Ramona's — Restaurant in Portland

I waited a week before leaving my review so I would be as fair as possible and not hyperbolic. I will also say I appreciate any food business that has survived the challenges of Covid. That said, we drove an hour on a week day just for our Ramona's visit and were met with a young women at the window who told us we had to order online. There was no line...no offer to help. We asked if we could call in the order but were told we had to order online. The website clearly says you can call. It wasn't the easiest thing to do via our phone but we managed after going back a few times to ask for help. Again, no offer to just take our order at the window or suggest we just call it in. Twenty-five minutes later we got our text. We came back from Whole Foods to again try to find a place to park to be told they weren't quite ready. Six sandwiches and 4 side salads: $160. *Be aware, you'll pay $1 for mayo....really?! The food: Salads were very good. The Italian and the Gary Papa were good. The bread was the best part of the others and we tried them all. Very little tuna in the Melrose and roast pork was so disappointing...zero flavor. This was a 40 minute process from start to finish. By the time we got our food we were "hangry". We've all worked in the food industry and we hope you will succeed but it wasn't a...

I had what is possibly the best sandwich I have ever eaten in my life: the roast pork sandwich. The broccoli rabe in the sandwich is such a brilliant idea to give a kind of bitterness that contrasts beautifully with the sweeter pork. The sesame seed baguette was incredible--crusty and just right on the inside. The serving of pork is generous. This is simply a little gem of a place, all on a street and in an area where the foodie vibe is good in the best of ways (excellent food bookstore called Rabelais just across the street, and other great cookware destinations nearby, where you can find the best chef knives from Asia, etc.) I never would have come to this area if the NY Times hadn't mentioned it in their 36 hrs in Portland piece. I'm glad I could check out the best...

Thought I would try Ramona's famous Italian sub three times before giving my honest review. I've come to the conclusion that it is a GOOD sandwich but not GREAT (ie. highly crave-able) because there are things I would change to suit my tastes. First, I don't love the bread. 1 out of 3 times it felt stale and crumbled in my hands. Second, there is not enough meat and far too much filler fixins for the price point ($21). And charging 50 cents extra for mayo is especially annoying because I find the sandwich overall dry. So far the best Italian sub in Portland that I like is actually from Anthony's Italian Kitchen (the "Tony Soprano" or "Boston Italian"). The "Muffuletta" at Slab (now that has some meat on it!) looks really good but I have yet to...