Victoria's Station.

Author	Message

syrup

Total Posts: 164
Joined: 4/7/2004
Location: pontiac, MI

Victoria's Station. Mon, 01/8/07 2:26 PM (permalink)

Does anyone in the Detroit area remember a restaraunt called Victoria's Station? Located in Southfield on Northwestern near Franklin, the place. was made to look like it was in a couple of train cars. It was gone by the early 80's replace by the Sunrise Cafe, (which I believe is also gone.)

Also, does anyone remember a couple of places that were up the road: Carlos Murphy's ,(which might have been a chain) and The Trio,(a building that held three restraunts.)

#1

Michael Hoffman Total Posts: 14192 Joined: 7/1/2000 Location: Gahanna, OH	RE: Victoria's Station. Mon, 01/8/07 2:42 PM (permalink) I believe it was Victoria Station. It was a national chain.
	#2

mayor al Total Posts: 13820 Joined: 8/20/2002 Location: Louisville area, Southern Indiana Roadfood Insider	RE: Victoria's Station. Mon, 01/8/07 3:15 PM (permalink) You're correct Michael. Victoria Station was a favorite of mine in the early 80's. They served a great 'King-Cut Prime Rib'! There is a thread or two on the site that has a lot of discussion of the VS chain. Try hittling the Search button for more information.
	#3

TwoJays Total Posts: 200 Joined: 8/5/2006 Location: Norwood, MA	RE: Victoria's Station. Sat, 01/13/07 11:03 AM (permalink) And for anybody who ever visited the Victoria Station in Burlington, MA (across the street from the Burlington Mall), it is now closed and a new "Border Cafe" is about to open there. Not "On the Border", but the "Border Cafe", with locations in Harvard Square and on Rte. 1 in Saugus. John
	#4

Rick F.

Total Posts: 1736
Joined: 8/16/2002
Location: Natchitoches, LA
Roadfood Insider

RE: Victoria's Station. Sat, 01/13/07 12:46 PM (permalink)

quote:
Originally posted by TwoJays

And for anybody who ever visited the Victoria Station in Burlington, MA (across the street from the Burlington Mall), it is now closed and a new "Border Cafe" is about to open there.

Not "On the Border", but the "Border Cafe", with locations in Harvard Square and on Rte. 1 in Saugus.

John

And "South of the Border," a decent restaurant in Louisiana just barely south of the Mississippi state line on US 61. You can get many things in Louisiana that you can't get elsewhere. . . . One of the least damaging to your system is or was (at least formerly) a drink. I suspect that's the reason for the name of the joint!

#5

Scarlett Total Posts: 402 Joined: 9/20/2003 Location: Albemarle, NC	RE: Victoria's Station. Sat, 01/13/07 12:57 PM (permalink) I fondly remember one that was located near the intersection of Albemarle Rd. and Independene Blvd. in Charlotte, NC. One of my favorite places to go back then. I believe there may be a mini-storage business in that area now.
	#6

roossy90

Total Posts: 6694
Joined: 8/15/2005
Location: columbus, oh

RE: Victoria's Station. Sat, 01/13/07 7:12 PM (permalink)

quote:
Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen

You're correct Michael. Victoria Station was a favorite of mine in the early 80's. They served a great 'King-Cut Prime Rib'!
There is a thread or two on the site that has a lot of discussion of the VS chain. Try hittling the Search button for more information.

They had a great french onion soup, and their bread was to die for.

-------------------------------------------------------

Brain Fart here!
Ahhh Shoot..
I am thinking of 94th Aero Squadron by Miami Intl Airport.
That is who had the good soup and bread.
The Victoria Station was in Dadeland Mall....But I remember them being very good also.

#7

Sandy Thruthegarden

Total Posts: 624
Joined: 8/16/2005
Location: Elsmere, KY

RE: Victoria's Station. Sat, 01/13/07 10:59 PM (permalink)

Victoria Station, with it's "dining car" theme, was very popular in the '70s. They had a great salad bar, exceptional ribs, and good prime rib. BillC and I used to go to the one on West 8th St. in Cincinnati. I also used to dine at the one on Dutchman's Lane in Louisville when I lived there. I thought it was quite good for a chain restaraunt, although I wonder if I'd still like the sauce on the ribs. I'm no longer fond of sweet BBQ sauce, preferring vinegary North Carolina sauce now.

