HomeGrown - West Des Moines — Restaurant in West Des Moines

We had heard good things about HomeGrown, so decided to give it a go on Father’s Day as my husband was craving really good Eggs Benedict. We didn’t get there as early as we had planned to try & avoid the expected rush, however when I put our name in there were a number of empty tables & I was pleasantly surprised when I was told 20-30 min. There were a few benches outside with trees nearby, however the trees were newly planted and provided little shade, so it was a bit overwhelming on a scorcher of a morning. They had also set up cornhole/bags, so that was a fun distraction. Fast forward to +90 min later when we had seen a number of groups sitting at tables who had put their name in after us. The two women at the hostess station were overwhelmed and dealing with a number of individuals who were not being very polite about the wait. I went up to one of the hostesses, and I wish I had asked her name as she was amazing. I told her I completely understood it was Father’s Day weekend, a Sunday, and probably the after church rush, however 30 min wait is a far cry from over 90 min. I asked where we were at on the list and she said 20-30 min. I told her that again, I understood, but that seemed pretty unreasonable with the amount of time we had already waited. She asked if she could get us into a shaded area on the patio would that be ok, and we readily agreed. When we were taken to the table it had been pulled very close to another one of the tables that had an umbrella, and I felt a little bad for the two individuals at that other table as we were crowding their space, but they were both very kind and said they were actually about ready to leave and we were welcome to their table once they did. The woman from the other table even went in and let the hostess know they were ready to go and were giving us their table, which was very kind. The hostess came back out to help us move our drinks and was very apologetic. Even with that somewhat rough start, we were really happy with our experience. The waitress was very friendly and answered all our questions, kept our drinks refilled, and checked on us often. We ordered the Key Lim Pop’d Hart, the signature coffee cake, and the rosemary potatoes to munch on because we were pretty hungry. All 3 were delicious, however I would go back for that coffee cake alone! My husband ordered the Blueberry Lemonade Margaritta and I ordered a specialty Margaritta that I can’t remember the name of, and both were very good. My daughter and I both ordered the It Takes the ‘Cake meal, and we both enjoyed them. My daughter prefers her scrambled eggs well done (not wet) and they were perfect. The pancakes were delicious, and the bacon was some of the best I have ever had and I don’t typically love bacon. The pancakes were light and fluffy. My husband ordered the Traditional Eggs Benedict and said it was very good. All 3 of us left extremely full and already talking about coming back.

It is a newer restaurant, and that was their first “big” weekend holiday, so it was not unexpected to have some bumps while staffing was trying to figure everything out. We thought the staff were great and handled everything like pro’s. The atmosphere was nice, the food delicious. Once the trees grow it will provide better shade which will be very nice instead of just sitting on benches on the cement in the hot sun. Maybe on super busy weekends/holidays they could set up some tents outside as there is plenty of room – even having a make-shift bar out there would be nice. The patio was nice, but there were 4 tables with no umbrellas, so when the sun was right above at noon there was no way those were comfortable to be seated at – I am not sure why they wouldn’t have umbrellas for all the tables, unless there wasn’t room next to the building.

We will definitely go back again – maybe try to go during the week if we have a morning off, or at least try and arrive before 9/9:30am...

I love homegrown and their delicious food. I especially really enjoy their West Des Moines location. Unfortunately, we had a rude hostess that really ruined the restaurant for me. I'm not sure of her name, but she's an older aged woman. Both times, I requested a table and a high chair for my son. The first time, she gave me a booth and I kindly asked her if we could have a table, not a booth. She gave us attitude and rolled her eyes. I gave her a chance and figured she didn't hear me since it was busy and she was having a rough day. However, about a month later i came back to the WDM location, and the same situation happened. I asked for a table and a high chair. She gave us a booth with a booster seat. I told her my son can't do a booster seat because he will not sit still and is too young yet for a booster seat. She rudely said "well it's a fire hazard spot and at that table, and I can't have a high chair there!" And I said, okay, well, can we get another table? In a rude tone, she stated "You're gonna have to wait!" And I said,"That's fine. " about 5-10 minutes later, we got a table. Again, it's not what I asked for since it was a booth, but at least she gave us the high chair this time. At that point, I didn't want to deal with her again and ask for a table. I probably will not be coming back to this location again or perhaps homegrown in general. The whole situation upsets me since it's been twice. There are so many breakfast places to choose from. It's unfortunate for a company that plasters "kindness" all over their company. The hostess needs additional training because the first interaction really sets the mood for the entire experience, and from reviewing their reviews, this isn't the first time that the hostess has...

We ate here in a group of 7 people on a Saturday morning, and checked in 2 hours ahead of time on Yelp. Our initial seating time was 10:24am, but we received a notification that our table would actually be ready closer to 9:55am - 10:10am. We arrived on time with our party and were told they were clearing off our table, and at a quick glance around the restaurant there were no empty tables. We waited until about 10:40am to be finally seated, without any update as to why it was taking so long and just being told "we're getting your table cleared now" upon asking again when we would be seated. There is no waiting area inside the restaurant, so the check in area was extremely congested the whole time we waited, and not to mention LOUD. When we were finally seated we were waited on quickly, but the restaurant was still extremely loud and the check in area was non-stop congestion of 10-15 people waiting at a time to be seated, with hardly any open tables in sight. The food was really good and fairly priced for what it was, but the atmosphere wasn't inviting and it was extremely stressful when we were waiting because servers were constantly trying to make their way through the crowd of waiting people and were constantly having to squeeze out of the way for them as we waited (plus there was hardly any room so we were basically waiting behind the hostess table already). Probably wouldn't come here again unless they start taking actual reservations instead of making people queue for a spot and not actually honoring the time...