HomeTown Buffet

All the food was stone cold. The «heat lamps» are actually cheap lightbulbs that you can literally (and I did) place your hand on the bulb and barely feel any heat. For those of you who are in the food service industry I stayed with some buddies talking all lunch and most of the food sat for over 3 hours without being replaced.
Never go to this restaurant unless you want food poisoning

I was recently at Hometown Buffet for lunch and my debit card was charged $ 70+ dollars fo a senior and adult lunch both with beverages. The cashier informed me that my card didn’t work so I payed cash. Well later that day I looked at my bank statement and realized my card was charged 3 times. I spoke with the manager on the phone and also went in to resolve the problem, the manager Saul was rude and said it wasn’t the cashiers fault. He said while walking away that he would send my bank statement to corporate and have my account refunded within 24 hours, well this incident happened Jan 25, 2016 and the date is now Feb. 4, 2016. Humm did you forget to submit my statement Saul? Saul needs a class in customer service skills, he never asked me for any contact info and it would of been nice if he apologized for the inconvenience. But I got nothing. I will not eat at this restaurant again.

Came to a hometown buffet for the first time in my life. and probably the last heh. At 12.99 $ a person without drink included for dinner, it’s just too expensive!
There were few selections and most the food was mediocre, if that. Of everything I tried, I would say fried chicken, although salty, was still crunchy and good. Froyo was good but how can you go wrong there and sesame orange chicken was okay.
With that said, drinks were an extra $ 3. Waffle fries were soggy. Food was lukewarm. But the worst is sanitation! Floors were dirty, utensils were skimpy, and the froyo machine was a mess! Very disappointing…

Use to be one of the best buffets in town, now this place is straight garbage. shut it down and put a golden coral.please.i didn’t want give a star, they made me put one. booo

I am giving this restaurant 1 star because I can’t give them negative 5 stars. They are disgusting! Me and my family visited this restaurant and the place smelled like vomit. The ribs were slimy and cold. The fried okra was burnt and hard. But what put the nail in the coffin there was hair in my carrot cake. Stay away!!! I say again, stay away!!!

⁰⁄₀ would not eat here even if I was shit faced.

Very sloppy restaurant I can’t believe the condition of the buffet. Dry old food, dirty plates, the restaurant smells bad like urine I’m surprised this place is open its disgusting I’m sure someone could get sick eating food from here

We stopped in after surfing in Ventura and were really hungry. A buffet is great for that. While I understand that sometimes a dish or utensil might be dirty and you replace it but honestly nearly every plate was dirty. Not to mention the desert plates they looked like they were so used and had dirt all around the sides and center.
Food quality-​not bad, but not super good either. Often overcooked. Especially all the vegetables are overcooked.
Cleanliness of plates-​TERRIBLE!
CLEAN YOUR PLATES PLEASE!

This place is gross! It smells horrible the silverware and the plates had old crusty dried food stuck on almost every one I picked up. I found a long hair in the Mac n cheese and people were letting their kids touch everything on the dessert station. NEVER again will I eat at this location. Health Department needs to visit this place.

Came here with a party of 15 people for lunch on Monday and it turns out two of the large tables couldn’t be put together so we had to sit in separate tables. All of the tables that were empty were filled with cups, plates and napkins. The floors were filled with crumbs of food and napkins. The spoons and forks were dirty. The food was alright and the dessert bar looked like a slop. This place used to be better but now it’s just a big mess. I do not recommend this place. I will not be coming back anytime soon.

Came here before and was generally happy with the quality but today was a disaster… half the trays were empty, had to ask the workers to bring food out and had to wait 5 mins for them to bring plates… they also ran out of cups!?! Never again will I come to this place…
Update… today the manager Saul called and apologized for the meal we had, very cool that they read these things and try to make ammends… will give them another chance. Had to give them another star for effort.

Food looked old and wasn’t very good, the woman in the front did not speak spanish. Besides that the workers were helpful.

This place is filthy and needs major renovation! Food is okay. I will not be returning to this location any time soon.

