Hometown Chinese Food/2007 Reviews

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These are archived reviews of Hometown Chinese Food from 2007. For more recent comments, please visit the entry.

2007-01-31 07:33:47   Mr. Lee is very friendly and sociable! The food is delicious, the best tasting that I've had in Davis. —FrankYoung

2007-02-26 14:37:59   I have only tried three items from the menu. The meat gravy over rice is pretty tasty. quite authentic taiwanese style. the pickled cabbage is pretty good. The pork chop rice is kind of a blend of the taiwanese style pork chop rice and the Hong Kong style "pork cutlet" rice. The pork chop itself is breaded with panko and deep fried, which is the typical HK "cutlet pork chop" style but the plate comes with pickled cabbage and soysauce hardboiled egg, which are taiwanese customs. It's still tasty, but the taiwanese may get a bit disappointed. The salted crispy fried chicken lacks the basil fragrance, which is quite crucial for this taiwanese street side snack. So i won't recommend this item. portions of the other two dishes are generous and the both Mr and Mrs Lee are very friendly. —ChWong

2007-03-06 19:02:23   This place is delicious. Don't let the fact that it's tucked in a gas station convenience mart fool you - it's totally worth it. —GeoffJohnson

2007-03-06 22:32:49   Food is good, but they do use heavy MSG. I recommened my friend to go there because he is allergic to MSG, but he got allergic to it. —MikeWong

2007-03-19 15:17:40   does anyone know if ownership of hometown has changed? the past few times ive been there have been new people behind the counter and the food has gotten a little worse. for e.g.: less meat gravy in the "meat gravy over rice" and they didnt even know what the chicken-shrimp fried rice was.... unacceptable! —JohnHuang

Word on the street sez that Steve has sold Hometown, and may open a restaurant in Downtown Davis (hopefully soon) - SimonChan

2007-03-19 19:29:32   Yeah, Steve has sold the restaurant and plans to move his business to the building that is now Great Wall of China, the restaurant...not the wall. —BenLee

2007-04-01 23:47:00   The New Owner's are very nice. They know me by name and always strike friendly conversation when I enter the restaurant. The food more or less is the same as before (which is a GOOD thing). This is the best deal on chinese food for the marketed price. Usually my friends and I will go here for a short break, or prior to heading downtown/Sac. —MichaelFu

2007-04-05 12:02:13   I came here a few times when the original owners were there, It is close to work and the food was pretty good, but with the new owners I feel the food just isn't as good anymore. They have also recently removed some of the Taiwanese dishes from the menu. On a positive note, they often offer to cook lunch buffet food fresh for you if you want something that there is little or none left of. —JohnSanatar

2007-04-12 13:47:05   I heard that the original owners were moving back, starting from the 16th of April. They're also putting up new items on the menu. Nice!!!! —BenShmidt

2007-04-15 09:33:15   pork chops are awesome —DonaldJaye

2007-04-16 12:46:12   Yes!! I went today for lunch and the original owners are back :-)!! The extremely yummy and high quality Steamed Rice with Pork Chops is back too...most importantly, the nice and sincere service of the couple makes me want to go back again and again :-) —newman129

2007-05-03 13:47:59   Is there anything more wonderful than eggplant with garlic sauce?? The answer is no. No there is not. —ThuHo

2007-05-19 02:01:18   First off, these two are ADORABLE. Mr. Lee's family is obviously from Shanghai but he most likely grew up in Taiwan as well as his wife. They remind me so much of my parents! Anyway, when my boyfriend and I went in to order food the misses offered us mung bean soup and steamed buns on the house. Of course we obligingly accepted and you know what? It was delicious and totally reminded me of home. =) —EmilyTung

2007-05-19 13:37:27   they raised the prices! almost everything on the menu cost an extra 25-50 cents now

i still love this place though —DonaldJaye

2007-05-24 00:04:30   i havent been here ever since they raised their prices. $3.50 for meat gravy over rice?!?!??!?!? that dish has barely any food cost at all. someone's grand hu$tlin —wesleywang

