HISTORY OF THE VINEYARD RESTAURANT

The Vineyard Restaurant was started in 1976 by Robert and Helen Mariscotti. The Mariscotti family has been in the restaurant business in the Madera area since the early 1900's. The family owned and operated The Berenda Ranch Restaurant, a popular stop for travelers and local north of Madera.

The Berenda ranch Restaurant evolved from a grocery store to a small bar, to a café and finally to a full-scale 24 hour restaurant and gas station which thrived for years until torn down for freeway expansion in the early 1970's. In 1976 Robert and Helen opened The Vineyard in the present location at the junction of Highway 99 and Highway 145 on the southern edge of Madera.

Robert Mariscotti designed the distinctive winery style building, with its landmark brick tower. Originally the Vineyard was intended to be a 24-hour upscale coffee shop, but that style of restaurant had become less popular over the years. Keeping with changing trends, the family, now joined by son Christopher, added a bar to the building and refocused the concept to serving only lunch and dinner.

The Vineyard has evolved to a casual dinner house that serves "wine country style" food influenced by the family's Italian heritage. The Vineyard is located in the center of the San Joaquin Valley and is a popular meeting spot for families and business travelers as well as for the local farmers, winemakers and agri-business community. The restaurant and bar are popular places for the people of Madera and the surrounding communities to come for dinner and banquets. The restaurant takes pride in maintaining the traditional style of food preparation that has its roots in the restaurants of years ago. The soups, salad dressings and sauces are all made on premises. We age and cut all our U.S.D.A. Choice steaks.

In 1998 we began baking our bread and are continuing to do that successfully as well as make all the desserts we sell. The wine list is interesting, well priced and offers a variety of local wines along with other wines from California. The Vineyard was picked by "The Wine Spectator" as one of the restaurants to eat in the San Joaquin Valley.

We take pride in our food, our service and our ability to respond to the changing needs of our dynamic market. We will continue to evolve and grow with Madera and the San Joaquin Valley in the future.