I used to enjoy playing this game back when I was younger and I recently saw it on Steam and decided to play it again for old times sake. But sadly, there was a one slight problem with it. The game crashed whenever I clicked the play button. HOWEVER, THERE'S AN EASY WAY TO FIX THE CRASHING ISSUE!

1. Open C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Diner Dash Hometown Hero\assets\downloads\_default\restaurants on your computer and you will see a bunch of folders that should be called "ballpark", "boardwalk", "disco", "museum" and "zoo".

2. Go into all of those folders one by one and click on the folder inside each of them called "comics" and delete all the .swf files inside the "comics" folder that say "intro" or "outro".

3. If you did everything right, the game should work fine now (but be warned, the cutscenes won't be there anymore). Enjoy!

I've realised people are rating this game down because of crashes when it tries to play cut scenes, this can easily be solved by going into the game's folder and deleting the .SWF files from the INTRO and OUTRO folders.
I don't know why it crashes and really, it shouldn't be on here unless it works but it's on here and it's a decent game once you get past the stupid cutscene bug.

I love the Diner Dash series, I think HH is another decent rung on the ladder really, though in all honesty I don't think it's worth £7+. Well, I suppose that's a bit harsh, it could probably scrape worthiness by playtime as if you were to sit and play the entire thing through it would take you an hour or two (I hesitate to comment on its worth as I can think of cheaper games with more substance).
I did, however, find the Endless mode on this game to get ludicrously hard quite quickly, no idea why. Maybe my parents taught me poor coping strategies.

TL:DR - It's a fun little game that you can easily waste several hours on, over time, and it very easy to pick up and drop whenever you feel like it (the plot, for example, will not have a profound effect on your life and dreams).
You will also find yourself passively aggressively judging the customers when they get pissy and shake their heads at you, but it's okay, becase you're fabulous.

If anyone is having problems running this game in Windows10 try running it in compatibility mode. Access the application on your computer here:

C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Diner Dash Hometown Hero

then right click on the application and open its properties, click on the compatibility tab, click the checkbox for compatibility mode and select Windows98/ Windows ME from the dropdown menu, Apply and OK it.

Works great on the steam deck!!! It crashed on my pc but when I went to settings and took it off full screen it worked. Was just weird for it to be so small. Runs perfectly fine on the steam deck though! Oh the nostalgia

All the negative reviews are because of a game-breaking glitch very easy to fix:

Just browse the game files and delete every file named either "intro" or "outro" inside the "restaurants" directory, files whom have the SWF extension. Those files are the game cutscenes, made on the outdated Adobe Flash. The first level from Story Mode is deadlocked because the game tries to play those files as videos, with them gone, so is the glitch.

I can't believe Electronic Arts left this game unsupported; it is an awesome, award-winning casual game, far better than the shovelware flooding the Steam Store nowadays. I honestly believe this game had the potential to become a best seller here on Steam.

This is one of my favorite games brings back so much nostalgia.

The game was crashing for me when i tried to play but only in full screen. I took it out of full screen and have been playing without issue since. Loads of fun!!

What a nostalgic game that I love to play and low-key stress myself out with, haha!

I used to play this so many times when I was much younger, and it brings back great childhood memories. It's such a good game if you enjoy being busy, and just like to have constant things to do and multitask with - that's one of my fave pastimes with gaming, and this fits the intention perfectly.

If the game crashes for you, just go to settings and get out of full-screen mode; it works fine then. Not a big deal at all as some people are making it out to be.

I really enjoy how each level, you get something new to add to the restaurant system, and they definitely help along the way. And how the customer amount increases throughout, which is such a challenge when it comes to tables already being used up (i.e. ones that have the right number of chairs needed to seat every single person from a larger group). You can also decorate up your restaurant as the game progresses, and you're unlocking more and more.

I do wish you could hire more staff though, so it feels like a proper restaurant with waiting staff and cooks rushing around each other. I mean, I'd like that anyway.

I know that this game has some crashing issues and I found a way to play this game with it's cutscenes.

1. Open the game
2. Go to 'Options'
3. Remove the tick on 'Full Screen' the game is now in mirrored mode
4. Now the game should work

NOTE: It worked for me so there is no guarantee that this will work for everyone, but I still do hope that I could help some of you

The Diner Dash series is a fun, retro blast from the past. If Steam can work out the bugs (game frequently halts & restarts), and get more in this series, I'd love to have more to play.