* I recall a rule of thumb by a small business consultant/teacher I had a class with a long while back....something like 30 to 40% of the price is the "cost of goods" (i.e., the raw materials, and labor to cook the food). The rest is overhead, non-food preparation labor (waitstaff), insurance, advertising, and such. —RocksandDirt
* That is a good rule of thumb for most meals, but the more extremely high or low priced the dish the more you're paying for service (as Grumpyoldgeek said, a dish that has zero material cost is still going to cost something. And also a fine dining meal requires more expensive waitstaff, chefs, and ambiance). My guess is with that dish the raw materials make up about 10% of the total price. one thing to keep in mind is that Hometowns rent is likely low because they are in a gas station, and also there is usually no labor except for one assistant. -MattHh

2007-06-16 23:33:15   I find it funny that people gladly pay 4 or 5 dollars for a drink at Jamba Juice that doesn't fill you up, but balk at paying 3.50 for a meal that'll fill you up. 3.50 is not a lot of money, especially since the ingredients and the food is fresh and top quality. If you want cheaper food then go elsewhere and expect cheap quality... —BenLee

2007-06-22 20:28:26   Great food. I usually get the Singapore Curry or Taiwan noodles. I'll complement that with pig ear or eggplant. I like the chicken, but it's too much of a good thing (at least a 24 hour food coma at my advanced age). —MisterProfessor

2007-07-14 22:59:22   Has the Beef Noodle Soup (awesome-tasty, btw) been listed officially on the menu yet, or is it only written in Chinese on the sign in the window still? May be bait for the Secret Menus page. —KevinChin

2007-07-17 23:29:30   We ate here yesterday and thought the food tasted good, surprisingly. It's more of a self service restaurant, where you pick up your order and bus your own table. I felt it was a bit odd that the restaurant was connected to Chevron’s convenience store. Either way, we will be returning because we enjoyed the food. —JohnWong

2007-07-19 16:18:50   Been eating and fallowing them for over 10m years by far the best Chinese food i ever had general chicken is the best by far they put there love into this food. me and ex wife went there once a week until we divorced i kept going there and food gets better and better every time thanks steve!!!!!!! —dickjones

2007-07-19 19:24:45   damn this place is fuckin' good. had the beef noodle soup. im coming back again soon. —ArlenKwong

2007-07-30 16:50:42   This is my second time visiting this place. The first time I had the steamed rice with pork chop. It was pretty good and Mr. Lee gave me a big portion. The owners are extremely nice. Today I ordered the eggplant and told them to make it extra spicy. When it was done Mr. Lee came out and asked me to try it and see if it was spicy enough. He said if it wasn't he would put another sauce on it. It WAS spicy and was actually the best eggplant I have ever had (and believe me, I eat a lot of eggplant). I will be coming back for this and if you like eggplant, you have to try it! —g

2007-08-03 13:00:40   This place is the best ever great people own this place! awesome food you will be very happy when tryinhh this very very nice restaurant Mr and Mrs lee are great people —Brians

2007-08-23 20:16:56   Their Taiwanese items are good, but the other items are okay. Also, the wife isn't that friendly. The husband is definitely way nicer. —Wendy

2007-08-29 12:10:52   The wife is very friendly they work about 7 days a week no one can be perfect but there food is perfect and mr. lees wife is awesome and very friendly remember this is a restaurant not a lets make you happy store —Brians

2007-08-29 20:30:24   Yea, they work 7 days a week for 10-12+ hours in a hot and stuffy kitchen (no A/C) so...no one should take anything personally. Sometimes they don't smile or their tone of voice towards you may not be cheerful because they are dead tired and exhausted. —BenLee

2007-08-29 22:02:11   you probably caught her on a bad day or something. everytime i go in to eat, shes always friendly and very talkative. —DonaldJaye

2007-09-01 17:08:30   love the food here, definitely best Chinese food ever. Mrs. Lee was telling me and my friend about the attempt to move to the Great Wall location, too bad it didn't work out, but glad Hometown is still in Davis —CM

2007-09-11 13:50:18   The pork chops over rice are almost as good as the rice and gravy that you eat it with. Tasty! —BrianMac

2007-09-20 21:03:08   After reading the good reviews on here, I decided to try their food this week. I got the shrimp chow fun, and it was very good. I will definitely go back and try other dishes. One thing I didn't expect was that each dish is created as ordered; there was no food in warming trays. I had to wait about 7 minutes, but I much prefer made-to-order food to food that's been sitting around even for a short time. Do they ever use the warming trays? If not, we should probably incorporate something to that effect above, in the restaurant's description. —robinlaughlin

