HomeTown Buffet

Do not eat there. The selection is poor, the food is poorly made, and I felt extremely disappointed by the fact that you pay to get in yet I got inspected for a receipt instantly upon sitting down.

Food did not taste home cooked at all, it was more like all of it was straight out of a box, all too processed. Either the food was bland with not much flavor or it was hidden, covered in layers of sauce to keep us from guessing the quality or keep us from seeing what we were eating. My wife and I tried several items and we’re not impressed at all. Even my kids who would usually get down with buffets were struggling. From the watery Mac and cheese to the dried out cod thumbs down way down at least on this day.

The food is not quality like it used to be. The meat is very fatty and the labels on the food were in the wtong places. The desserts were amazing, the salads very fresh. The restaurant has a strong gross odor, the restrooms smell of mildew. The service was good, they kept our table clean. I don’t know what changed but I will not be going back because of the awful smell, it takes away your appetite. I got my money’s worth, I do not recommend the one in Merced. I gave 3 stars because the customer service was so good.

The cashier was very friendly! Food was ok — but the location leaves a lot to be desired.

Visited this location today and I have to say: out of all the many Hometown Buffets I’ve frequented, this one in Merced stands out above the rest! The moment we entered, we were warmly greeted by the cashier, who even offered to give us a tour of the restaurant! He was friendly and accepted our email coupon with ease, no trying to figure out how to enter the code or anything; he was clearly trained on the register. Despite it being lunchtime and a bit busy, the lobby and seating area was surprisingly clean and tables were cleared of dirty dishes.
The array of food was vast and plentiful… very colorful and fresh. The salad bar was not messy and it appeared to be recently stocked, because everything was full and in its proper place.
Our table attendant was very attentive, clearing away our dishes often and very pleasantly. She even paused to make personal conversation with some of the diners, asking if they needed anything more, as she did with us.
And lastly, the manager made his rounds, genuinely asking diners if they were content, needed anything, if we were satisfied with the service from our table waiters and with our meal experience, in general. WOW! That does NOT happen often in restaurants. He was very professional and caring.
All in all, our experience at this Hometown Buffet was top notch and we will definitely be returning soon.

I took my family here for breakfast on Fathers day. No problem with how clean the place was but the menu was limited compared to the Sacramento Florin road store. I never expect too much from buffets but there is a good reason the place wasn’t crowded. Good luck if you want a healthy dessert; no melons or fruit to speak of. I left with the feeling they’re offering the least they can.

This Is my first time in a long time and I have to say, I was disappointed. There is a big increase in price, they seem to have less food variety and quality went down. For what I paid here today I can get a t-​bone somewhere else. Not coming back.

I just don’t care for this place… It’s the same food over and over it seems like the menu never changes. I use to love there Mac and cheese but they changed something about it and now it does not taste good at all. The food tends to be cold all the time, if it isn’t cold it is old. I now would rather drive to Modesto and go to Golden Coral which is cheaper and much better food.

The place is always very clean, service is great, and they typically have a good variety. Pricing isn’t bad if you are hungry. Food is often over cooked and pretty blah. We go once and a while when we are really hungry or have a buy one get one free coupon. Breakfast is always much better than dinner.

This is by far one of the best Hometown locations I’ve ever been to!!! I was incredibly impressed at the improvement in quality of service, selection of dishes and above all, cleanliness of the establishment. The general manager and our waitress we’re keenly attentive to every need and not once did we have to request to have our table cleaned. I will definitely be back and will recommend to all who would like a satisfying experience with a relaxed yet professional atmosphere.

From 2009 to 2012 I’d visited this place. I was in college but since coming back yesterday for Valentine’s Day, I’m pleasantly surprised. I was told they remodeled yet again and am happy with the results. Portion control in little ramekins is a neat idea. I had loaded mashed potatoes with some tri tip pieces — yummy. I loved the addition of items that my picky teenage boy can eat — like popcorn shrimp, baked fish and nachos. When he was younger I had such a difficult time feeding him there.
Desserts are great too — smaller portions and premade cups of puddings are neat and don’t take up too much space. The banana pudding is yummy. I was kind of disappointed that the tres leche cake didn’t make the cut but… you can’t please everyone.
Another plus is that anyone with a weight loss card from their doctor is able to get in for senior pricing — cool. I’m glad they don’t get singled out and forced to pay full price. Even at senior pricing, most bariatric patients can’t eat enough to warrant the cost.
Bathroom was clean — salad bar had some wilting lettuce but overall was a good visit!

Took the family out to try the NEW improved Home Town Buffet. All I can say… We passed up a Sizzler and some other places on the way! I’m not on here to bash the place. I will just tell it like it is.
Pros: The place was very clean and the staff was friendly.
Cons: They offer a potato bar with all the fixings but don’t server potatoes at lunch only and keep the fixing out at dinner time. The pot pies puff pastry didn’t puff up. They ran out of corn and didn’t bring more out. The fish was very hard and was out way too long.
For what we had the food was over priced. I will not return with my family and take my business elsewhere.