OMG — I won’t ever go back here. The folks were indifferent and aloof… and if that is how they are to the public then I would say the way they prepare the food in back might be suspect. I had to get something to eat and on a whim I walked in here — and the spread and maintenance of their displays (of food) were not well stocked — or kept reasonably clean. I think they must have had a shortage of cooking staff perhaps? They had a tour bus come in and folks came pouring off the bus — and you could tell by the way they were walking around and looking at the food with hesitation and slight frowns that they too were not impressed — and maybe they felt the same way I felt. I was hungry but after one plate of grub I decided to just leave. I’ve been to other Home Town Buffets and they are NOT like this one. They were better kept — much better staffed with cheerful (smiling) staff — and the food was seemly fresher — more plentiful and less suspect. Sigh — I am sorry to be so critical but it was true how it was — and I just won’t go back… sigh.

I was expecting to feel like a buffet but when I walked in it felt like a nursing home cafeteria. The dinning room area smelled of urine. And as I browsed to see what I wanted to eat every tray was empty the salad bar look so sad. There was food all over the floor and the floor was sticky I wanted to ask for a refund after all $ 52 for cafeteria food is ridiculous. So I waited to see if they would bring out more and finally the guy brought out a tray of mashed potatoes. So I had a nice plate of mashed potatoes for dinner. The only reason why I gave 2 stars was because the desert area was the only area where it was well kept and never had an empty tray. But this place should not be in business. Needs to be managed way better and needs to be swept and moped and sprayed down with bleach. Not comming here again.

Ugh… in northern Ca HTB is so much better… Why has it always been such poor quality and variety in Oxnard… I have 3 young kids so HTB fits many of our needs. It has been years since I came to this one and sadly it was just as horrible as before… stay away from this one… but HTB is still great for families at some other locations

Uggg. So after a full day of Christmas preparations, I succumbed to the temptation of instant dinner. I have an appropriate expectation when it comes to Hometown Buffet. Nonetheless I was disappointed. My husband said it was just because this was a smaller scale HTB. That wasn’t it, I couldn’t get over the spoons. The thousand island spoon was in the tartar sauce and the ranch spoon in the red sauce. That just scream I don’t care. The one shinning light was Cinnabon. One little boy came excitedly passed me clutching his Cinnabon. So cute.

Visit on Sat 22 about 2:30pm. Salad bar a mess, many salads empty, tongs inside bowls, one soup empty, pinto beans at bottom of pan dried up, fried chicken over cooked, dessert bar a mess, the Cinnabons were great. Leaving the store the salads were still empty, soup still empty, it seems the manager was spending alot of time in the dessert section learning how to put frosting on the Cinnabons… won’t be coming back… also some of the pictures posted are their stock photos… the food should look so nice… if its a sloppy pig stye in the front… god only knows whats going on in the back… I’ll probably find out later.

I’ve gone to Hometown Buffet since 1996 and boy has it changed. It had been a couple years since I had dinner there and it has really changed.
PROS:
* The amount of money for the amount of food is good (please see the con).
* The staff was friendly.
* The place wasn’t very crowded for dinner service.
CONS:

* The food quality is pretty bad, especially for what you pay. I compare this to 1980’s hospital food (for those of you who had that unique experience). The food tasted processed and anything, but fresh.
* Horrible utensils. Everything from forks to cups appeared to be very dirty and in very poor condition. The knives and forks were very flimsy, despite the fact they were (maybe) stainless steel. They were bent and looked like they were dragged across the parking lot.
* Availability of food. The main courses ran out several times. I would have to contact a server and wait about 10 – 12 minutes for it to be replenished. I understand not everything can be instant, but the dinner menu doesn’t change during the entire evening so you’d think there would be some type of efficient system in place.
All in all, I’m done with this place. In my opinion, Hometown Buffet is on its last leg. Save yourself the money (and time) and spend a few more dollars for an enjoyable dinner elsewhere.

There was hardly any food out when we arrived at 10 a.m. They were out of everything.
Dishes were dirty with
finger prints on the back of the plates and wet. The silverware had dried food
stuck on it and was dirty. Dishes are not cleaned in a dishwasher.
The only food that was refilled were pancakes and hash browns, no bacon,
no taco meat, no potato salads, no macaroni salads, and nothing more was out that was edible.
We have been going to Hometown for years but it has all changed. They don’t have the
variety of foods that they use to have and what they have is inedible. It was a huge disappointment especially on Mother’s Day.
The Health Department should close it down, it is too dirty.