2007-09-21 15:49:39   We love this place, Especially the Honey Walnut shrimp...they never skimp on the shrimp! mmmmmm rhyming. —MyaBrn

2007-10-02 17:35:19   I went here on... Saturday evening (9/29/07) and they totally changed the menu. All of the Thai stuff is still there, but they now have a full chinese menu, similar to every other restaurant in Davis. There are probably 40+ different items now (excluding the thai stuff). They no longer offer the 2 and 3 entree choices. You can still get 1 entree w/chow main. I tried the orange chicken and it was quite good. —AlexPomeranz

2007-10-04 22:12:00   I've been going to Hometown for awhile now, and I LOVE it! I first tried it after I read the recommendations on the Wiki, I never tried it before because of the location. I'm so glad I did, I recommend pork chops with meat gravy - but it seems like every dish I've ordered has been great, not to mention Mr. & Ms.Lee are so friendly. I'd like to add that they are the only other place in Davis, besides Noodle City?, that have Taiwanese dishes! —AmyLee

2007-10-08 00:55:38   Old Teahouse has lots of Taiwanese dishes... —Kafani

2007-10-12 16:46:39   Chicken with Meat Gravy over Rice is really good and fulfilling. I've also had the pork chop over rice and it was awesome. I think the Taiwanese dishes are the best to pick from. —JaredfromSubway

2007-10-17 22:00:40   This place is great. I've had the beef noodle soup and broccoli beef. After reading all these awesome reviews, I will definitely go more! —Jeanne

2007-11-02 20:48:45   is this the same place as the one that was out on lake? If so I had it tonight and it was much tastier. :D —RohiniJasavala

2007-11-02 20:49:05   oh, an another plus is when they say something is spicy, it really is. —RohiniJasavala

2007-11-11 20:42:44   Being next to a gas station, this place is not really the typical sit-down restaurant. But, the food is awesome. My roommate and I go to this place at least once a week! Their general chows chicken is amazing and so is their meat gravy over rice and their pork chops with rice. It's cheap and Mr. Lee makes it fresh when you order. Right now, the place is getting busier so it may take time for your food to be cooked, but it's worth it. One tip- you may call ahead of time to order so you just have to pick it up. Make sure you the one who answers the phone knows what you're ordering though because sometimes the wife doesn't..Enjoy the food! —Mae

2007-11-28 20:59:38   is it just me, or does it seem like the portions have gotten smaller and quality has gotten lower?? —DonaldJaye

2007-11-29 10:58:09   I think its just you...the owner even gives us extra sometimes when we go depending on what we order and the quality has always been awesome. —MyaBrn

2007-11-29 13:21:06   I agree with Mya, it's great stuff. —NickSchmalenberger

2007-12-04 22:11:32   I went here and ordered their Pepper Beef, Sweet and Sour Chicken, and Kung Pao Chicken. Considering that this is just a small deli-restaurant in Davis, the Pepper Steak was incredible. The Kung Pao chicken was tasty and spicy enough for my taste. The Sweet and Sour Chicken was a step below the other two, but still pretty good. The service was very friendly, but one complaint I had was that it was slow - make sure to preorder if you come during dinner hours. Hey, at least you know they're cooking it for you fresh. —BrandonWong

2007-12-08 20:48:49   this place fuckin' rocks. best chinese food in davis. the eggplant in garlic sauce and the walnut shrimp are off the hook. —ArlenKwong

2007-12-11 21:23:57   Hometown food is pretty amazing. I got the eggplant with garlic and tofu with beef, but the service was terrible. First I called in my order, then after going to pick it up when they told me 20 minutes later I waited for another 20 minutes. Then the counter lady realizes that they gave our food to another dude. She says to me, "Oh, he just left like one minute ago, maybe he'll come right back." Do you seriously expect me to take someone's food that they left with and then brought back to the store? Anyways, another 20 minutes later they re-cooked our food and we ate it. The lady was really a bitch about it, but at least the food filled my stomach. —bbuck212

