Restaurants in Auburndale

A sea of framed snapshots of famous players sweeps across the newly painted wall of Friendly Confines. Sports games play on the dining room's numerous television screens, accompanying plates of hearty wings, burgers, and steaks. Outside, pint glasses, pitchers, and cocktail glasses clink beneath the colorful umbrellas that speckle the front patio. Throughout the week, the pub hosts games and contests, including Tuesday night bingo, Sunday night live music, and Wednesday afternoon competitive quilting.

CiCi’s Pizza combines the variety of a buffet with the thrill of bottomless pizza. Each pie is crafted with dough made from scratch daily and then slathered with homemade marinara and showered with toppings ranging from traditional pepperoni and Italian-style sausage to creative combinations including buffalo chicken and mac 'n' cheese. The buffet is stocked with a plethora of fresh pastas, as well as signature salads with the option to put tossing talents to the test at the salad bar. After they've feasted on savory options, diners can revisit the buffet for dessert including freshly baked brownies, slices of apple pizza, and cinnamon rolls drizzled with icing—or they can eat dessert first, thereby tearing an irreparable hole in the space-time continuum.

In bold, illuminated letters, an outdoor sign proudly proclaims the restaurant's name—Sportsters. Neon baseball and football players flank the whimsical moniker, tipping patrons off to the athletics-themed decor and Gatorade-scented air that await them beyond the entryway. Past the neon beer signs hanging in the front windows, guests will discover the classic trappings of a sports bar blended with a family-friendly atmosphere. More than 15 televisions broadcast sporting events as servers deliver draft beers, sauce-drenched wings, peel-and-eat shrimp, burgers, and pint-size portions from the kids’ menu.

String lights glimmer on the hunter-green walls like stars through evening foliage. A large mural depicts a distant city against a burgundy-and-gray dusk. Some of these accents date back to Cafe Vienna’s inception 40 years ago, but the torch has since been passed to Tony Klobuchar, whose son Steve mans the kitchen. From those clattering confines spill the aromas of time-tested Austro-Hungarian cuisine, including steaming bratwurst platters and marinated herring. Though the servers move quickly, there's much that goes into the preparation of these dishes; tender beef-loin sauerbraten, for example, marinates in traditional spices and red-wine vinegar for a minimum of five days. Above plates of grilled pork schnitzel, imported German brews from Spaten and Franziskaner crash together, sending flecks of foam to tablecloths in the deep red hues of a fire truck that has been driving around with hair curlers on.

In 1948, Charles McMillan opened the doors to the home he had built of wood and stone, offering visitors plates of fine, country-style cooking under the name Red Wing Restaurant. Today, this one-time rural residence retains its quaint charm with taxidermied décor—a plethora of birds and animals striking eternal poses against a backdrop of vertical wood paneling. Behind this façade, skilled chefs country-fry steaks they've cut by hand or prepare meals from whatever wild game their favorite hunter might have brought them