HomeTown Buffet

Now a J.J. North’s Country Buffet

Tonight I had the misfortune of visiting this HomeTown Buffet. Now HomeTown Buffet is not gourmet dining, and I knew that going in, but I’ve never had a problem eating at these type of places until tonight.
Well tonight, it was so bad, I got a refund before touching the food. I walked in, paid, and went into the restroom to wash up. It had a heavy perfume of urine. Not appetizing.
I came out and thought about bailing but I was so hungry, I went ahead and tried to find something to eat. Nothing remotely appealing. The salad bar was practically empty. Each item had about 1 foot of ice between it and the next item. On one 8 foot long area of the salad bar, there were only about 7 – 8 items. The hot food also looked terrible.
I’ve been to a Home Town buffet dozens of times over the last decade and know what to expect, and this one is far below par. I asked one of the hostesses for the manager. He came over and I told him I changed my mind and I want a refund. He didn’t even ask why, but cheerfully refunded my money.
If you want to go to a decent example of this type of restaurant, try the Old Country Buffet on Metro Center Parkway. It’s incredibly hard to believe these two restaurants are owned by the same company. Maybe they are franchises? I don’t know, but the Home Town Buffet on Scottsdale Road is a dump. Avoid at all costs. And someone should call the health department. If the bathroom is that nasty, I’d hate to see the kitchen.

Same old same old with this place
The service is nice for I mean the one person that you interact with when you pay for the lunch special.
Literally all the courses you see you could argue have been just sitting their since this morning.
Now I know what your thinking what do you expect with a buffet, but their just has to be better standards.
Besides the free drink that comes for the price no real other reason to eat here ever again.
The place is very dark and gloomy and I felt like I was seeing the sun for the first time after coming out of the place and only being their for 30 minutes.
Sorry no bueno stay away!

Okay, let’s be real and fair. The place is about as good as a truck stop. No offense to truckers. The dining room needs a major overhaul. The food can be best described as deep fried this and canned that. There are a few saving graces. The chicken, fried and baked, is actually moist and tasty. The steak is fairly good. The desserts are good. The service? Well, I’ve never actually had someone come to my table but the cashiers each time have been very friendly and welcoming. Keep your expectations low and you’ll enjoy dining here.

When I was a kid, I loved going to hometown buffet at least back then the food was awesome! last year, my mom and i went there the food was great. we went there yesterday evening for a late bday for her and the food was freakin nasty! something i ate made me go to the bathroom almost twice!
i noticed the seating was very low not that many customers. the bathroom (womens) was horrible! there is one lady who looks new is super friendly with long hair in a ponytail. she goes above and beyond not so much the other staff will do that. i don’t know what is going on with hometown buffet but it looks like they don’t care. i agree with someone on here said the cooking speaks otherwise!
i couldn’t finish my 2^nd plate of food it was that bad the only thing was good is the dessert. i hate to say this but i would rather not go to hometown buffet anymore. i dont know why my mom chooses to go there (oh wait its cheap) but there are better restaurants.
in 96 or 97, my parents had their sphagetti and it made them sick! the food didn’t do anything to me. i told my mom why go back when it made you sick? makes no sense to me.

Stab me in the face… This is a disgrace to the word, FOOD.

I took my mom here for her birthday dinner cause its where she wanted to go and we havent been there in a while. I don’t know if it was the over burnt roast beef, the under cooked chicken, or the shoe leather they tried to pass off as steak, but coming back here after 8 months left a very bad taste in my mouth. My family and I use to come here all the time when I was younger and the food was great, the atmosphere was wonderful and the staff was very friendly. This use to be the place to be, now I would gladly spend the extra $ 3 and waist the gas to go to a different golden buffet (Golden Corral). Do not waist your time and money on this place anymore, Trust me I won’t. I would rather eat out of the dumpster behind Taco Bell than ever eat at this Hometown buffet again. You have lost a lifetime customer, and anytime your name comes up in conversation, I may just puke.

When gramps said we (me, him and dad) were going here on Christmas Day, I spent the past four days despairing the idea. Seeing a year’s worth of 1-​star reviews didn’t help my negative attitude going into this festive meal, either. I was fully planning on adding my own snarky one-​star review to this place after I vomited up whatever I happened to ingest here, however I’m giving as optimistic of a two-​star review as I can.
First off, don’t kid yourself. The food is as bad as all the reviews here say. They did have some decent turkey they were slicing up, though, and i had some rice that appeared to be the only side item not swimming in goo.
And yes, the bathrooms are as disgusting as other reviewers have mentioned. Nearly the entire men’s room floor was wet and there were no less than three wet floor signs in there. Hazmat suit recommended.
However, I bumped this to a 2 — more like a 2.5 — because the poor Christmas-​day staff was straight busting ass to keep the overflowing crowd stuffed full of breaded cardboard-​like substances, and they were doing a fine job of reaching that goal. The manager was being as nice as he could to his employees while they were all no doubt pretty bummed out about constantly refilling the buffet trays for thankless guests on Christmas day. The other staff members were also doing the best they could to pretend to be happy around the guests. So for their effort and their ability to grin-​and-​bear it with the best of them, I just couldn’t give them a one-​star review.

