Reviews for Homestead

08/09/2011 - Captainscratchy
My parents have been eating at this restaurant for as long as they have been open and they LOVE it. I spent my early days in Rome and remember when this building was an early version of a convenience store. The property is very well built and beautiful. It did not manifest itself as a restaurant until I was living on the other side of the planet, and we go there because my parents enjoy it and I always crave the food of my youth. My wife and I usually take my folks there when we are in town to visit twice a year. The salad bar and the pinto beans are an outstanding choice. They always have wonderful beans, cornbread, and the cheese at the salad bar is the "can't enough" type. I've been there when they've had boiled shrimp, and that choice was also good, but the shrimp were small and overcooked. Despite the many times I've been there, I've never ordered an item from the regular menu, since my folks always fill up on the salad bar alone. A few weeks ago, We were in town and took them to the Homestead, as usual. I felt frisky and ordererd from the menu. The seafood platter was my choice. The menu stated that this choice contained two of each: Oysters and shrimp. This choice also included a crab cake and a filet of flounder. I chose the broiled version of this item. When the dish arrived, I honestly had to look for the shrimp and oysters. They were the size of my fingernail and hidden under a thing that was promoted as a crab cake. This thing was a piece of wet cornbread with a bit of parsley included for color, which would not stay on the fork due to the excessive moisture. No crab. No cake. The "flounder" was obviously Tilapia and was drenched in grease. Every bit of this dish screamed OLD and FROZEN. The Shrimp were very mealy, indicating overcooking straight from the freezer. The oysters were literally the size of an english pea and I had to look for them. They were also a frozen item straight from bag to the microwave.
My wife had the fried oysters. She never found the "oyster" from the breading and were obviously a frozen bag item tossed into oil. Hideous is the only word I can think of to descibe this meal. Stick with the salad bar and you'll be fine. It's hard to screw up a salad, and these cooks have no clue what they're doing, but then again, they're just following owner/manager directions. Bottom line: Salad, Cheese, Bean Bar is excellent. Don't waste you money or time on the menu items tha contain seafood. This is Rome,Ga. It's landlocked and the folks have no clue how to get fresh seafood, much less how to cook it. Stick with the basics at this establishment and you'll be delighted! I'll try the steak in six months or so and report back. No More seafood from here. I should have known better.

08/01/2011 - richard
having read favorable reviews on other sites, i decided to try the homestead restaurant. i arrived just after 5pm and was greeted by a young man with a clipboard who told me it would be a few minutes before i could be seated. the young mans fingernails were so dirty, i was immediately put off and puzzled why mgmt. would allow him to be the first impression of their restaurant. but i remained.
after being seated, i ordered a 12 oz steak (seemed smaller) which was cooked properly but the meat was quite average. other items i tried were also average with exception of squash casserole which was very good. salad bar was good and the advertized "best beans" were also good. on the whole, i would have to say this might be one of romes best restaurants but it would be below average in a city with more discerning tastes.
bon apetit...not!