First records

Mr. Matija Prebil was the first known owner of the restaurant and the surrounding property. He was first mentioned in 1757. In 1826, Mr. Andrej Samotrčan became the owner of the property no. 25, owning the buildings and the houses as well as the agricultural lands, like the neighbouring farmers. Mr. Samotrčan later handed over the buildings to his daughters and their husbands; Vič no. 25 was handed over to Lukas Bedenk and Vič no. 23 to Anton Pance. Around 1860, Mr. Boštjan Selan (from the Mežnar family living near the Rožnik hill) married to the no. 25, became the owner of the Pri Žabarju property and was elected Mayor of the Vič municipality. He was selling agricultural lands and built a new house with a modern restaurant. In 1880, he sold the house and the restaurant to Gašper Šušteršič, a wine merchant from Glince no. 20. It was Mr. Šušteršič who leased the restaurant to Janez Robežnik, who then bought it in 1897 for 10,300 florins. Later on, Janez and Urša Robežnik purchased the old house at Vič no. 22 and demolished it together with the old Žabar house on no. 70. On the same spot, they built a modern outbuilding, warehouses and restaurant. Before moving to Vič, Janez lived in Dravlje and his wife Urša lived in Zgornja Šiška.
Firstly, the restaurant was connected to the shop, managed mostly by Janez. His wife Urša helped him and took care of the restaurant. In 1900, her sister Antonija Škander came to her help; she was an excellent cook. On top of that, she was a very beautiful girl and her arrival brought along a number of new and regular guests. She stayed at the restaurant until the end of the WW I when she married and moved away.

Avguštin Robežnik

Until Janez Robežnik’s death in 1928, the main emphasis was put on the shop. At the time, the business went very well as there was no other shop in the area from Vič to Polhov Gradec. The restaurant was handed to Robežnik’s son Avguštin who was of great support to his mother after his father died. Other children left home one after the other. The first one to go was Ivan who, with the help of his father, bought his own restaurant named V rož’cah in Mestni log. His brother Edvard moved to Škofljica where he purchased his own estate. The other children attended various schools.
After the death of their mother, Avguštin took over the management of the restaurant. He was extremely popular among the guests thanks to his communicative nature. At that time, Malči Legiša became the housewife of the property and stayed there until 1940 when she left the job because she had to take care of her children. The youngest daughter Nada took her place and worked together with her cousin Pavla Ažman. The Second World War severely affected the Robežnik family. In 1941, the householder Avguštin went missing, while in 1945 his youngest sister Nada was killed by the White Guards.

Milan Robežnik Senior

After the disappearance of Avguštin, his brother Milan took over the management of the restaurant. In 1946, he married an innkeeper’s daughter Vera Križman from Stražišče near Preddvor. Due to the nationalization policy, the private restaurant was abolished in 1948, and a state-owned restauration facility was established. Soon after, it was turned into a cooperative restauration facility. But as soon as 1953, the agricultural cooperative was liquidated and Milan, following his wife’s encouragement, submitted an application for the renewal of the state restaurant. The request was granted and in 1954 and the restaurant became a collective plant.
Milan Robežnik became the manager and worked with the help of his wife Vera and three employees – a waitress, a cook and an assistant. In 1963, the plant became a state restaurant under the administration of the Vič catering company. At the time, the restaurant had five employees.

Milan Robežnik, Milč

In 1972, a year after the death of Milan Robežnik Senior, the restaurant again became a privately owned property, owned by Milan Robežnik Junior, who successfully managed it for 40 years. During that time he expanded the activities to a pastry shop and completed the room facilities in 2005.

Rok Robežnik, an awesome lad

Recently, Milan Robežnik and his wife Ivana handed the restaurant over to their oldest son Rok, who changed the business into a limited liability company. Rok represents the fourth generation of the Robežnik family who has been successfully managing the Pri Žabarju estate.