#8

Sonny Funzio

Total Posts: 865
Joined: 2/13/2006
Location: Detroit, MI

RE: Victoria's Station. Tue, 01/16/07 8:51 PM (permalink)

I sure do remember Victoria station ... replaced by the restaurant Chianti's ... now a restaurant called “Kabobgy’s” is on that spot.

I remember the Trio also, and of course Carlos Murphy’s ... spent so much time there they nearly sold me with the building.

Later spent a lot of time at other local spots: Ristorante di Modesta, Manuels (on Orchard Lake rd.) and particularly at Excalibur amongst others (my absolute fav place ... an awful loss when Excalibur closed).

And by the way ... the location that was Excalibur ... which became Caffe Milano (part of “Il Posto Ristorante”) re-opened yesterday as “Pi Restaurant” ... and the manager there is John Golimatis who was the manager of Excalibur.

So the restaurants in the Il Posto group are now ...
Il Posto Ristorante
Pi Banquet Hall (previously Il Posto Ballroom)
and Pi Restaurant (previously Caffe Milano)

I’m really lookin forward to stopping in to see what they’ve done with the place ... very high expectations.

#9

Twinwillow Total Posts: 3902 Joined: 4/15/2006 Location: Big "D" Roadfood Insider	RE: Victoria's Station. Wed, 01/17/07 2:56 PM (permalink) Damn! Yeah, I remember Victoria Station too. We had one in Dallas at the corner of Routh and Cedar Springs back in the 70's. I LOVED the BBQed rib bones the best. That was a great restaurant chain. Someone should bring them back. I think they were before their time.
	#10

Pat T Hat

Total Posts: 968
Joined: 5/2/2006
Location: Butler, KY

RE: Victoria's Station. Wed, 01/17/07 3:16 PM (permalink)

Cincinnati had one near downtown in the 70's to maybe the early 80's. When it closed the train cars/cabooses sat for years. I think someone boosted the old London style phone booth they had out front.
I remember they had an all you can eat sparerib night that was great! They also had one of the first salad bars in the city(the Playboy Club had the first I think).

#11

EdSails Total Posts: 2313 Joined: 5/9/2003 Location: Downey, CA	RE: Victoria's Station. Wed, 01/17/07 3:33 PM (permalink) Many years before the Universal city Walk at Universal Studios in CA, Victoria Station was the only restaurant to go to up on "the hill". I often enjoyed it and also remember fondly the Prime Rib. I wish they were still around!
	#12

Oneiron339 Total Posts: 2075 Joined: 2/13/2002 Location: Marietta, GA	RE: Victoria's Station. Wed, 01/17/07 4:40 PM (permalink) There were several in and around ATL. I rmember the rail cars and the prime ribs aging in the coolers within sight. They also had great Bloody Marys. But that was back when beef was really "Prime."
	#13

syrup

Total Posts: 164
Joined: 4/7/2004
Location: pontiac, MI

RE: Victoria's Station. Thu, 01/18/07 12:29 PM (permalink)

quote:
Originally posted by Sonny Funzio

I sure do remember Victoria station ... replaced by the restaurant Chianti's ... now a restaurant called “Kabobgy’s” is on that spot.

I remember the Trio also, and of course Carlos Murphy’s ... spent so much time there they nearly sold me with the building.

Later spent a lot of time at other local spots: Ristorante di Modesta, Manuels (on Orchard Lake rd.) and particularly at Excalibur amongst others (my absolute fav place ... an awful loss when
Excalibur closed).

The 12 Mile and Northwestern Corridor in Southfield was home to a lot of good restaurants that closed. Among them:

Hungry Jones (vegetarian)
Tunnel BBQ
Irving's Deli, (closer to Inkster in the Applegate shoping Mall)
Oscar's (not a restaraunt but some kind of Disco. My friend had his Bar Mitzvah party there.)

And by the way ... the location that was Excalibur ... which became Caffe Milano (part of “Il Posto Ristorante”) re-opened yesterday as “Pi Restaurant” ... and the manager there is John Golimatis who was the manager of Excalibur.

