It goes by many names. Hometown Buffet, Country Buffet, Old Country Buffet…. it’s all the same. Where I am at in California, it is called Hometown Buffet, but where I used to live in Illinois, it was called Old Country Buffet. I’ve no idea why the name is different in different locations, but it is. Same place, no matter which of it’s aliases it happens to be going by where you live.
They all pretty much look like this:
As far as I know, this chain of Buffet is only found in the good ol’ USA, land of obesity. If you live somewhere else, and there is one by you, let me know. What name does it call itself over there?
Hometown Buffet is the first in a series I’m going to call “Cheap Eats”, (places you can get decent food at without spending a lot of money). Buffets are great because you pay one price, and you can eat and drink whatever you want to, for as long as you want to, and the price does not change. I have a feeling Buffets are going to become more attractive to me in the near future.
MORE INFO:
Here is the official website for this chain of Buffets. It has catchy music that starts immediately when you get to the page. Go directly to the top right hand corner, and click the conveniently located button that says “Click To Stop”, before it makes you crazy.
There is a “Restaurant Locator” you can click to find the one nearest to where you live. It even tells you the hours it’s open, for each day of the week. Most of these buffets serve lunch and dinner, but some also serve breakfast on certain days.
PRICE:
Not too bad. Shawn and I went for lunch the other day, and it cost us a little under twenty bucks total. The price is somewhat higher for dinner, and I’ve no idea what it is for breakfast.
If you are age 60 or over, you can purchase a “Senior Club Card” for one dollar, and get a discount. (The website doesn’t say how much, except that it will be at least fifty cents).
You can go to their website and “Join the eClub”. This says it will give you one free buffet meal if you buy one buffet meal, just because you signed up. It also claims it will send you “updates and discounts” in your email, and mentions a “Birthday Coupon”. I signed up, and I will let you know how that goes.
The receipt from our meal says “Enter for a chance to win $1,000 dollars”, if you call their survey. Wish me luck!
This buffet chain also is kind enough to include coupons in local circulars that you get in the mail.
FOOD:
It’s good. This is not gourmet, of course, but it is good as far as buffet food goes. Overall, it tends to run on the lighter side of the seasoning spectrum, but it is not bland. There is a large salad bar, with lots of different vegetables to select, and another salad bar with things like potato salad and stuff. The other three large buffet tables have a variety of things on them to choose from. Expect comfort foods like mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese. One of these tables will usually have somebody carving meat. They often choose a “theme”, (like Seafood, or Italian, etc.) so you might find slightly different choices depending on what night you are there. They also have a soft serve ice cream dispenser, and a dessert bar.
I have tons of food allergies, and I have no problems at all finding food I can eat at Hometown Buffet. If I can manage to do that, everybody else should have no problem working around their allergies. I’m more severe than nearly everyone I’ve ever met. I think diabetics would do just fine here, thanks to the wide variety of food choices available. Quite a few of the deserts are sugar free, which is nice.
I’m not really a vegetarian, but I like to eat that way fairly often. I really like the salad bar at this buffet. In addition to the salad bar, there usually is one or two cooked vegetable choices, such as carrots or corn, and they always have yummy mashed potatoes. Garlic bread is often on the menu, as is Macaroni and Cheese. Last time we went they had Grilled Cheese Sandwiches which Shawn said were pretty good. (I’m allergic to dairy, or I would have eaten one myself). If you happen to be vegan, I’m not sure if there is much you can eat here. You can go to their website and click “Menu” and then “Specific Diet Choices” for more information.
OTHER NICE THINGS:
You are not expected to dress up to eat here.
It is family friendly. Thursday night is “Family Night”, “Featuring several kid-friendly items such as chicken strips, pizza, macaroni and cheese, and banana splits for dessert.” In my experience, you might also find the mascot of the buffet, a human sized Bee, and there may or may not be balloons involved. So, if you have kids, bring them on Thursday nights. If you want to avoid children, don’t go on Thursday nights.
