​turned-​business complex.
You seat yourself and pay before you eat, so the vibe is super casual. My friend and I both ordered the pork gravy over rice, which I thought was reasonably priced (~$ 5) until I saw the portion size…
Service was slow and I think I spent 20 minutes waiting for a tiny bowl of rice and pork gravy that I devoured in 5 minutes. The food was not half bad, but definitely not worth the price or the wait.
Brownie points for the free wifi, though. At least you have a means to pass the time while waiting for your food.

Finally got around to visiting this place. I’ve heard reeally good things and was really looking forward to having Taiwanese cuisine. However… I have a few gripes.
— They advertise «reasonable prices.» The pork chop I ordered ($ 8.60) was charged as $ 8.75, with added tax and charge for using a card it came to $ 10.
Hmm…
I’ll get back to this point.
— Thankfully I came with good company and didn’t notice the long waiting time for the food. (Apparently they only have one chef.) But there is no doubt that they make the food fresh!!!
— My porkchop was tasty, and was served on a giant plate. But that plate was 60% rice (with bits of pork and the occasional bite of sauce). So in light of that, in my personal opinion I’m not sure if I’d consider $ 10 a reasonable price for what I got.
On the flipside, being conservative allowed me to make two «meals» out of it, (albeit most of the second was rice).
I’m willing to try Hometown again. I really wanted it to be as great as my friends reported it to be. So I hope that after giving it another chance I’ll return with a more positive, and less one-​sided, review.

Worst Chinese food we’ve had. Probably ever!
Slow service, order took over 35 mins for three below average plates. All they could say was «we’re busy, we’re always this slow». No apologies at all. We ordered beef w/​green beans, Mongolian beef and Szechuan chicken. All three had the same flavor, salt and more salt. Probably not even salt but MSG.
Avoid this place!!!

This is a good place to come if you want some Taiwanese food. We get the chicken leg over rice, pork chop over rice and beef noodle soup. The food is pretty good. The service is really really slow. Maybe it’s one person cooking so it takes awhile. Recommend the food tho.

Came here before watching a movie at the Varsity Theater. Place is nestled in a little spot which is actually quite nice. The girl behind the counter was very nice and the place was overall clean. I ordered the schezwan chicken (which came with rice) and then a Thai iced tea with boba. I waited maybe about ten minutes for everything which wasn’t bad because it was fairly busy. The Thai iced tea was fantastic and the boba was great. The schezwan chicken was spicy, but I just felt overall it was a little too bland for me. It tasted too much like green onions and cilantro and it just wasn’t a winner for me. I still finished it all though and it tasted fresh. I wouldn’t mind stopping by here again and trying another item off of their menu if I am in the area though!

Good food, but it takes seriously forever to get it. You should only come here if you have 1 – 2 hours to kill.
The best dish is the beef noodle soup, which comes with an oily slightly spiced broth, noodles, Asian-​style beef stew pieces, and a few pieces of bok choy. The soup is usually on point in terms of flavor, but I’ve waited 25 – 40 minutes before for this dish to come out. I’ve also tried the pork and chicken rice dishes, but they were rather oily and forgettable. They also come with a weird pickled salad I don’t particularly enjoy.
Service is what you expect at an Asian restaurant– you just order and wait til they call your number. While I do appreciate how everything is authentically made, I just wish they expedited the process.

My first time in Davis, CA! I told my friend that I wanted Taiwanese food and boba. He took me here. Basically a fast food restaurant feel where most of the patrons are male. You order up front, pay, get a number, get water by the water station, grab a table, and wait for your number to be called. It felt like it took a bit for us to get our food. The food was very bland. It was very unsatisfying. The service can be a lot better on top of the quality of the food. I guess its a good college town restaurant. If I was a local college student, I might be back. But I am not a college student anymore so I won’t be coming back.

When we eat here, we always get the same thing. So I cannot speak for the other foods. However, I can comment on the 2 items:
My husband’s favorite thing to eat here is the Pork Chop over Rice. The pork chop is breaded and fried and the portion is a good size.
I always get the beef noodle soup. The beef is VERY soft and tender and the soup is flavorful, but a little oily.
We don’t come in too often or when we are REALLY hungry because the service is very slow. However, there is free wifi to help the time pass a little.

This place is the only place for Taiwanese food in Davis, and being Taiwanese, I do crave a good pork chop over rice from time to time so I can’t really give this place a bad review. I only order the pork chop here so I can’t really say how the other food is. I know a lot of people who order the chicken leg over rice and they say it’s pretty good too!
The taste of the food is always consist so you know what to expect whenever you come here. The portions, however, vary from time to time. There’s been a few times I’ve come in where the portion was significantly smaller than other times but regardless, it’s still enough to fill me up! I just wish they gave more string beans on the side.
The pork chop is one of the few combo options they have, which means it comes with a drink — either black or green tea. I always upgrade my black tea to a milk tea! The milk tea here is surprisingly good but the boba isn’t so I would advise against adding boba to your drink.
Service here can be pretty slow and inconsistent. The time taken for my food to come out has ranged from 15 – 40 minutes so just be warned if you’re dining in.