So the restaurants in the Il Posto group are now ...
Il Posto Ristorante
Pi Banquet Hall (previously Il Posto Ballroom)
and Pi Restaurant (previously Caffe Milano)

I’m really lookin forward to stopping in to see what they’ve done with the place ... very high expectations.

#14

TJ Jackson Total Posts: 4004 Joined: 7/26/2003 Location: Cincinnati, OH	RE: Victoria's Station. Thu, 01/18/07 1:54 PM (permalink) We had two here in Cincinnati There is a recently-published book all about what they were and what happened, check it out at: http://www.vicsta.com/index.html
	#15

roossy90

Total Posts: 6694
Joined: 8/15/2005
Location: columbus, oh

RE: Victoria's Station. Thu, 01/18/07 2:06 PM (permalink)

quote:
Originally posted by roossy90

quote:
Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen

You're correct Michael. Victoria Station was a favorite of mine in the early 80's. They served a great 'King-Cut Prime Rib'!
There is a thread or two on the site that has a lot of discussion of the VS chain. Try hittling the Search button for more information.

They had a great french onion soup, and their bread was to die for.

-------------------------------------------------------
Duh!
Brain Fart here!
Ahhh Shoot..
I am thinking of 94th Aero Squadron by Miami Intl Airport.
That is who had the good soup and bread.
The Victoria Station was in Dadeland Mall....But I remember them being very good also.

#16

mayor al

Total Posts: 13820
Joined: 8/20/2002
Location: Louisville area, Southern Indiana
Roadfood Insider

RE: Victoria's Station. Thu, 01/18/07 2:24 PM (permalink)

We enjoyed the one that Sandy referred to in Louisville many times, but the real treat was the one we visited a couple of times while in L A for the 84 Olympics. It was near the corner of PCH and Hawthorne Blvd (about a block north of PCH on Hawthorne). I think it fell into the Torrance City Limits. We were using twofer coupons that covered everything but "spirits" so Appetizers (Oysters Rockefeller) The King Cut Prime Rib, and I can't remember the dessert of choice, but it was really good. We ate their twice in that 10 day visit. For a chain, they knew how to take good care of their customers and served very good food.

#17

Sonny Funzio

Total Posts: 865
Joined: 2/13/2006
Location: Detroit, MI

RE: Victoria's Station. Thu, 01/18/07 4:45 PM (permalink)

quote:
Originally posted by syrup

quote:
Originally posted by Sonny Funzio

I sure do remember Victoria station ... replaced by the restaurant Chianti's ... now a restaurant called “Kabobgy’s” is on that spot.

I remember the Trio also, and of course Carlos Murphy’s ... spent so much time there they nearly sold me with the building.

Later spent a lot of time at other local spots: Ristorante di Modesta, Manuels (on Orchard Lake rd.) and particularly at Excalibur amongst others (my absolute fav place ... an awful loss when
Excalibur closed).

And by the way ... the location that was Excalibur ... which became Caffe Milano (part of “Il Posto Ristorante”) re-opened yesterday as “Pi Restaurant” ... and the manager there is John Golimatis who was the manager of Excalibur.

So the restaurants in the Il Posto group are now ...
Il Posto Ristorante
Pi Banquet Hall (previously Il Posto Ballroom)
and Pi Restaurant (previously Caffe Milano)

I’m really lookin forward to stopping in to see what they’ve done with the place ... very high expectations

The 12 Mile and Northwestern Corridor in Southfield was home to a lot of good restaurants that closed. Among them:

Hungry Jones (vegetarian)
Tunnel BBQ
Irving's Deli, (closer to Inkster in the Applegate shoping Mall)
Oscar's (not a restaraunt but some kind of Disco. My friend had his Bar Mitzvah party there.)

Hungry Jones would be "Healthy Jones" :-) ... the only restaurant that I ever worked as a server at (part time for all of 3 months in the late 1970's while I was cooking elsewhere). This was before it moved into the large stand-alone building that is now Seros Greek restaurant.
When I worked there it was a little 30 seat place in the strip mall (near where Tobacco Road was) that had a clientele almost exclusively of people who came there dressed in homespun, embroidered cotton cloaks to order things like Brown Rice with Millet and Sea kelp with a tall Red Zinger tea and such. Many of the men had long beards and looked like something between Ram Das and Charlton Heston as Moses in the 10 commandments. There, I concluded being a server would never be for me.

