Smaaken Waffle Sandwiches — Restaurant in Portland

IN RESPONSE TO THE OWNERS: Your response has me questioning your integrity as a business owner. That may be true, but handling money, dirty utensils and sauce bottles is absolutely unsavory (in the public eye, mind you) all the while the cart is absolutely filthy, and just because the law allows it (not needing gloves), you should know and understand the sanitation that comes with handling public items (to see your staff not wash their hands after handling them) and then them touching ready-to-eat foods.

A customer of yours recognized the unhygienic practices taking place, and your first reaction is to throw out your employee's life status...her being a single mother has nothing to do with the disgusting acts being displayed. You wanna use that as a hail mary? Does she feed her children in the same, disgusting manner? She did not ONCE clean her hands or station while I was in line.

You are taking my very validating observations as a personal attack rather than a criticism of how your business is being represented. Your business is customer facing. Sorry someone pointed out a gross fact.

I have eaten here before (numerous times) and have never seen such a blatant disregard for the public safety. I find it interesting you take such a defensive stance to your cart's hygienic practices. The fact that you would use such a card is disturbing. That says a lot about you.

You are attacking a customer rather than acknowledging unsanitary habits and improving them. Good for you. I'd love to see if you are okay to eat food that has also touched money and other surfaces that have not been sanitized.

Nice deflection at the end. Love the single mom angle.

ORIGINAL RESPONSE: I was waiting in line for a waffle last night when to my utter dismay, I watched the girl in the cart NOT USE GLOVES or WASH HER HANDS ONCE while touching/handling ready-to-eat food. She was making sandwiches after touching dirty utensils, dirty sauce bottles, cash and her cc machine. I also watched her cut a tomato for a sandwich on an incredibly dirty cutting board with an equally dirty knife, as well as rub her hands on her sides. There was so much cross contamination! The cart was also a disaster.

I was so disgusted I hopped out of line. I will not be a patron of this place again, hygiene standards and sanitation practices have dropped significantly it seems. There is no excuse to lack basic food handling knowledge, and question if this person had their food handlers card.

In case you're wondering, that's your ham sandwich she's...

The last time we came to Hawthorne Asylum, we were having some food regrets by not ordering from here. So this was top on our list for our next visit and first place we ran to when we stopped in this morning. This food cart did not disappoint. There are so many waffle sandwiches to choose from. There’s really truly something for everyone. They even have vegan and gluten-free options. Are you looking for something sweet or savory? They have it all. We ordered the Holla and they let you customize. They have cheddar, smoked Gouda, Swiss and one other cheese. I’m not recalling at the moment but the point is they truly let you customize. The waffle is fairly thin, so it actually is something you can easily eat. I was worried the waffle would make it too thick. The flavor was phenomenal. The staff was super friendly and warmly greeted our puppy that was with us as well. We also ordered chai and some lattes and the drinks were also very good. Seating is all outdoors as this is a food cart so come prepared. There are several heated seating areas as well as covered areas with fire pits. This is a decent food truck option location, even for a rainy day, but even more magical on a sunshiny day. Dog friendly as well!! you’re craving waffles and the person you’re going is not… This is the perfect place because you can choose whichever food truck makes your...

We have been here about a dozen times and finally tried this stand after only hearing good things about them. My concern was that I didn't want a waffle sandwich that was going to have overly thick bread. Let me tell you that was not the case. The waffle was absolutely appropriate, somewhat toasted so it didn't fall apart and was delicious. This cart has been here forever and I understand why. We got the cordon blue and the Van Gogh along with the hot chai. The Van Gogh was definitely the show stopper as it paired well being more of a breakfast sandwich. We ended up trading half and half to split each sandwich and while I thought the cordon blue was done very well I thought it was pretty rich to have two halves. Very glad we split this. The only feedback is that I wish the Chai had a bit more milk in it as it was pretty watered down. I understand it is a waffle sandwich stand first and not a coffee cart and you should too. Overall this place was great and I intend on ordering from it again. Would spend money here again and...