Words by Jadrian Klinger
There’s nothing quite like enjoying a home-cooked meal with the whole family – especially when you don’t have to prepare it or clean up afterward. And, just off Rte. 422 in Palmyra, Hometown Family Restaurant provides the perfect venue and menu to make patrons feel right at home.
Since 2006, Hometown Family Restaurant has been serving up a broad variety of palate-pleasing dishes in a relaxed, family-friendly atmosphere, attracting hungry repeat customers throughout Palmyra and beyond.
“Customers come here because they know we have delicious food, a clean restaurant and a very friendly staff,” says Jacob Stauffer, Hometown Family Restaurant’s assistant manager. “All those things go far with people.”
Hometown Family Restaurant’s menu finds inspiration in Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine, but it also cooks outside the box of the “regular” family restaurant, explains Stauffer.
One of the most appealing features of Hometown Family Restaurant is the wide selection of dining choices, and just last month, they launched a new menu with old favorites as well as soon-to-be must-haves.
For starters and salads, highlights include: the shrimp skewer (10 flame-broiled shrimp sautéed in lemon-garlic or barbecue sauce), bacon ranch fries (French fries topped with bacon, ranch dressing and cheddar jack cheese) and Kate’s Salad (fresh mixed greens with dried cranberries, fresh apples, pecans and grilled chicken breast).
When it comes to sandwiches, wraps or burgers, Hometown Family Restaurant has you covered. The between-two-slices-of-bread and rolled-in-a-wrap standouts include: roast turkey club (sliced turkey breast layered three stories high with bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo), BLT chicken wrapper (breaded chicken tenders, lettuce, tomato and red onion served in a garlic-herb wrap with buttermilk ranch dressing), hot roast beef sandwich (slow-cooked, tender roast beef topped with gravy on choice of bread) and the Jesse James Burger (6-ounce, charbroiled Black Angus burger topped with bacon, onion ring, cheddar jack cheese, barbecue sauce, lettuce and tomato).
For those in search of more substantial, appetite-stretching meals, a few of the entrée must-haves are parmesan-crusted tilapia (filet of tilapia broiled in butter topped with parmesan cheese and Old Bay seasoning), broiled seafood combo (3-ounce crab cake, 6-ounce filet of haddock and 10 flame-broiled skewered shrimp in lemon-garlic butter) and Pennsylvania pork chops (two 8-ounce Pennsylvania center-cut pork chops charbroiled to perfection).
Then there are the Hometown Family Restaurant’s standards aptly dubbed “Hometown Classics,” which include everything from fresh roast beef and Henny Penny chicken (four pieces of their famous golden pressure-fried chicken) to homemade meatloaf and broccoli ranch chicken (5-ounce chicken breast topped with ranch dressing, broccoli, bacon and cheddar jack cheese).
A full breakfast menu is also served from open to 11 a.m. and then a limited one for the rest of the day. Diners will find all the classic morning-meal staples at Hometown Family Restaurant – French toast, build-your-own omelets, waffles, pancakes and breakfast sandwiches.
If all these mouth-watering options weren’t more than enough, Hometown Family Restaurant is also well known for their breakfast and dinner buffets as well as a soup and salad bar. The breakfast buffet is open on Saturdays (8 a.m. to 11 a.m.) and Sundays (8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.); the dinner buffet is offered Wednesday through Saturday (4 p.m. to 8 p.m.) and Sundays (11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.); and the soup and salad bar runs every day after 11 a.m.
Of course, if even the pickiest eaters cannot find a favorite on the regular menu or within one of the buffets, Hometown Family Restaurant runs daily specials certain to please.
To top off whatever culinary delight among the many to choose from at Hometown Family Restaurant, the desserts are difficult to deny – from ice cream, whoopie pies and chocolate éclairs to carrot cake with cream-cheese icing, sundaes and Mama K’s wet-bottom shoo-fly pie.
For those interested in treating extended family and friends to a delicious home-cooked meal, Hometown Family Restaurant also offers banquet facilities for anywhere from 30 to 120 guests.