Hometown Emporium

As stated in my original review, this place can be a hit or miss… Boy was it a big miss yesterday afternoon. My husband and I were craving sandwiches from here, so we decided to get some to go. It was completely dead, with the exception of two women who were done eating, sitting and chatting in a corner booth. At the front counter, the young lady who took our order was either high, or completely inept at life and probably needs help tying her own shoes. I’m never this harsh but it was that bad! I gave her my very simple roast beef on sourdough order, and my husband asked for the hot pastrami full size. She then told us that «we don’t have that.» I argued that it was on the board, and asked if they were out? Her response: «no, but we don’t do pastrami on half sandwiches.» My response: yeah that’s why he asked for a full size. She then shrugged and started making the sandwiches. The full size comes with chips, and both sandwiches include a pickle, and a cookie. When we were leaving the noticed the chips were missing from our bag, but the front counter girl noticed me looking through my bag and said «oh here, I forgot the chips.» And handed us the bag. When we get home we notice we only got one pickle. Not a big deal, but then when we unwrapped our sandwiches we found that the half roast beef that was supposed to be mine, was the full and my husbands pastrami was the half size that she claimed that they couldn’t even make. I ended up giving my hubby mine since he can eat a significant amount more than me. Totally frustrating that our order was completely topsy– turvy. No excuse when you are not waiting on any other customers, to mess up so much. I contemplated calling them to complain, but figured by the lax attitude that they display when ordering, it would just be a waste of time. Probably not going back anymore.

Too adorable! Giant sandwich and it was only half a sandwich. Not a very diverse crowd and i would have liked to pick my own cookie but they had diet mountain dew on fountain so i was happy campers.

Doesn’t get much better than this small town shop. Amazing staff, great food and small town personality. Love this place!

I went yesterday for the 1^st time reading all the good reviews. …let start by saying I walk in. yeah the place looks clean & plenty of baked goodies to choose from… When asking for the Tuna sandwich. .the lady taking my order seemed unfriendly & rude when asking what breads they had… she seemed bothered by me asking questions. …it doesn’t cost anything 2 smile and be friendly… She was an older short lady with bad customer svcs… I took my food to go… my tuna sandwich was
…it loved the Tuna flavor… kinda sweet just perfect

I went there while I was on break from work. I work in Porterville, but we were in town for a few things, so we thought we’d try this place. I must say, it surprised me. The food was incredibly good and the staff was very polite. I ordered the pub burger, which came with a dill pickle, chips and a cookie. The burger was incredibly juicy and came on a ciabatta bun. The cookie was really good and soft. I wound up going back to the counter and ordering two chocolate thumbprint cookies to take home, but wound up eating them both before I left. Very polite staff, very good food, affordable, wifi and nice ambience.

Love, LOVE their sandwiches. Although I’m not vegetarian, the veggie is my favorite. All their bread is homemade daily. The wheat walnut is delish.
Also, we just had them cater an event. They were over the top accommodating. They were very helpful in figuring out ALL the details (lunch menu) — we weren’t sure on how many to expect. Plus, they made THE best tri tip sandwiches (on homemade rolls), plus a great basil pasta salad, green salad, veggie & fruit trays & homemade cookies. Although, the nicest part is they are just great, kind people to work with.

If your in the area and you want the best! This is the place! The food is great, fresh, delicious and the portions are big. Very clean and the staff is very nice. A must go to if in the area. 5 stars you won’t be disappointed!!!

Pastrami sandwich was a flop. Looked like a sad hot dog bun. Only bread, meat, cheese and tons, I mean TONS, of mayo-​mustard spread thst over took all flavors. Meat was more than usual salty, but tasty. Bathroom was clean!!! It was barely okay: not worth the money paid. Maybe Subway would have been a better choice today. Not a return customer. Okay, maybe to try the fudge candy. Lol.

Great sandwiches. Wraps. And cookies. Very friendly staff. Tuna sandwich and pesto chicken wrap my favorite, generous portions. Always caters. Which has done out event. Baseball boosters dinner. Fantastic steaks etc. Always professional! Owner kristy always there to accommodate

Love love love their turkey sandwiches and their cookies taste just like my grandma’s. If you are a light eater get a half of a sandwich the whole is way to big. Girls are so kind.