I’ve got a love hate with this place. Food is surprisingly very good and one of the more authentic Taiwanese places around. Even their milk tea is pretty good even though not many people know about it.
The downside is that it is SO SLOW. Once I waited almost an hour for my food and there were a bunch of empty tables. Make sure to call in 20 or so minutes in advanced.
I had their porkchops and I thought it was kind of plain compared to what the other reviews say. Their Mongolian beef was tasty though. Definitely want to come here and try their beef noodle soup.

I have always been a fan of the $ 5 pork gravy over rice!
This place has always been one of my go-to’s in Davis for Taiwanese food. The atmosphere feels modern and hip like a taiwan café.
Portions are decent and price is reasonable. I am giving three stars because the service is often slow and the boba is meh.

Hometown buffet?! Nope. Deceiving name right?
This Taiwanese place is known for their pork chops over rice, and believe me it’s the bomb diggity. You have a big piece of juicy fried pork chop sitting on scoops of rice, pickled cabbage, boiled egg and bits of mini meats for flavoring. It’s more than enough for one person, so I usually togo half of the plate back home. It’s really good and tastes authentic to me, and will definitely fulfill your Asian cravings. I also had the beef noodle soup and it’s not that great. Merely because when I got it the broth was barely warm, and eating cold soupy noodles never turn out well.
Service: plan on waiting more than 30 minutes because for some odd reason there’s only one chef in the kitchen. Depending on the time of day, you should go on a dead hour because I had to wait 1.5 hours just for pork chops over rice and when I get hungry grumpy I get pissed. The service here does need improvements, but I guess I’ll deal with it because the food is good.
Interior: I’m not too much of a fan because it’s really dimmed, with red walls, but it’s a casual dining area and not a fancy 5 star restaurant with a romantic ambiance. It gives a mellow vibe, and I prefer brighter places so you can enjoy your food presentation and you can actually see your friends. Also the bathroom is outside across the restaurant and it’s kinda beat up, so I wouldn’t use their bathrooms.
Con: they have a credit card fee, so bring cash.
Overall, I’d come here and get their pork chops over rice. It’s delicious and definitely a Davis food item that I’ll miss when I leave.

One of the better Chinese/​Taiwanese restaurants in Davis, Hometown serves some decent dishes.
+ Pork-​chop over Rice with Tea Combo
My favorite dish/​combo here. Mixing the rice and gravy is awesome and just full of flavor. The pork-​chop itself is usually a little crispy on the outside and tender in the inside. They also add some vegetables on the side, making the dish a little healthier with all these fatty goodness you’re eating (not really though…). I tend to believe that the dish is heartwarming on cold days. Also, their servings are relatively generous and prices are fair. Moreover, their tea drinks are usually pungent.
— Service and Ambiance
Waiting for your food to come out may take a while. I usually wait 20 – 30 minutes when the restaurant is not packed, up to an hour (or more) when the place is crowded. Not a good place to eat when you’re in a hurry. Just order to go and pick it up if you have to go someplace else.
The décor is relatively nice. Red walls and dimmed lights, makes Hometown a somewhat convivial restaurant to eat at.

I’ve been on a mission to find a Taiwanese restaurant in Davis to take a group of students from Taiwan to lunch. The Boss of Me and another fabulous colleague came to try Hometown.
Having made numerous trips to Taipei, I knew what I was looking for and there it was. Beef noodle soup, Pan-​fried pot stickers, Minced pork with tofu, and bubble drinks in every unknown flavor! Spicy and savory, the food was delicious. Even served the Japanese styled rice. Sticky short grain new crop.
There is a long line and a long wait, so if you think you’ll be done in an hour, not going to happen.

We’ve been back in the Bay Area for about two years and my boyfriend still occasionally craves this place & claims it’s the best restaurant to eat in Davis! We finally got to visit Hometown again after making a pitstop from Reno. Hometown is still as good as I remembered it!
When I was a UCD student, Mongolian Beef with Rice was always my go-​to dish. The portions are huge and I love how spicy the beef is. I wouldn’t recommend ordering it if you can’t handle any versions of spicy though! I finally tried the Pork chop over rice yesterday and it was also amazing! I can see why it’s such a popular dish here. I highly recommend trying it.
Every student at UCD needs to give this place a try! Your college experience will not be the same without it!