Out of 5 stars. I would give this place a –12. We passed by an old country buffet today and were talking about how we used to go there when we were little. We looked up online and saw hometown buffet was the same according to the website. So we gave it a shot.
Horrible mistake. We got there at 7:20 and the lady at the counter said «you know, we close at 8», we asked if it was too late to be seated, she said no so we sat. We started looking around at the food. Everything looked like it came straight out of a can. There was a carving station with no knife that looked as if it had been sitting there for days, hospital looking green beans, mashed potatoes, corn, carrots, and some other mystery items (honestly we had a long discussion about what they could be and nothing had a sign). I grabbed a couple things and some chicken nuggets. Everything tasted disgusting except the chicken nuggets (it was clear they were previously frozen). I decided to go back to get some salad, I figured that was safe at least. It was 7:30 and they had already pulled all the salad items to put away. I managed to grab some lettuce before they took it to the kitchen. The lettuce was sitting in water and when I got back to the table noticed most of it was brown (ate some). I figured I would grab some chocolate lava cake quickly before they pulled that too. It was horrible. It tasted like a cardboard flavored sponge, my fiancé said it tasted like. a$$.
Now, here’s the best part… I walk into the bathroom. All the stalls look like they had been kicked in, out of the 4, 2 were out of order and locked from the inside. 1 of the 2 open ones was clogged and someone left a very nice number 2 for all to see, I went into my last option… THERE WAS FREAKING BLOOD ALL OVER THE PLACE!!! It seriously looked like a crime scene. It was all over the toilet, smeared on the stall walls, and all over the floor. I was horrified! I obviously didn’t use the restroom and didn’t know if I should go home and shower or attempt to wash my hands. 2 of the 3 sinks we’re broken, literally missing parts, and one hand dryers was hanging off the wall, the other had already fallen to the floor.
How DARE these owners allow their bathrooms to get to this point, and how is this place still in business? I would NEVER go there again.

First of all. we go in and no one is at the register. Then someone comes and does not even great us. Once paid we look at the selection and where very disappointed. The food was very bland to just awful. I have been to other Hometown locations, this one was the worse. Golden Corral is much better!

How the mighty have fallen. Time was this buffet was plentiful with good choices. Now even the early birds have deserted this coop.
The salad lettuce was browning — the garland around the fruit bar looked fresher. The pastas were cold except the mac and cheese which was tolerable. I think they had pizza — it was round with a cheese-​like substance on it, but I couldn’t confirm for you if it had been baked. The fried chicken and fish sat in their grease, drowning slowly from neglect.
No one was at the carving stations and there were no knives to carve the roast and ham yourself. Eventually when we found someone else being served from the station, my wife and daughter formed a line, and then were treated rudely as if the carver had better things to do than serve them.
The only saving grace were the desserts. Let’s just say if the ice cream machine wasn’t working there would have been a riot.
Salad: ¹⁄₅
Chicken: ¹⁄₅
Mashed potatoes and gravy: ²⁄₅
Corn and veggies: ³⁄₅
Pizza: ¹⁄₅
Mac and cheese: ³⁄₅
Spaghetti: ¹⁄₅
Rolls: ³⁄₅
Ham: ³⁄₅
Roast Beef: ¹⁄₅
Chocolate fudge/​lava cake: ³⁄₅
Strawberry/​cherry cake: ³⁄₅
Ice cream: ³⁄₅
Rice Krispie treat: ³⁄₅
Clean: ²⁄₅
Service: ¹⁄₅
Fresh: ¹⁄₅

I always love buffet’s and Hometown rarely disappoints… but this one is one of those rare instances.
For one thing… it seats about 200 people, and has enough food for about 40. For whatever reason, the actual buffet area is about 15’X20’. It’s incredibly small with a small variety of food. Also, the food that is there isn’t great even by buffet standards. The fries were undercooked and cold, the carrot cake had some sort of whipped, non-​cream cheese frosting that ruined the whole cake, and the chicken soup was among the worst I’ve ever had.
If you want a good buffet in a fairly close by area, there are two Old Country buffet’s within a 10mi radius and both have much more food to
choose from, and better quality of food.
UPDATE: Also had minor food poisoning the day after eating here, no joke. Stay away. Stay far far away.

I know I was here years ago and it was not bad. But, OH MY GOD!!! Whoever is running this business has to deliberately running it into the ground. They must be in hot water with the IRS or something. There has to be some reason, some meaning to this restaurant still being open. Granted all the others are closed, but why in Gods name is this one still open. Look, I can eat. I’m not a little girl. I can eat Totino’s frozen pizza for Christ’s sake. I could not down this if they paid me. Run, don’t walk. I never like buffet’s but this is horrible. The closest I ever came to liking a buffet was lubbys and I don’t care if old people went. It was pretty good but those days are gone. Run away… Run away…

Ick ick ICK. I don’t usually do buffets and this is why:
1. The ick factor is high when I see congealed food sitting in its fat or grease for who knows how long.
2. Even the veggies look like they would clog your arteries.
3. I never feel like I get my money’s worth because I can only gobble up 1 ½ plates before feeling too stuffed to eat another tasteless bite.
4. Food is watered down, greasy, soggy, and bland.
5. Clean is something that never seems to be found at places such as these, particularly when I see flies making themselves at home on everything laid out on counters.
True to form, Hometown Buffet hit all of the checkpoints I listed above and I left feeling guilty that I wasted someone else’s money eating at this nasty place.
Eeek! Methinks not is completely an accurate statement.

