I was once a loyal customer of the hometown buffet, in fact, i had been going for at least 8 years once a week. On 12/26/2016 i walked into the bell location @ 6257 n atlantic and had a horrible experience. We went here yesterday afternoon. The place was swamped!!  fortunately, we just got in before the main onslaught.  otherwise, i'm sure we wouldn't have stayed this time.  i felt for the families were lined up waiting to enter since this was a special occasion for the holidays. let me start by saying i paid $55 dollars for a meal myself nor my family got to eat for one there were no dining plates or utensils on any rack. The limited food available was cold. The desert table was empty the whole 30 minutes we were there. I paid for drinks and later was told the soft drink dispenser was broken? The ice cream maker was also broken and the place was filthy and dirty someone dropped the ball on this one. I asked to speak to the manager on duty i was informed that i had to wait 30 minutes the reason being is she was by busy in the back. The young lady at the counter was nice and informed me they were extremely short handed and did not plan to be this busy. I waited 30 minutes and the manager on duty never came out. My wife not wanting to wait any longer finally convinced me to just call it a loss and go elsewhere. This was really disappointing, to say the least, i will never return to this nor any hometown location ever again ...  can someone please contact me regarding these issues ???