2007-12-11 23:06:39   Reply to bbuck212: Sometimes it'll get so busy that will things get out of order. They're understaffed, getting up there in age so they can't work/react/notice as sharply as college students, and will get overwhelmed with multiple orders, many which are the same so sometimes it'll get confusing. The lady you're talking about was obviously overwhelmed with all the orders, customers, and expediting and didn't mean to give away the wrong order. Giving wrong orders to customers rarely happens and it was unfortunate it happened to you. Next time I'm sure you will have a more pleasant experience. Try going during lunch time, as it is less busy. Btw, just because you call in an order doesn't mean you won't have to wait. Many times, call in orders aren't picked up until 1 hour after being called in so the chef will first cook for the ones standing in line and when/if he has time or if a customer present has a same dish as the call in order, he will cook it. If you do call in, try calling in before 5-5:30pm as it gets really busy after. —BenLee

2007-12-12 09:02:08   Im actually the person they gave the wrong food to. Im guessing she got confused because we both ordered the garlic eggplant. However, i ordered the spicy filet of sole as opposed to the beef with tofu. When we got home we noticed it was the wrong order. We thought they just screwed up one of the dishes. It was still tasty (a little disapointing because we also ordered chow mein and rice, which didnt come with it). Insanely busy that night, they only have one cook in the back with one assistant working the crockpot items, and the wife doing service. Its still probably the best chinese food in Davis though. —MattHh

2007-12-12 20:08:31   Yeah for those reasons, i stopped eating dinner here. whenever i get hometown its always for lunch or maybe in the late afternoon. it has gotten really popular over the past year, and during dinner hours its just really busy. but its not a "real" sit down style restaurant, so i think waiting 20 minutes is way too long. 20 minutes is an understatement sometimes too, I waited for longer on several occassions. —DonaldJaye

2007-12-12 21:41:15   The food is great but the service is completely fucked up. They make you wait in line and sometimes look straight at you and look away and continue with what they were previously doing. One time i ordered about 4 items and i had to wait 50 minutes. WTF.

Another time, I ordered a Shrimp Fried Rice and they had accidentally made Chicken fried rice and simply added shrimp to it. When i went to pick up my order, the counter lady just handed me the food and said they had made the mistake. She did not offer any kind of substitute, NOR did they try to fix the mistake. This also happened to the guy in front of me when he got a Chicken chow mein instead of the Chicken fried rice he ordered, to which the lady simply said "He made mistake on your order and made a Chicken chow mein instead, do you mind?" OF COURSE the guy couldn't say no to an order that was already wrapped up and ready to go.

In short, they seriously need to do something about their "I don't give a fuck about waiting customers' attitude."

Another thing, you cannot get more Chinese than a name like "Hometown." This gives Chinese people a bad name because they are SO STINGY with their napkins and forks. You will not get a plastic fork unless your order is to go. And she will make sure that it is. Also, don't expect any extra napkins. They stand firm to their one napkin per customer policy. —XiaoDingDong

2007-12-12 21:57:50   I don't remember any one napkin rule. Customers are free to take plastic utensils and however many napkins they want. The poster above is clearly delusional. —BenLee

2007-12-13 04:43:37   It's also an obvious fake to those who can read pinying, as XiaoDingDong is the Chinese name for the extremely popular Japanese character Doraemon. Never had a problem with napkins. —AlvinTsao

2007-12-13 07:48:27   I agree with Alvin. We have always been able to take any amount of napkins, chopsticks and forks that we may need. —MyaBrn

2007-12-14 11:36:51   Yes, my user name is from a character's. SO WHAT. I'm talking about the terrible service at this restaurant so your response is totally irrelevant. As for BenLee, are you THE SON OF THE OWNERS? Because you seem to spend A LOT of time on this page defending Hometown. —XiaoDingDong

2007-12-14 19:45:00   Doraemon, are YOU the son of another competing Chinese restaurant? Because you come on here with a pseudonym and trash talk a lot. Anyways, I happen to stop by this restaurant frequently, ever since they started 15 years ago, and have always been met with a smile. I do admit, the food does take a while sometimes now, but I have never been told to take only a plastic spoon or limited to only one napkin. —BenShmidt

2007-12-14 20:45:26   I gotta say that back when I was a Davis resident, the food was very good, and I never had any problems accessing their utensils or napkins. Could the fake namer please reveal your real name please to lend some credibility to your assertions please, before we turn this saga into [WWW]War part 2 between the Xiao and Ben? —PaulAmnuaypayoat