Tunnel BBQ was the sister ship to the famous Tunnel BBQ in Windsor, Ontario.
Irvings Deli was one of my favorite Deli’s .... BEFORE that is, they moved into that strip mall. They used to be near the intersection of 11mile and Greenfield rd. and had some of the best sandwiches and potato latkes anywhere. I really liked that when you would go in, they’d put a bowl of pickles, both new and old, on the table for you to nosh on while you waited. They changed so much when they moved to the strip mall and jacked up their prices ... I knew it would only be a matter of time.

Syrup, I must say, I don’t remember Oscars though the name sounds familiar ... where was that and roughly what year?

#18

Greymo Total Posts: 3391 Joined: 11/30/2005 Location: Marriottsville, MD and Ponce Inlet, Fl	RE: Victoria's Station. Thu, 01/18/07 5:52 PM (permalink) Up until about 7 years ago, we used to go to Victoria Station by the Miami Airport. I never had any idea that it was a chain. The food and service were terrific. We enjoyed some wonderful meals there. Why is it that the "crap" chains hang on forever and the good ones go?
	#19

Sandy Thruthegarden Total Posts: 624 Joined: 8/16/2005 Location: Elsmere, KY	RE: Victoria's Station. Thu, 01/18/07 6:54 PM (permalink) quote: Originally posted by TJ Jackson We had two here in Cincinnati There is a recently-published book all about what they were and what happened, check it out at: http://www.vicsta.com/index.html TJ - I remembered the one on West 8th. Where was the other one in Cincinnati?
	#20

TJ Jackson Total Posts: 4004 Joined: 7/26/2003 Location: Cincinnati, OH	RE: Victoria's Station. Fri, 01/19/07 8:41 AM (permalink) Sharonville, on the Chester road strip that has claimed the lives of so many other restaurants
	#21

syrup

Total Posts: 164
Joined: 4/7/2004
Location: pontiac, MI

RE: Victoria's Station. Fri, 01/19/07 10:36 AM (permalink)

quote:
Originally posted by Sonny Funzio

quote:
Originally posted by syrup

quote:
Originally posted by Sonny Funzio

I sure do remember Victoria station ... replaced by the restaurant Chianti's ... now a restaurant called “Kabobgy’s” is on that spot.

I remember the Trio also, and of course Carlos Murphy’s ... spent so much time there they nearly sold me with the building.

Later spent a lot of time at other local spots: Ristorante di Modesta, Manuels (on Orchard Lake rd.) and particularly at Excalibur amongst others (my absolute fav place ... an awful loss when
Excalibur closed).

And by the way ... the location that was Excalibur ... which became Caffe Milano (part of “Il Posto Ristorante”) re-opened yesterday as “Pi Restaurant” ... and the manager there is John Golimatis who was the manager of Excalibur.

So the restaurants in the Il Posto group are now ...
Il Posto Ristorante
Pi Banquet Hall (previously Il Posto Ballroom)
and Pi Restaurant (previously Caffe Milano)

I’m really lookin forward to stopping in to see what they’ve done with the place ... very high expectations

The 12 Mile and Northwestern Corridor in Southfield was home to a lot of good restaurants that closed. Among them:

Hungry Jones (vegetarian)
Tunnel BBQ
Irving's Deli, (closer to Inkster in the Applegate shoping Mall)
Oscar's (not a restaraunt but some kind of Disco. My friend had his Bar Mitzvah party there.)

Hungry Jones would be "Healthy Jones" :-) ... the only restaurant that I ever worked as a server at (part time for all of 3 months in the late 1970's while I was cooking elsewhere). This was before it moved into the large stand-alone building that is now Seros Greek restaurant.
When I worked there it was a little 30 seat place in the strip mall (near where Tobacco Road was) that had a clientele almost exclusively of people who came there dressed in homespun, embroidered cotton cloaks to order things like Brown Rice with Millet and Sea kelp with a tall Red Zinger tea and such. Many of the men had long beards and looked like something between Ram Das and Charlton Heston as Moses in the 10 commandments. There, I concluded being a server would never be for me.

