These familiar Fresno restaurants have been around forever. How old are they really?
Fresno is full of longtime, classic restaurants.
DiCicco’s. Me-N-Ed’s. Castillo’s Mexican Food. So many more.
But none of them are the oldest in town. The Bee’s story, “What are Fresno’s oldest restaurants?” narrowed it down to three, depending upon your definition of what makes a business a restaurant. All started in some form in the 1930s or earlier.
If you’re like many people, when you hear talk of the oldest restaurants, you start ticking through the longest living ones you can think of in your head. Just how old are DiCicco’s and Me-n-Ed’s and Castillo’s anyway?
So we thought we’d put together a list of the well-known longtime restaurants and when they were born. Many of them are quite young — at least when compared to restaurants that started in the 1920s and 1930s.
And as for the 1940s, no, we didn’t forget the whole decade. We just didn’t find any surviving restaurants that were born then.
Here’s a look at what we found.
1930s and before
Piemonte’s Italian Delicatessen 1929
Cosmopolitan, hotel and bar in 1904, restaurant in 1933
Santa Fe Basque hotel in 1927, restaurant in the 1950s
1950s
Ming’s Chinese restaurant (formerly Wong’s) 1951
Castillo’s Mexican food 1955
The Elbow Room 1955
McDonald’s at Blackstone and Shields avenues 1955
DiCicco’s 1956
Fong’s Chinese Restaurant 1957
Me-N-Ed’s Pizzeria 1958
1960s
Mike’s Pizzeria 1962
The Lime Lite 1964
Golden Restaurant 1967
Richard’s Prime Rib & Seafood 1969
1970s
Cuca’s downtown 1973
Javier’s Mexican Restaurant 1974
The Berrock Shop 1977
Ovidio Ristorante Italiano 1979
1980s
Sam’s Deli 1980
La Elegante food truck 1984, restaurant in 1993
HoHo Kafe 1984
The Train Depot 1985
Guadalajara 1988
1990s
Bella Pasta 1991
Irene’s Cafe 1991
Toledo’s 1991
Manhattan 1992
El Premio Mayor, food truck 1996, restaurant in 2009
Max’s Bistro 1997
Casa Corona 1999
Fresno Breakfast House 1999
Parma Ristorante 1999
2000s
Phoenician Garden Mediterranean Bar and Grill 2003
Dog House Grill 2004
Batter Up Pancakes 2008
This story was originally published July 27, 2024 at 12:00 PM.