2007-12-14 21:20:14   Which Ben, me or Shmidt? Was that movie good? Anyways, there is a new item on the menu, although it's in Chinese. It's basically shrimp and stick rice, has anyone tried it? —BenLee

2007-12-17 14:21:35   I'd seen this restaurant in the gas station each time I passed and thought how good could it be. Well I recently had to go on a trip and was getting my oil changed over the lunch hour at a near by establishment and needed some quick food. I can't stand KFC so I thought I'd try Hometown. I was quite happily surprised! I had a garlic chicken dish and it was great. Granted it took a little time to get the food but that's because it was cooked from scratch with fresh ingredients. I think this may be my new favorite Chinese place in town. Who'd have thought...in a gas station! —CraigP

2007-12-17 19:59:11   They really ought to hire some more staff. The idea of having one woman take orders, take payment, give out to go orders, and man the phones is ridiculous. I waited 45 minutes for one dish on a friday night around 7. Mind you, there's not much to look at in a gas station. —ZackFrederick

2007-12-18 07:53:30   They do have other people work for them. I have seen atleast 2 other employees there at different times. But maybe they have gone back to Taiwan/China to visit family, I don't know...But I am really surprised to hear comments from people saying they have to wait so long for their orders. We go there pretty regularly and have to wait more no more than 10-15 minutes. We had to wait longer than that one time because we had a large take-out order for 12 people and that took 30 minutes! I don't usually make so many comments for one page, but I feel like I should because my friend and I who go here frequently have never had any problems. The owners are very extremely friendly and the food is awesome! —MyaBrn

2007-12-18 23:57:19   I got some nice takeout here — following suggestions on the page, the garlic eggplant and the general's chicken. I wouldn't say it was amazing, but it was quite good. The sauces were tasty, but we'd prefer white meat chicken to the dark that we were provided. And we wondered about the MSG, given the mixed comments on the entry for this restaurant, but I didn't feel the "MSG coma" that I usually get after consuming MSG, so I don't think they do add MSG. We didn't have a problem with the wait; what was a problem was trying to fight the traffic back north into town. Ugh. If you live in South Davis, I can see going here a lot, but otherwise, a place like Davis Noodle City is going to be more of a draw. Or, go for lunch, I guess. —CovertProfessor

2007-12-20 23:49:20   I've known the Lee family since they took over London Fish & Chips from Winnie. Mr. Lee always talked about his Chinese food, and has cooked a number of dishes for my friends and I to sample back at the Orange Court location. I am happy to see Mr. Lee back to cooking some amazing Taiwanese/Chinese food. Everything he's cooked for me has been amazing, and I absolutely love sampling the Taiwanese menu, especially the items Jean thinks I might not like! :-) Are there any other places within 20 miles of Davis that serve such awesome soy eggs? The food I've had here has been on par or better than anything I've had at local places like New Canton, and even remote places like the Chinese cultural club in Sydney, Australia, or Yank Sing in San Francisco. —ChrisLambertus

2007-12-29 03:07:33   My girlfriend and I went to this place last night and it was DELICIOUS. I read the good reviews on wiki and convinced her to go with me even though she "doesn't like Chinese food". Boy, did she change her mind after we ate. We ordered the shrimp in garlic sauce and the chicken in black bean sauce with a side of rice for 2 and some potstickers. The portions were awesome and especially awesome considering the price. There was a TON of white meat chicken in the black bean dish and quite a few shrimp in the other dish. There was also an abundance of well cooked veggies (warm but still crunchy) in each dish. The chef made both dishes "good spicy" for us and they came out perfect. Just enough spice to burn a little bit but the dishes still retained their original flavor. Having the gas station next door was convenient as well because we grabbed a 2 liter of Coke while we waited. The place was empty except two others who were eating and the food was prepared in less than 10 minutes. The cook and his assistant were both very friendly and talkative. The chef said something to the effect of, "Once people eat here, they are my customers for good." He was absolutely right as I am sure we will be returning within the next week to try out some of the other menu items. —BlairGoss

2007-12-29 09:40:54   Now's a great time to swing by and give the restaurant a try if you've never been there. The college kids are home on break and he has the time to talk and cook you up just what you want. Don't be afraid to try something new or to ask him to decide what to cook for you. —JimStewart

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