The Hilltop Steakhouse, Saugus MA
Seating around 1500 people they serve 3,000,000 customers per year. That's 6 turns of every seat in the house every day, all year long. I think that's pretty good, since they're really just a dinner house with a small lunch trade (except on the weekends when lunches were big too). In the trade magazines for many years Hilltop was listed right with some of the best known chains in terms of dollar volume. I doubt they hold that lofty position any more but man, do they serve a whole lotta people! They are arranged in four or five separate rooms with names like "Dodge City", "Kansas City", and "Sioux City". The parking lot is huge! Drop off any weak-from-hunger people before looking for a spot! The almost-but-not-quite-outside waiting area is a large porch that stretches the entire length of the building, then wraps around and goes halfway down the side, and on busy nights the space is needed. When you arrive, check in and you'll be given a number. In short order you'll hear the announcer calling: "73, 28, 142, 87, 94, 109 Kansas City, 73, 28, 142, 87, 94, 109 Kansas City." Ya gotta pay attention! The Hilltop Steakhouse was opened by Frank Giuffrida in the 60's and had a couple of "attractions" to bring in the traffic. The first one you'd notice is the 60 foot "Saguaro" cactus outside. In Massachusetts. Did I mention that it lights up? It was hard to miss:  Here it is from their own parking lot.  Of course the restaurant was on the southbound side of busy Route 1 so we had to go past and make a U-turn at the next exit. Dad would drop Mom at the door and she'd scurry in to get a number; we have to save those 5 minutes you know, we're starving now! The next attraction was the herd of fiberglass cows out front on the little strip of lawn between the porch and the highway. They also have (had?) a very competitively priced butcher shop. The following represents how it used to be, things have changed over the years, but here's how I fondly remember The Hilltop. As a youngster in the early 70's, my parents would take me to The Hilltop. It was quite an adventure, hopping into our '71 Ford LTD or our '73 Mercury Montego GT (a very rare car! I wish I had it now!) for the trip to The Hilltop. We lived south of Boston, and Saugus is north of Boston, so it was a good 40 minute drive at least; that was a very long trip for us. First one to see the cactus got an extra french fry! Everything was BIG about this place. Every dinner came with a salad. The salads were ENORMOUS, they had to be 12 inch bowls, and icy icy cold as they prepared them in a refrigerated space and kept them in a refrigerator prior to serving. They put down a basket of rolls still warm (this was before microwaves were a big thing) and a stick or two of butter. Yes, full-size quarter pound sticks of butter. If you were a larger party (say 4 or 6) you got two sticks. Then you got the menu, which was very limited. Maybe 5 different steaks, the attraction for me was the LARGE filet mignon for (If I recall) $5.95. You could get a medium for a buck less. The meals came with 2 sides from a small selection of fries, baked, corn (or medley), butternut squash. They also had lobster pie (with the meat of a complete lobster in each) baked schrod and a couple of others that have slipped my mind. For us, there was never room for dessert. In recent years the place was acquired by an investor from Colorado they have decreased the size of the salad to a normal 8 inch salad bowl, limited what was in the salad (strictly 2 olives per bowl, exactly 2 cucumber slices, etc., etc) and greatly expanded the menu and tried to take on a new style as well. I can't find any images of the old style menu, but it kinda sorta looked like this (This is their current butcher shop menu):  While the new menu looks kinda like this:  Frank Giuffrida passed away in 2003. He was 86. |
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| Monfort salad, now there's an oxymoron. Monfort was (and maybe still is) a huge meat packing company in Greeley Colorado. Maybe the mysterious Colorado investor? Monforts were also active in state politics.
Been years since I've lived up there, so don't know what the family is doing these days. Love the prices of old. |
| Thsoe are their current butcher shop prices; I couldn't find a pic of their original menu, but it kinda looked like this, very bare bones and probably had fewer options than the current butcher shop "menu". |
| Ribeye for $3.99 a pound? 3 oranges for a $1 I'd be in heaven.
sheepieboss |
I think my husband and I are the only ones that don't like steak.  |
| It's a good thing you found one another!
I had one major criteria in finding a husband, he had to like lamb. My DH had never had it before he met me. Obviously the test was a success |
 That's the craziest thing I've ever heard. I use ground lamb in this awesome gyro recipe! Yummy. |
| Another crazy thing, he grew up hating all steaks and most meats because his mother cooked them to death. Not until he got a summer job in a kitchen in Yellowstone Park did he have a rare steak. From then on he's been a meat eater, LOL.
His mother was a good baker, which made up for the meats, I guess. sheepieboss |
| I too always feel like I'm just chewing and am not impressed with the flavor. I've been to very popular steakhouses (across the us) too. I've never had a rare steak...maybe that's what I need to change my mind. |
Joahaeyo wrote: I think my husband and I are the only ones that don't like steak.
It's not my favorite meat! I'm actually not a big meat fan, I prefer veggies. I can't afford not to eat it though since my parents usually get a whole cow, hog, and several deer processed every year. They split up all the meat between them, us, and my brother. We get a freezer full year round for nothing... The only thing I have to buy is chicken, turkey, seafood, and fish when my husband isn't around - it's not even allowed in the house when he is home, lol He HATES fish and can't stand the smell. I love it. |
| Too bad Gail.
Once again someone who hasn't experienced fresh fish cooked properly. Fresh fish doesn't smell. If you smell fish, it's old. Let's hope he doesn't develop health problems and have to give up red meat. Many people are on the swim/fly diet. They can only eat meats that swim or fly. |
| Can someone tell me the best way to cook a corned beef brisket?
I've got the cooked cabbage under control.  |
| ACtually, I can understand the not liking the smell of cooked fish. I only buy super fresh fish that doesn't smeel before I cook it, but obviously as you cook it, it gives off a scent, and I can see how someone can not like that...
And I only like certain types of fish, I don't like the 'delicate' fish...the texture and flavors are just off for me... I don't eat red meat, so I guess that would put me on the swim/fly list! |
| Go to Los Angeles Public Library for old menu. |
| Thank you guest!
I had to click on next record then previous record to see the links to the menu's image links, but once I did, the menu was in the fourth or fifth link. It is from their promo piece so the prices are obliterated, but that's how it looked. Yum! |
| Hi Ron,
Funny that this old post should pop up again now. I was in Saugus last Wed/Thurs for a trade show and had dinner at the Hilltop. I was staying at the Holiday Inn Express right down the road and it was convenient. The portions were more than ample and the price was certainly right! It was not gourmet dinning by any means, but it was certainly acceptable. Kathie |
| Yeah, the time or two I've been there in recent years the food was adequate. But boy, it was a special occasion to go out for dinner when I was a kid and it was an EVENT to go to the Hilltop.
While the restaurant is still the same physically, they don't run all of the rooms, nor the upstairs bar and the whole experience is just a shell of its former glory. Sigh. |
| Hilltop menu circa 1978 here: http://www.mhodistributors.com/hilltop- ... ouse-b.jpg |
Guest wrote: Hilltop menu circa 1978 here: http://www.mhodistributors.com/hilltop- ... ouse-b.jpg Awesome, guest! Thank you! This was essentially a one page menu printed front and back. The front and back cover:  The inside pages:  |
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