Iconic steakhouse was once America’s ‘busiest restaurant’ until it closed after 52 years: Now the final trace of family empire is sold
The sprawling Massachusetts mansion built by the family behind America’s once-busiest restaurant has found a buyer, marking the end of another chapter for the dynasty that transformed a small Route 1 steakhouse into a New England institution.
For more than five decades, Hilltop Steak House in Lynnfield drew crowds from across the Northeast to its sprawling Saugus complex, where diners routinely waited hours for a table beneath a towering 64ft cactus sign and beside a herd of fiberglass cows.
At its peak, the restaurant seated roughly 1,500 people, employed more than 600 workers and generated tens of millions of dollars in annual sales.
A 1987 Boston Globe report cited estimates that Hilltop was the highest-grossing restaurant in the United States, bringing in $26.9 million annually from the eatery alone and roughly $45 million when its butcher shop was included.
Now, nearly 13 years after Hilltop served its final meal, the family’s longtime home, a flamboyant 1970s time capsule filled with chandeliers, custom wallpaper, hidden details and decades of memories, has been sold after being put on the market with The George Sarkis Group.
‘We were thrilled with the family that bought it,’ Santina ‘Tina’ Primavera, daughter of Hilltop founders Frank and Irene Giuffrida, told the Daily Mail. ‘They know the history and they really want to preserve it.’
The five-bedroom home was built in 1973 during Hilltop’s heyday, when Frank Giuffrida’s steakhouse empire was growing into what many considered a Route 1 landmark.
But Giuffrida’s rise was far from guaranteed.
Hilltop Steak House grew into one of America’s busiest restaurants, drawing crowds from across New England for steaks, lobster pie and giant portions
Customers stand around with drinks in hand from the outer bar while waiting for a table at the Hilltop Steakhouse in Saugus, Massachusetts, July 14, 1978
Irene Giuffrida’s ornate pink bathroom features Roman columns, mirrored walls and a chandelier above the bathtub
Born into a family of butchers, he left school at a young age after his father died and began cutting meat to help support his family.
After a brief stint in California, he returned to Massachusetts and purchased a small bar on Route 1.
He soon grew tired of the bar business and envisioned something larger.
After marrying Irene, the couple transformed the property into a restaurant, working side by side to build what would become one of the most successful independent steakhouses in America.
‘My mother never worked so hard in her life,’ Tina told the Daily Mail. ‘The two of them built what it was as a team.’
The concept was simple: generous portions, reasonable prices and a dining experience unlike anything else on Route 1.
Frank wanted the biggest sign on the highway and got it. The giant cactus became one of the most recognizable landmarks in Massachusetts.
Fiberglass cows grazed outside and dining rooms were named after Western cities inspired by his love of John Wayne films.
Left to Right: Gina Giuffrida, Irene Giuffrida, Frank Giuffrida and Tina Giuffrida Primavera
The home’s lavish bedrooms remained largely untouched for decades, turning the property into a 1970s time capsule
Elegant furnishings and pink accents showcased the decorating style that made Irene Giuffrida’s Lynnfield home a viral sensation decades later
Floor-to-ceiling drapes and custom furnishings helped make the home’s sunken living room one of its most striking spaces
Every room in the mansion featured its own distinctive palette, turning the property into a vibrant 1970s time capsule.
The home’s custom billiards room featured Tiffany-style pendant lights and was one of Frank Giuffrida’s favorite gathering spots
The home’s retro gym, complete with orange workout equipment and mirrored walls
Inside, the operation ran like what Tina described as ‘a perfect oiled machine.’
There was a dedicated salad room, a room where employees spent entire shifts wrapping baked potatoes in foil, multiple kitchens and a butcher shop designed like a giant walk-in refrigerator.
‘People would come back in droves,’ Tina recalled.
During the restaurant’s busiest years in the 1980s, customers regularly waited up to two hours for a table. Police officers were needed to help manage crowds and escort cashiers carrying large amounts of money from registers to counting rooms.
The upstairs bar alone became the highest-grossing bar in New England, despite serving no food.
Among Hilltop’s most famous menu items were its filet mignon, beef cutlets, lobster pie and the restaurant’s signature salad dressing a product the family now hopes to bring back decades after the restaurant’s closure.
The beginning of the end came when Frank sold the business while it was still thriving.
Believing the restaurant could expand further under new ownership, he sold Hilltop but retained ownership of the land. Tina said subsequent owners failed to maintain the standards that had made the restaurant famous.
Frank Giuffrida is pictured outside the Hilltop Steak House in 1978
The colorful man cave became one of the home’s most popular gathering spots, where Frank and his friends would play poker
The mansion featured three separate kitchens, including this retro space that remained largely unchanged for decades
One of three kitchens inside the mansion
By 2013, Hilltop had closed after 52 years in business.
Yet demand never disappeared.
On the restaurant’s final night, customers drove from across New England to eat there one last time, creating waits of up to three hours.
‘It just shows you that it didn’t have to close,’ Tina said.
While the restaurant is gone, its giant cactus sign still stands over Route 1, refurbished but unmistakably recognizable to generations of diners.
Just 15 minutes away sits the family’s Lynnfield home.
Built after Frank spotted the partially framed property while driving through town, the residence reflected the same larger-than-life personality that made Hilltop famous.
The home featured three kitchens, a heated driveway, a custom pool table bearing Frank’s initials, a three-story closet built for Irene and an enormous chandelier that family lore says Frank purchased after learning John Wayne was interested in buying it.
Hilltop Steakhouse waitress Charlene Lever holds a pair of Red Sox tickets that she received as a tip from a benevolent patron in 2006
Customers dine inside Hilltop Steak House during its heyday as the Route 1 landmark became one of the highest-grossing restaurants in America
A server carries plates through Hilltop Steak House, which once seated roughly 1,500 diners and employed more than 600 workers
The restaurant’s iconic fiberglass cows became nearly as famous as the food itself, greeting diners along Route 1 for decades
‘I really appreciate it now,’ Tina said.
After Irene’s death last year, granddaughter Caterina Primavera began posting videos of the house to TikTok.
The clips quickly attracted millions of views from people fascinated by its untouched 1970s décor.
‘It makes me feel so happy because I feel like I can tell their story again,’ Caterina told Daily Mail. ‘Their stories are still alive.’
The videos revealed details even family members had overlooked, including carved horoscope symbols on bar handles and a hallway carpet woven with Frank and Irene’s initials.
As the family prepared the property for sale, winter ice damage forced them to remove some of the home’s original wallpaper and drapery, though many of its distinctive features remain.
For Tina, selling the house is bittersweet.
The family spent one final holiday season there after Irene’s death, gathering for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and the Super Bowl before putting it on the market.
‘It was a happy home,’ she said.
