Victoria Station
At last report, there was only one outlet remaining of this once-proud chain…in Salem, MA stands the last of the railroad-themed restaurants known as Victoria Station. The first of them, which was opened in San Francisco in the late sixties, was an outgrowth of a graduate project by three students at Cornell University Hotel School, Bob Freeman, Peter Lee and Dick Bradley. Their new eatery, colorfully decorated with pieces of old trains and London-style phone booths, caught on big and soon there were approximately a hundred of them in existence, including the one I frequented. It was at Universal Studios, not far from where the famous studio tour commenced. The Victoria Station there was huge and it was said to be one of the top-grossing restaurants in America. Based on the crowds, I wasn’t surprised to hear that.
The specialty of a Victoria Station was prime rib but you could also get a steak or ribs or roast chicken or Shrimp Victoria, which was like scampi but without vast amounts of garlic. The food was all pretty good but I recall some long, long waits for a table and if you weren’t going on the Universal Tour (and I never was) the parking could be quite inconvenient. It was a place I’d never choose to dine but business associates kept asking me to meet them there for meals, and its banquet room housed many a party I felt I had to attend.
One nice feature of that Victoria Station (and perhaps others) was the employee morale. The folks who worked there liked working there, and the chain was often written up as one of the more benevolent employers in the country, offering its workers stock options and other unusual benefits. In keeping with the railroad theme, Johnny Cash did their commercials.
So what happened to this successful chain? Its one-time Director of Marketing, Tom Blake, authored a whole book on the subject that charged arrogance and mismanagement at the company’s highest levels destroyed the business. News reports at the time seemed to substantiate his view, which was a shame. All the folks who worked there seemed so happy to be working there.
13 Responses to Victoria Station
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Another restaurant I never patronized and still have a comment on. Mark mentions the employees at V.S. really seemed to like it there and it must be true. Back in the 80′s I worked for an art retouching studio in Hollywood and the Office Manager would put in a full day there on Friday and then cheerily change into her Victoria Station waitress uniform and do another shift up there.
The food at Victoria Station was good, but getting there was a real pain. You had to fight the traffic trying to get into Universal Studios, then ride that dumb little funicular car up the hill from the parking lot. It had a habit of breaking down all too frequently, which sometimes left you stranded up at the restaurant looking down and your car off in the distance.
The bar area was a nice spot to sit and wait for your table to be ready, as they had crocks of cheese with crackers to help pass the time. Well, they did at first, but crowds of people waiting for the Universal Amphitheater came over to the restaurant and started eating the cheese like locusts devouring crop fields. Sadly that put an end to the crocks of cheese…
wasn’t ther a Victoria Station in West Los Angeles near Pico and Sepulveda?
There was one on Rt. 161 in Columbus, Ohio too! I remember it as a destination restaurant with great food!
There was a great Victoria Station just outside the Coast Guard Base in Alameda, CA. I was there in the 70′s and remember it well…
Hi there,
I am writing a book about the Victoria Station Restaurant at Universal Studios, that was there from 1977 – 1997. Does anyone have any photos of it that I can use and what happened to the FLYING SCOTSMAN cars and railway furniture after the restaurant closed in 1997.
Look forward to hearing from you.
I fondly remember going to Victoria Station quite often. Especially the one on Sepulveda bld. just North of Pico. I loved eating cheese and crackers as my family and I waited to be seated. On new years eve 1979 I took a date to the Universal Studios Victoria Station. Its sad they no longer exist.
I always went there with dates before concerts at the amphitheatre, back when it was still open-air. The All-You-Can-Eat BBQ Ribs were simply outstanding and almost made the night affordable. The place is sorely missed.
VS as we called it was an amazing place to work I loved the people we were all like a family together food was great and simple I worked at the one in Newport Beach CA 990 Dove st. 1975 to 1982 I miss those times just an amazing place to work it was sad to see it go downhill in the 80’s
I strongly believe they could have regained their popularity with some good advertising and a better menu just a few more items not 30 like they tried the one time and failed miserably. They returned to their old simple menu but the damage was done this lost a lot of customers and it looked like they just gave up shriveled and vanished in a whimper very shameful to us hard working employees
I worked for VS from 1974-1979, started as a busboy and ended up going to their managment school in Lake Tahoe. Great times. Worked for them in Denver,Salt Lake City,Columbus and Seattle. The reason the employees were so happy is because we smoked pot all the time. Regional managers on down to the the dishwasher. Fun times and beautiful cocktail waitresses especially in Denver.
I just ate at Victoria Station not long ago in Salem, Ma. They still have good prime rib!
I AM SORRY THAT YOUR CHAIN HAS GONE OUT OF BUSINESS. I GUESST THAT WAS PART OF THE ECONOMY DROP. PLEASE GET BACK TO ME IF ANY OF YOUR RESTAURANTS ARE STILL IN BUSINESS IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. THANK-YOU.