Saugus landmark set to shut down; what's to become of the cactus, cows?

Hilltop was one of the first places I went to eat when I came to Boston to look for an apartment. My family and I were staying in a hotel in Peabody and using Rt 1 to get into the city. Back then, it was still good portions and great steak and the lines were long (but fast). I guess that was after the sale of Giuffrida's interest in the late 80's and it was after that new owner sold to High Country (an investment group run by the Colorado businessman providing the meat to the restaurant).

But then Giuffrida died in 2003 and High Country wanted to buy the land and building from the Giuffridas and not just control of the restaurant business portion, but Frank's family didn't like the terms of the agreement. That's when I think everything started to go downhill. That's when High Country started throwing its weight around against the Giuffridas until they agreed to sign. Once High Country had total control, they started reneging on the free meals that Frank had written into the sales/lease contract for his family. They started crapping out on the portion sizes and it's seemed like the quality of the meat they've been sending has also gone downhill. They wanted to generate more profit so they went with cheaper, fewer, lower quality ingredients and ruined the restaurant in the process.

Instead of shuttering the place, there's probably enough goodwill in the community to give the place another chance under a new owner willing to re-honor Frank's wishes for his family and restore the high quality, big steak type of restaurant that it was in the early 2000's and earlier. Either that or call Gordon Ramsey and get him to Kitchen Nightmare the place. I gotta imagine the videography of the cows, cactus, and multi-dining room seating system would play so well he'd put it in the upcoming season.

I'm told the Hilltop was a great restaurant in days gone past. However. a friend took me there a couple of years ago, and it was pretty bad; overpriced, bad service, and tasteless food.

The Prince (leaning tower of pizza) is still owned by the same family, I believe. Their weekday lunchtime pizza buffet is very good. If you ask the waitress at the counter, she'll request their particularly delicious jalapeño pizza for the buffet. This restaurant also has an unusual custom for tips; pay your gratuity via the "tipping tower of Pisa" as you leave.

For just hamburgers, it's hard to beat Fuddruckers, on the opposite side of the road; the garnish bar is like a free salad bar.

Kelly's is overpriced and very overrated, however the Revere Beach location is open until 3:00 am.

For seafood, no place beats the Anchor Bar in Beverly (on Route 1A, just over the bridge from Salem). The owners are fishermen; super fresh, very inexpensive, sit at the bar for a fun and friendly atmosphere.

There's still one of the Hilltop cows inside the Stata building at MIT. I don't know if they ultimately bought it, or the restaurant gave it to MIT (great publicity), but it's there in the permanent collection of "Hack" objects on display in the first floor corridor.

It was immediately off the highway at the first exit on 3 right after the split.

It is now the Tufankjian Toyota place off Union street exit Braintree . In the back of the mall or whatever it is, was the old Grossman's distribution area , complete with the old submarine nets from the Big One. It was a Valley's steak house before that. It was clean , good portions , reasonable price, a geyser lunchfest. The Hilltop bought their stuff huge,the Saugus location had a warehouse underneath it . Bought their meat direct too I believe. Now the stuff is all boxed and pre trimed, not much butchery going on any more , no Southampton street meat yard , aw the humanity of it , all gone.

As a college student in the 80s, coming from the west and having lived in ranching towns (yes - giant cadillacs with longhorns! For reals!), I used to enjoy seeing all the Western Cowboy and Squaredance Skirt cosplay by older ethnic folks. Totally spaghetti western! I don't think those people went to the Hilltop for a giant cheapo steak meal - it was a dress-up night with drinks and fun with their cosplay crowd.

It was more than a discount trough - and they very possibly could have made an effort to build it into an affordable family steakhouse that people would have flocked to for value compared to the upscale places - some renovations and a menu adjustment would have done it. They had the basics in place and a long-term customer base to work from, too.

If the quality were great. As I remember, the Giuffrida strategy involved detailed penny-pinching in order to deliver the best meat at a good price--like he figured that adding one sprig of curly parsley on each plate (yeah--remember when that was a thing?) that people would just discard would add x dollars a year, so he said "no parsley."

Either way, they are going away, though.

Just lock the doors, turn out the lights, and call it a career. Not ever biz has to go bankrupt before it goes out of biz.