Sick is the only word to describe. This place made me want to call a health inspector right away. The place smelled strongly of cleaning fluid when I entered, but the place was filthy… how does that happen? My daughter has been begging to go here, but I don’t remember it being so bad. There was food all over the floor, spill signs everywhere, trash, dirty tables, etc. I ate some chicken that was goodish, I had some more and spit it out cuz it was pinkish inside. I was scared of the shrimp. The salad bar was horrendous. Yellow-​brown iceberg with warmish veggies and dressings. .yum sounds so good. coagulated mac and cheese and burned pizza. The stuff looks like its been sitting there since 1991. Dirty plates, silverware, walls, floors, everything! Nobody bussed our table, 6 dirty plates and not one of them moved. Coke was out, ice ran out, cups ran out. I have never felt so dirty after going to a restaurant, I need a shower. I can see, however, by the clientele that this is up to some peoples’ standards. A guy walked next to me, dropped his straw, left it, said oh well and got a new one. I think the bum sitting next to me was the cleanest one, since he licked his plate and stacked them neatly. The food here is just gross, all fried, canned, and bagged and probably unsafe. I would rather go to Golden Corral or Sweet tomatoes. Never again, Hometown. Never.

Disgusting food, disgusting desserts.
It’s all superficial here — everything looks good until you take a bite out of it. The pastas and noodles were overcooked and oversauced, the fried foods (you usually can’t go wrong with those) were good until I bit into one that was all breading and oil, and the mac n’ cheese didn’t fail to disappoint.
The desserts were bitter or plain disgusting and the soft serve ice cream was icy and cheap tasting. The cookies, which looked really good — did not live up to their looks.
I do give Hometown Buffet two stars however, for their dinner rolls and mushrooms. THOSE, well… Those were pretty awesome.

Eh… I have been dragged here multiple times… and I never want to go back again. To be a little fair to Hometown. eating as much low-​quality food at the cheapest price you can get it .is not not my idea of a good time. That being said their food is just icky… and the crowds here are usually iffy too. You will be surrounded by people that brought all 7 of their kids there for dinner. and those kids will be running all over this place screaming… And the food looks like it has been sitting around forever… bland and tasteless… Ick… the whole thing just equals a poor dining experience!

For $ 7 including tax during the weekday, this is a good value. The crappy breakfast I had at the Waffle House the other morning cost more than this.
My meal included corned beef hash, french toast, sausage, sauted mushrooms and onions, along with an assortment of fruit, coffee, and orange juice. The selection was not super extensive, but all the basics were there with a few nice extras.
The service was attentive and friendly, food decent. There were a dozen or so regular/​old-​timers in the place, in addition to myself.
I must confess however, that there IS a dark side to the Hometown Buffet. When I walked in, there was great deal of consternation over the state of the bacon — tragically the latest batch had been overcooked. It was overly crisp, *not* tender and juicy. The manager who greeted me informed me of this and I was assured that fresh bacon would be out shortly.
Thereafter, I continued to hear assorted bacon-​related grumblings from the old timers. Fortunately, no full scale bacon riots erupted during the remainder of my visit.
Do you like bacon?

It is what it is. A buffet. Hadn’t been to one in almost 30 years when I went with my grandparents to one in what is now South Beach, Miami (back then it was just a blue-​haired desert next to the ocean). The food was decent, the prices cheap, and you could eat as much as you want.
It gets a 3 star as a buffet. I’m not comparing it to a real sit-​down restaurant. The kids loved it.

I’m still waiting to contract salmonella or bird flu from the warmed over, heat-​lamp-​lit, community-​sized tubs o’ food. Fortunately that has not happened yet.
All I could think about during my running race were dancing sausages and galloping bacon strips greeting me at the finish line. So of course that prompted me to desire unlimited amounts of each, which led us to Hometown Buffet. I wanted classy, so we went to the Hometown Buffet in Scottsdale. I dragged my friends here kicking and screaming.
The pancakes were disgusting and bland. Didn’t have the French toast but it was visibly crusty and overcooked. Hash browns were ok. Orange juice was the worst watered down crap I have ever had. The eggs? I wouldn’t even think of it.
The crowd and décor? Just what you would think. Large and in charge baby. And old too. Our weights and ages combined were about 200 pound lighter and 20 years younger than any other party there. With all due respect, our sweaty, race-​weary table probably smelled the worst.
I knew what I was getting into, but I wanted unlimited bacon and sausage — which along with the fried chicken were good, btw. And there you have it.