{"id":41858,"date":"2026-10-03T17:07:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T17:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/41858\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T17:07:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T17:07:22","slug":"steves-steak-house-in-newport-news-is-closed-after-50-years-daily-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/41858\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve\u2019s Steak House in Newport News is closed after 50 years \u2013 Daily Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 50 years, Steve\u2019s Steak House has closed its doors at 11847 Jefferson Ave.<\/p>\n

The restaurant was a Newport News institution, founded in 1970 by Steve Siokis, and carried on since 1991 by the Lolos family \u2014 one of the last bulwarks of a long tradition of Greek-owned steakhouses in Hampton Roads, a humble and low-cost home to grill-seared beef and spaghetti and seafood platters.<\/p>\n

Owner Marcella Lolos shared the news of its closing on social media Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter much thoughtful consideration, it is with a heavy heart that we are formally announcing the permanent closing of Steve\u2019s Steakhouse effective Sunday, June 14, 2020. The restaurant is currently for sale,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hold close to our hearts the love and support you have shown our family for the past 29 years. We will always treasure the friendships and memories made in this restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision, she told The Pilot, was sudden \u2014 a combination of worries about the future during the pandemic, the needs of her family, and the difficult time the restaurant had in getting employees to come back to work.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, she said, multiple employees didn\u2019t show up for their shifts \u2014 a situation she attributes in part to the $600 federal unemployment supplement in effect through July.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019d rather stay home on unemployment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Business was good since she reopened her dining room, she said, even with capacity restrictions. But she just didn\u2019t know how to keep the restaurant open without the people to run it.<\/p>\n

And what\u2019s more, she didn\u2019t know if she wanted to.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went into the kitchen, and I told my husband \u2018I\u2019m done,’\u201d she said. \u201cI love my customers, I love the restaurant; it\u2019s my father\u2019s legacy. It was my employees\u2019 livelihood. But I have three grandchildren, one is 1 month old. It\u2019s time. We said, \u2018Enough.\u2019 And we locked the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her voice broke, again and again, as she talked about her decision to close.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sat in the parking lot, and customers were coming in, because they didn\u2019t know we were closed. I just sat and cried. They asked me to rent it, they said they could find me a staff,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But she\u2019d already made her decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked in the restaurant after those people pulled in, and the phone didn\u2019t stop ringing. People said \u2018Please don\u2019t do this.\u2019 They said how much they\u2019ll miss us. My phone is constantly ringing. It breaks my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

The restaurant has a long legacy in Newport News. Siokis, its late founder, was a serial entrepreneur who founded a host of restaurants across the Peninsula since arriving here from Greece in 1956 \u2014 most recently Steve and John\u2019s Steakhouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe used to say that if you have to advertise to bring people in, you\u2019re in trouble,\u201d said his daughter Vicki Siokis in a Daily Press article in May 1998, after her father\u2019s death. \u201cHe enjoyed a successful business that was due to word of mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA framed portrait of former owners Artie and Toni Lolos, which once hung at Newport News restaurant Steve\u2019s Steak House. Their daughter, Marcella, closed the restaurant after 50 years in business on June 14, 2020.<\/p>\n

Artie and Toni Lolos bought Steve\u2019s Steak House from Siokis in 1991, after moving to Virginia from farther up the East Coast. Artie Lolos had come to the Bronx from Greece in 1958, hoping to make money and then return home. But in New York he met his future wife, Toni, and they worked until they were able to start their own businesses: a diner in New York, gas stations in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

The Lolos family moved to Newport News to be with family, and bought Steve\u2019s Steak House from Siokis.<\/p>\n

At Steve\u2019s, the Lolos were known for their charity, with a \u201chomeless fund\u201d next to the register and massive free Thanksgiving dinners for everyone without a family to go to.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, 520 dinners were served to forgotten grandmothers, lonely widowers, homeless substance abusers, welfare mothers with tiny children, and dozens of others who, for whatever reason, needed a family and a hot meal,\u201d wrote the Daily Press in November 1999.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have bad memories, and I don\u2019t want anyone to live the life I used to live,\u201d said Artie Lolos at the time.<\/p>\n

\"ToniToni (left) and daughter Marcella Lolos posing together. On June 14, 2020, Marcella Lolos had to make the difficult decision to close her family\u2019s restaurant, Steve\u2019s Steak House in Newport News.<\/p>\n

In the decade since her father passed, Marcella took on the legacy of Steve\u2019s Steak House. She\u2019d been working there since her parents bought the place.<\/p>\n

Even after dipping into her own accounts to keep the restaurant solvent during the pandemic, Lolos said she doesn\u2019t know if it makes sense anymore to keep the steakhouse going \u2014 especially since there\u2019s no guarantee coronavirus cases won\u2019t rise again.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know when you\u2019ve reached your end,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s been good, there are long memories. It comes with the territory. But it was time. It\u2019s not about a landmark or my dad\u2019s legacy anymore. I keep it open and then what? Wait till October for the governor to say \u2018shut it down again?’\u201d<\/p>\n

Lolos said she isn\u2019t worried about her financial future. She\u2019s had many offers on the business and property, and up until now she\u2019s turned them down.<\/p>\n

Now, she said, it\u2019s time to leave the restaurant and take on a new title: Yia-yia. Grandma.<\/p>\n

\u201cRunning this place took a toll on my parents\u2019 health. I swore I would never do this, but I prayed about it. I had signs from my dad and my mom, and I knew,\u201d Lolos said. \u201cMy grandson is waiting for me. My granddaughter is waiting for me. They\u2019re my air and my oxygen. My parents, they had it all but they couldn\u2019t enjoy it working 17-hour days in the restaurant. I\u2019ll never get those moments back.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she knows she\u2019ll miss her customers and longtime employees. And it already feels bittersweet every time she drives by the Steve\u2019s Steak House sign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate my customers,\u201d she said. \u201cMy employees, my devoted employees who cared. And my genuine, genuine customers who were always here for us and became family. It\u2019s one big family. It\u2019ll be hard, but at the same time\u2026 It sounds crazy, but if I\u2019m in the restaurant I cry. But when I\u2019m out of the restaurant? I feel relieved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew Korfhage, 757-446-2318, matthew.korfhage@pilotonline.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After 50 years, Steve\u2019s Steak House has closed its doors at 11847 Jefferson Ave. The restaurant was a Newport News institution, founded in 1970 by Steve Siokis, and carried on since 1991 by the Lolos family \u2014 one of the last bulwarks of a long tradition of Greek-owned steakhouses in Hampton Roads, a humble and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[93,1545,3368,192,150,3175,3173,3171,3174,3172],"class_list":["post-41858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-virginia","tag-business","tag-consumer","tag-newport-news","tag-news","tag-things-to-do","tag-virginia","tag-virginia-dining","tag-virginia-food","tag-virginia-grocery-stores","tag-virginia-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117378078761740764","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}