I worked for Home Town in the late 90’s when they first opened in Merced. Back then our manager Randy was a stickler for cleanliness, that place was cleaned top
to bottom every night. Bathrooms were checked every twenty minutes without fail. Food was fresh and if it looked old it was tossed. Now that I’m a Middle Aged mom my kids love home town so we eat there every once in a while. Over the past year my observations are: 1. The food is just ok, it’s definitely left on the bar longer then it should be. 2. The bathrooms are absolutely disgusting. Long gone are the days of checking them every 20 minutes.
3.They are sorely understaffed when it comes to hosts and hostesses (the folks who bus tables) — I have had to bus my own table everytime we’ve been to HTB over the past year. 4. The pricing is too high for the quality — my children and I cost $ 40 for dinner… we could have eaten somewhere nicer and cleaner for the price. 5. The tables are not cleaned properly — they’re sticky and smell like old towels.
The good points are: kids just love the place, the staff is nice and are not lazy (just under trained and under staffed), we visited at Halloween time and the staff really got into the ghost busters theme… It was cute!
This place could really be great, it just needs to be managed correctly.

Ewwwwwww… went today & the food looked better than usual, but il I got closer and noticed that it had been sitting under the lights for hours. I thought this was bad, but the hair in the food and on plates and extremely dirty dishes and forks tell me that there staff needs to get it together. Honestly, they looked as though they rubbed Mac and cheese in them and stuck them in the pile. When I spoke up I got dirty looks. I will NEVER eat here again, and you better believe I will tell EVERYONE how horrible it is! Plus, the price is ridiculous for the junk served.

Worst customer service ever! Called to make reservations for 15 – 20 people and the «Manager» said they didn’t have enough food for us REALLY AT A BUFFET? OK!!! and they didn’t close for another hr in a half! Just rude!!! They don’t even deserve a star! Lame!

After another remodel, a menu change, and update in serving items Hometown Buffet has improved. With more individual serving sizes in ramekins, tiny skillets, it is more fun making a selection. Even the salad bar has individual serving sized ready portioned salad, and Jell-​O.
Some items have disappeared from the menu like the baked fish, butterfly shrimp, but many new items are making an appearance such as collards greens, shrimp and grits, chicken pot pie.
Service is pretty good, my table was cleared of plates fairly quickly and there was even a group of about 30 visiting high school students that visited and made it a challenge to keep up in the kitchen and a challenge for the front of house staff.

Crowded but what can we expect? Its Sunday afternoon, there was over 20 of us in our party and we walked in.
Thank you for accommodating us without notice :)
I loved the setup because coming from the Bay Area it is craziness at those sites…
And this was the first Hometown in which I saw Chicken Pot Pie… loved it :)

Great food, but unsanitary.
For 12 bucks, the quality of food is amazing. Some over-​cooked/​dry food (expected at buffet places though).
Pros: All you can eat MEAT!
Variety (Mexican to Asian to American) and cheap.
Cons: Kids, LOTS of finger-​licking then touching everything, kids. Parents just let them roam free.
Employees did not wash their when serving me right after they finished mopping.

This place was decent last summer when it first reopened. (Or what ever they did i think remodeled? I had just moved to the area) But i just went again, and i must say i will not be going again.
We were just going to go to Denny’s when the thought came up of going to Home Town Buffet for there breakfast. We had come a few months ago for Lunch and was REALLY disappointed. Thinking back to the fond memories of there breakfast we figured this place is probably just good for breakfast on the weekend.
We sat down and got our food. There were some things that were just not done right. The hash brown squares were barley warm and soggy, and the chips on the Mexican food bar were so stale (Probably left out for a few days or something) Some of the breakfast was decent dont get me wrong (Like the little waffles). But i was disappointed overall. I got some pancakes, and they were so old tasting i could barley chew them. It was like they just turned into paste in my mouth. I made a little taco and the flower tortilla was supper dry, and the meet was not good.
On the plus side, the staff is always wonderful. I just dont think wonderful staff can make up for such poor food.

The food here was expected, average hometown buffet quality. By the second plate, it was hard to think of which foods I liked to get seconds of, since everything on my first plate was just so-​so.
However, they amazingly need improvement in the customer service area. My cashier was initially nice, and let us have a coupon discount despite not having the coupon on me. This made me very cheery and willing to engage in small talk with him, but once I told him that I attend UC Merced, his expression dropped and told me, «I hate UC Merced students. If I had known that, then I wouldn’t have given you the discount.» And let me tell you, pretty much telling me that you hate me will not garner you any sort of tip. It was extremely rude, and I spent my lunch that day being very bothered by the cashier and unable to enjoy my food.
All in all, I definitely do not plan on visiting this Hometown Buffet location again. Perhaps I just had unfortunate luck with who was working that day, but it was enough to turn me off from wanting to ever come back again. :(