Tunnel BBQ was the sister ship to the famous Tunnel BBQ in Windsor, Ontario.
Irvings Deli was one of my favorite Deli’s .... BEFORE that is, they moved into that strip mall. They used to be near the intersection of 11mile and Greenfield rd. and had some of the best sandwiches and potato latkes anywhere. I really liked that when you would go in, they’d put a bowl of pickles, both new and old, on the table for you to nosh on while you waited. They changed so much when they moved to the strip mall and jacked up their prices ... I knew it would only be a matter of time.

Syrup, I must say, I don’t remember Oscars though the name sounds familiar ... where was that and roughly what year?

Oscar's was next to Excallibur's near the corner of Franklin and Northwestern. I remember it being around in May of 1981, a couple of years after the Disco craze had ended. In the same area there was a place called Custard's Last Stand. Me and my mom went there right before I went into the hospital.

#22

syrup Total Posts: 164 Joined: 4/7/2004 Location: pontiac, MI	RE: Victoria's Station. Fri, 01/19/07 3:17 PM (permalink) The brown rice and millet crowd sound like people who frequent the Ohm Cafe in Ferndale, (Woodward north of Nine Mile.)
	#23

ces1948 Total Posts: 1131 Joined: 8/6/2003 Location: Port St Lucie, Fl	RE: Victoria's Station. Fri, 01/19/07 3:19 PM (permalink) I had completely forgotten Victoria Station. Had some good meals there.
	#24

bem Total Posts: 2 Joined: 1/19/2007 Location: Mesa, AZ	RE: Victoria's Station. Fri, 01/19/07 3:27 PM (permalink) and I remember a V Station in Milwaukee, WI - on Hwy 100. It was very popular place for dinner and cocktail hour. Too bad - most of the "good" ones gone.
	#25

agnesrob Total Posts: 1063 Joined: 6/4/2006 Location: Park Ridge, NJ	RE: Victoria's Station. Sun, 01/21/07 8:10 AM (permalink) There's still a Victoria's Station in Salem, Ma.
	#26

Sonny Funzio

Total Posts: 865
Joined: 2/13/2006
Location: Detroit, MI

RE: Victoria's Station. Sun, 01/21/07 2:40 PM (permalink)

quote:
Originally posted by syrup

The brown rice and millet crowd sound like people who frequent the Ohm Cafe in Ferndale, (Woodward north of Nine Mile.)

Yup, as long as they don't mind the service.
I tried the Om twice and got such incredible slow, flippant service I never went back. That was 20 years ago ... it amazes me they're still in business, but it is, I believe, the only true Vegan restaurant in the Detroit area.
I thought to myself - regardless of how good the carrot tops and puffed wheat gluten is, they really oughta put down the hookah and come out of the back and take the orders once in a while.

The millet and sea kelp crowd also used to hang out at a bookstore called "EyeBrowse" on Northwestern Hwy in West Bloomfield ... probably the *very* first bookstore in the metro area to have a coffee bar/cafe in it ... circa around 1977'ish.

#27

chriscubva

Total Posts: 118
Joined: 11/9/2006
Location: Martinsburg, WV

RE: Victoria's Station. Mon, 01/22/07 3:14 AM (permalink)

Never been there myself but I used to have a book about famous rock & roll landmarks. According to the book whenever the infamous Sex Pistols came to America one of their favorite restaurants was...Victoria's Station.

I wonder if this was the place where Sid Vicious, to prove how "tough" he was decided to cut his own hand. So bad that it bleed on another customer's steak? Sorry, thats gross !!

#28

syrup Total Posts: 164 Joined: 4/7/2004 Location: pontiac, MI	RE: Victoria's Station. Mon, 01/22/07 1:23 PM (permalink) I think the Sex Pistols made only one trip to America before breaking up in 1978. However, the reunited band came back sometime in the nineties.
	#29

southjerseymichigan

Total Posts: 27
Joined: 7/30/2009
Location: plymouth, MI

RE: Victoria's Station. Thu, 08/20/09 6:34 PM (permalink)

There used to be on N.W. 36th, the road the skirts the northern boundary of the Miami airport. Believe I ate there 1988. During a recent visit, perhaps Feb. 2009, noted that it was being converted to a Puerto Rican restaurant. Train cars were still there. Also, there was an interesting article in Business Week or Forbes in 1976 or so when the chain was launched about the 3 college friends and their strategy for Victoria's Station

#30

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