Exeter has a reputation for and is a small town and with that one ASSUMES that a small town, friendly atmosphere would be everywhere… and in most Exeter establishments it is. We have visited Hometown Emporium at least 6 times in the past 2 years and I haven’t ever been greeted with a smile or a welcome. The faces there are familiar and I assume they are family or long-​time employees. I am a very friendly person and like to smile and be a helpful customer, however there is nothing friendly coming from the other side of the counter. Today at noon, they were out of HAM, TURKEY and PROVELONE… they are a sandwich joint… how do you run out of your most popular meats and cheese? The lettuce added to my sandwich was BROWN and obviously shouldn’t have been added to my sandwich by one of the unfriendly girls in back. Reading the other reviews, I agree whole heartedly that I could make the sandwich at home and smile while doing it. At least my family would get a smile across the table while biting into my ham or turkey sandwich. All the tables were cleared, but look and felt grimy. The owner looks like they’d like to try to make it cute, but It is too bad that is just a run down, grimy place that thought they’d better jump on the sandwich bandwagon to compete with the other, friendlier restaurants in downtown Exeter. We don’t need to go back. We will go get a smile elsewhere.

I went over here after weeks on hearing how good these sandwiches were. With a hankering for a good sandwich, (there’s only so much Mexican food a gringo can eat.) I figured I’d give this lil place a shot. And boy did this place not disappoint! I ordered the pancho villa, (I know right? Can’t seem to shake the Mexican food theme) but I digress; it was a hoagie roll filled with delicious roast beef, Ortega chilies, cheese, and mayo. Mmmmmmmmmmm!!! With a drink it came out to almost $ 10.00 bucks «ouch» but man ol’ man was it worth every penny. And the staff was about as warm and friendly as a hallmark TV movie. I will definitely be going back soon to give their club sandwich a try.

Kristy and her staff at Hometown Emporium are spectacular! We recently used Hometown’s catering services for our 10 year high school reunion, and we couldn’t have asked for better food or service! The food, by the way, was delicious — everyone raved about how good their dinners were! I will definitely use Hometown Emporium again the next time I need a local caterer.
I am also a huge fan of their sandwiches. I have yet to find a sandwich shop in LA (where I currently live) that rivals the deliciousness of Hometown Emporium’s sandwiches. Every time I am back in Exeter, I make a special trip here just for their lunches. They’re always worth the trip!

Two things happened to me when I stopped in Hometown Emporium. First I saw the DIRTIEST TOILET I have ever seen in my life. I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was literally urine and filth just caked all over from top to bottom. Usually I don’t review based on a toilet but it’s the only one they have and it’s awful. Seriously, they have never cleaned their bathroom (they only have one stall) since this business opened. Period. And if their public restroom is this disgusting let’s just guess that things we can’t see (like the kitchen) are not much better. Ewwwwww.
Secondly I had the grossest maple twist ever. I didn’t know you could mess us a doughnut until I purchased one from Hometown Emporium. Bit it, and spit it out. The bar went in the trash. That was easy to forget… now if I could just forget that restroom
:(

I have eaten here 4 times and three of the four were very disappointing. All the ingredients appear to be store bought. What I mean by that is your bread is basically wonder bread, the meat was sliced from processed loaves and the lettuce came out of a bag. Basically, it worse than the kind of sandwich I would make myself at home. Last time I was there I bought a salad for around $ 8 praying that it would at least be half as good as most other salads I purchase for the same amount elsewhere. I was disappointing to see it was made of bagged iceberg which was wilting and I couldn’t even eat it. Every ingredient was a bagged item from the carrot shredding to the cheap ass dry cheese they use at taco bell. I called to complain and they offered me a replacement but I don’t have the courage to go back. I get the feeling the hype regarding this place is it is owned by a well known local family or something because I hear over and over how good it is and it truly baffles me. Perhaps my standards are too high for the area I am and if so, God help me.

If I’m going to recommend any place to eat in Exeter it will probably be Hometown. Great food, awesome service, and the charming hometown feel to it. They actually DO make their food fresh!

Again I am new to town and trying to check out what this cool little town has to offer and me and my hubby had lunch here the other day– he had a turkey sandwhich and I had their special of the say lasagna with a salad. Lasagna was pretty good and my hubby said his sandwich was very very good but i was holding ut for the cookies! oh my gosh i love their mexican wedding cake cookies– I also sampled thier snickerdoodles, chocolate chip cookes, fudge cookies and oh i cant remember what else i tried but I had to sneak over there after i dropped off my hubby to pick up some more cookies! They had a pretty cool lunch menu and I can’t wait to try hometown againQ!

Their pastrami sandwich is AWESOME… it is moist and tender… with a tasty mustard. I highly recommend it.