Hometown Buffet

When I was younger, I used to hear a famous rumor that the kitchens of Hometown Buffets were notorious for being infested with cockroaches. I thought this was a rumor until I saw a baby cockroach with my own eyes. Considering the fact that Hometown Buffet offers superbly sweet dessert items ranging from brownies to chocolate chip cookies, I’m not surprised that such a rumor would be true.
Fortunately for me, I only saw ONE baby cockroach. Unfortunately, this is still a bad sign for any restaurant, especially coming from such a popular chain restaurant.

Cerritos’ Hometown Buffet has undergone an upgrade. The buffet now has a self-serving drink bar (two computerized stations that look like giant vending machines that serve drinks) that consists of Icee and various sodas. While the thought of unlimited Icees sound great, here’s the catch: you have to pay for this unlimited drink access (I believe it’s $3.99) or else stick to a glass of water. The other new thing to Cerritos’ Hometown Buffet is their condiments stand. I found this to be a major improvement, since almost everyone likes the idea of being able to flavor their food accordingly.

There’s booth seating and table seating. There’s also a semi-private dining area. There’s a salad and soup area. The buffet typically consists of macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, garlic bread, tacos, fish, corn bread, enchiladas, mashed potatos, corn and more. The dessert section usually consists of brownies, cookies, rice krispy treats, pies and self-serve ice cream.

The way Hometown Buffet works is that you pay before sitting. You also must place your receipt/card on the table to inform the waiters that you are in the process of eating (looking for food) or are still eating. (The receipt or card will tell you which side to place the receipt/card on the table.)

Minus the baby cockroach I saw, this place is relatively clean or at least appears to be clean. I had a very nice waitress. They also periodically have waiters coming down each table/booth with a platter of food samples. In the past, I’ve tried mozzarella sticks (yum!) and cinnamon buns.

This place is almost always busy. It’s busiest on Sundays, right after church, though. If you would rather eat at home, they also offer a to go option. You basically stuff food into a to go container and pay the cashier.

Please note that I should probably give this place a rating that’s somewhere between two and three stars, since I saw a baby cockroach…