Hometown Family Restaurant

http://www.yourhometownfamilyrestaurant.com/

On Hometown Family Restaurant's website (which has an entirely too-long url), they state that "Our goal is to provide delicious food and great service in a clean, family-friendly atmosphere."  I decided to test this statement by dining there in the evening.  Immediately I was a bit disappointed by their hours, since they are only open until 8pm.  For a late-night person like me, this is a let-down; however, given their target crowd, I can understand this decision.

The restaurant was not full, but there were enough patrons about such that it didn't feel deserted.  We were there a bit on the late side though, and I would be interested to know if the place is more crowded around the popular dinner time of 4pm. 

We were greeted warmly by our server.  Their menu had much to offer, but I decided to try their dinner buffet in order to experience a wider range of their offerings.  The buffet was one of the smaller ones I had ever seen.  The selection was not terrible, but it left me wishing I had more choices.  One particular stand-out was their delicious ham balls.  On the other end of the spectrum, their pizza did not look inviting at all, and despite being a pizza lover, I did not even waste time or precious stomach space tasting it.  There was a table with a selection of pies for dessert, which was simple but nice.

The service was prompt and our waiter was extremely friendly.  He struck up a conversation with us, possibly because we did not quite fit the mold for the average customer at HFR.  It turns out he was not at all the usual suspect to be working in such an establishment, either.  After chatting with him for a long time, he told us about his homeland of Spain, his great travels, and his non-standard government views.  Don't get me wrong, I thought he was great and I would love to go get a beer with him sometime.  However, in this particular setting, it ended up being somewhat overwhelming and at times almost intrusive.  Although it upped the entertainment value, I feel that it distanced me from the overall local background atmosphere of HFR that I was trying to grasp. 

Unfortunately I do not feel much of a draw to HFR.  Perhaps it was the forgettable buffet.  Perhaps it's the obnoxious LED sign outside.  The snooze-worthy gift shop did not win me over, either.  If I were to return I would order something from the menu instead of the buffet, but to be honest, I will probably not return.

2/5 stars.