Hometown Cafe — Restaurant in Richardson

This is a counter service cafeteria style restaurant that specializes in homestyle Chinese food to take home (main business) or eat in. When eating in, rice is provided with 3 dishes for $10. Taking out, the servings are larger but you get two dishes for $12 (without rice) or four for $13 (with or without rice).

We got two 3 item combos for dine in and tried red braised pork belly (flavorful but the meat was dry and chewy, the fat and skin were tender), three cup chicken (the chicken was bland but the sauce flavorful; only one piece of chicken was tender, the rest were dry and chewy with small bone shards), spare ribs (good flavor but pretty chewy), Napa cabbage (not to salty, cooked well) with woodear mushrooms, string beans (also cooked okay - not under cooked and just a little over fried - they were greasier than they need to be), and seasoned vermicelli noodles (good flavor). Most of the food tasted okay to good but the texture of the meat was an issue. Most importantly, the temperature was a problem. The three meat dishes were merely warm which made me wonder if they were being held at or above 140°F. The three vegetable dishes were cold (room temperature) but not refrigerator cold (below 40°F). This seems to be a basic food safety issue and I don’t think I’ll return because of this risk.

They do provide a couple different soups for free for dine in customers. (These are served hot.)

As for the facilities: the tables are sticky and even after I tried to wipe them down with wet paper towels procured from the bathroom, they remained quite tacky. The bathrooms were clean and had soap and paper towels in stock.

Also cash only. Free WiFi (ask them...

Sorry, can't really vouch for the food here but I will say this.. I deliver mail for a living and since I am human while on route I need to relieve myself from time to time. This place is near my route and the owner graciously tolerates my utilizing the restroom facilities without patronizing the business. I mean I never have time when I go in their to eat, but here is my real plug for this place when I pass by the front where all of the food choices are divided out in separate portions it is very very hard not to stop and eat, time or no time! It all looks and smells fresh and delicious! I keep promising them I am going to come in one day after work and get some of their food but I haven't been able to do so yet. But, I will soon, I promise, and I will do an updated review afterwards. The prices are good too. Roughly $10 for a full to go box and white rice. They also have fresh soups as well.

Peace and Love,

and good...

Think of Lubys or some other cafeteria style restaurant where you walk through a line and select what you want except now it’s Taiwanese food. There are chicken, pork, fish, and beef dishes as well as noodles and vegetables. It’s a little different than the classic chinese buffet. I think if you had not been here it will be a little different than expected.

Turns out the three selection and rice is lower in price than the two . I got the cold noodles, fish, and a chicken dish. Wasn’t to thrilled about the fish. I guess I expected it to be a little more crispy. The noodles and chicken were good. Also, they have two soups you can chose from and have as much as you want . I had the hot and sour which is really good. The other soup I believe is a vegetable soup of sorts.

The ladies working the line are nice. One of them really is talkative and will tell you what everything is if you ask and it’s...