Victoria Station (restaurant)

Victoria Station was a chain of railroad-themed steakhouse restaurants that was at the peak of its popularity in the 1970s, but filed for bankruptcy in 1986. The company once had some 100 locations in the U.S. and Canada, but the number has dropped to one, in Salem, Massachusetts.

The concept evolved from a Cornell University Hotel School graduate project, according to original owners Bob Freeman, Peter Lee, and Dick Bradley, graduates of the school. The first restaurant was located in San Francisco. The chai was designed to attract members of the baby boom generation. The theme of the restaurant was loosely based on London's Victoria Station. Antique English railway artifacts were used as decor inside, and the exteriors were composed of American Railway cars, primarily boxcars, with a signature Caboose placed in front. On the "entry platform" to each restaurant was an London-style phone booth. Prime rib was the featured item on a limited menu that included steaks, barbecued beef ribs, and shrimp done in a variation of scampi style known as "Shrimp Victoria". Most of the restaurants used authentic railway cars for dining areas, often boxcars or cabooses. The chain flourished in the 1970s, according to a memoir by former Victoria Station corporate marketing manager Tom Blake. The company was among the first restaurant companies to offer its employees stock options and an ESOP program. Many feel its peak was the culmination of a joint venture with Universal Studios that resulted in Victoria Station Universal City, a location on the "hill" near where Citywalk now stands. At its peak the Universal City location was among the highest grossing restaurants in the nation.