Restaurants in Keizer

Tea aficionados at Momma Honey and the Princess brew up pots of Intelligentsia loose-leaf tea and coffee to serve alongside pastries crafted at local bakeries. Pinkies protrude over high tea as pairs of guests share pots of elixir brewed from loose leaves or roasted beans harvested from sustainable small farms around the world and brewed with local water. Discuss teatime topics, sharing opinions on world politics or the boiling point of water between mouthfuls of sandwiches, savory cream puffs, and scones. Alternatively, customers can present a punch card and caffeinate with 10 12-ounce Intelligentsia loose-leaf tea and coffee drinks of their choice, served in compostable cups that amateur farmers can use to fertilize and grow their own coffee-shop plants.

The founders of Garlic Jim's Famous Gourmet Pizza banded together with a common goal in mind: to craft handmade, gourmet pizzas and deliver them to your door as quickly as possible without sacrificing quality. Now, they uphold that promise at more than 20 locations throughout the western United States, consistently serving up custom or specialty pies slathered with handmade sauce pressed from vine-ripened tomatoes. Even the cheese is held to high standards, with 100% whole-milk mozzarella only produced by cows that got a perfect score on their SATs.

Originally branded as the Top Hat Drive-In, Sonic didn’t acquire its nationally recognized name until 1959—six years after its inception in 1953. Today, the franchise operates out of 3,500 locations across the country, making it the nation’s largest chain of drive-in restaurants. Sonic specializes in made-to-order American classics—including burgers, hot dogs, milk shakes, and Ford Thunderbolts—which customers order and receive without ever having to leave their cars. Unique menu items include toaster sandwiches stacked on thick slices of texas toast as well as the brand’s signature tots and fresh limeades.

Sonic’s numerous awards include a 2011 Zagat survey ranking it among the top five fast-food restaurants in three categories: best value menu, best milk shake, and best drive-thru. The benevolent eatery has also donated more than $2 million to public schools throughout the country through Limeades for Learning, which helps to fund educational projects and retirement plans for classroom guinea pigs.

“We had reserved a window spot and watched the birds and boats on the lake until dark,” wrote a reporter for the Statesman Journal after a visit to Caruso’s Italian Café & Wine Bar. The view of Staas Lake, visible from almost every seat in the house, was instrumental in landing the eatery a spot on the newspaper’s Best of list in 2011 and 2012. With his wife Angie in charge of hospitality, chef Jerry Phipps brings years of culinary experience to bear on northern Italian cuisine. In addition to pastas such as linguine and prawns, Phipps sautés halibut in a sherry-wine reduction and pairs milk-fed veal with mushrooms and light marsala sauce.

Fairy lights encircle the ceiling of the dining room, adding to the soft luminescence playing off of the burnished gold walls. Visitors chat with glasses of wine and small plates in the wine room’s sumptuous armchairs and loveseats alongside stuffed trophy beanbags. Beneath a wide pergola outside, silverware clatters merrily against the murmur of a stone fountain.

On mornings at Broadway Cafe, patrons cozy into pink-cushioned chairs and turquoise booths for American breakfasts of french toast, syrup-slathered pancakes, and hearty three-egg omelets. For lunch, tables populate with juicy burgers and amply stuffed sandwiches held together by gooey swiss and cheddar cheese. After sipping the last of a strawberry lemonade or iced tea, patrons can dig into desserts, including pie à la mode or an ice-cream sundae.