Aunt Tillie's Deli & Pub — Restaurant in Portland

I had Aunt Tillie’s Special Sandwich and it was a mouthful of amazing. It was savory and crunchy and chewy, with layers of texture and flavor, complex and yet still exactly what it was supposed to be, a sandwich. A simple stuff in yo face, middle of the day, get er done, satisfying sandwich. It was a work of art. A piece of sandwich architecture, obviously created through years of study and mysterious and arcane training.

I heard whispers of Aunt Tillie’s on the Portland streets while Yard Sailing from people who were obviously “In The Know”, people who had travelled, people with that look in their eyes. Smart people. It was the end of the day and I was hungry and all these totally nice, totally smart people told me the same thing, go to Aunt Tillie’s.

I loved the decor, the matching ragtime music in the background, the mixed crowd from young tattooed to even older than me (which is pretty honkin old). I loved the Portland history on the walls, but of course what I loved most was the sandwich which I tore into like a bulldog tearing into a favorite chew toy. The parmesan cheese was a great addition, the whole thing rolling into a perfect complex bundle to finish off my day.

This is the kind of sandwich you take with you on an adventure! It’s perfect! You can wrap it up and stick it in your backpack and then pull it out on the way to conquer demons, or capture dragons, or climb mountains, or create masterpieces… it’s the kind of sandwich you can take to a friend you haven’t seen in a long time and you suddenly show up, with a bottle of good wine and an excellent sandwich. It’s the kind of sandwich the builds bridges.

For me it’s a place to go at the end of a long day of yard sailing with a truck full of treasures and a heart full of fun people and great conversations. When I am tired and hungry and ready for a little perfection. Can’t wait to try the rest of...

My experience with this place was not good unfortunately due to the three young Teens that were there working. I am an Uber driver and had an order to fulfill by a certain time. Just one simple sandwich. The time I arrived, the order was supposed to already be fulfilled, but the girls said they couldn’t find the order and then admitted that they actually didn’t see the ticket for the order. I told them that was OK and I would wait. They were chitchatting the entire time and talking away. They were not working they were Just standing around talking. I waited over 20 minutes for them to make the sandwich and then I stood up and asked how much longer until the sandwich was ready. This place was not busy. No one else was waiting on an order only me. When I asked how much longer one of the young girls said oh sorry I forgot it was already ready. I just have to bag it up completely rude. I would never come here! I see this place has been around since the 80s they need to think about hiring some better employees that actually care about...

The food is fantastic here! We had the daily special which was a turkey sandwich on toasted bread with bacon and cheese. The girl working though had the worst service I have ever had. Younger girl wearing a blue shirt, baggy pants and had blonde hair. I could barely hear her talking, she didn’t even tell us we could get the fountain drinks ourselves until we got our food. And she didn’t know the prices on some items like soup. Seemed like she hated her job. Which sucks because this was our first time here and we didn’t know what the procedure was on getting drinks and weren’t familiar with prices. We will most likely be back but hopefully have someone with a better attitude/ customer...