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About Us

Fardowners is your go-to when you want the best food and service at an affordable price. Serving the Crozet area for 10 years, we pride ourselves on our creative, sustainable and delicious food, our reputation for excellent customer service, and a steadfast commitment to our community.

The Fardowners Name​

Fardowners Restaurant takes its name from a group of Irish immigrants who labored for the Blue Ridge Railway Co. and helped construct four tunnels through the Blue Ridge Mountains during the decade before the Civil War. Claudius Crozet's remarkable feat of engineering took eight years and linked the eastern part of Virginia with the west. Opened to rail traffic in April of 1858, it was considered to be one of the engineering wonders of the modern world. The railway ultimately put the village of Crozet on the map. The old C&O railroad depot can be seen outside the restaurant windows across The Square on the other side of the tracks.

train tracks going inside a mountain

Executive Chef, Mark Cosgrove

Mark has an intuitive sense of flavor pairings, and his love of cooking began when he was just a teen. After working in kitchens across the U.S. from cafes to fine dining, he became head chef at Greenleaf Cafe in Williamsburg, VA. He followed that up with stints at several popular Northern Virginia restaurants. An early proponent of using local ingredients and supporting surrounding farms, wineries, and breweries at the many places he's cooked, Mark continues that tradition today at his own restaurant, Fardowners. His family-friendly pub is located in the heart of Virginia wine country, in Crozet.

mark cosgrove standing behind the bar
mark cosgrove and a friend
mark cosgrove and a young boy