Amato's — Restaurant in South Portland

UNSAFE FOOD HANDLING

Big / tall guy with sideburns, has probably worked there for the past decade has clearly become complacent. This is not the first time I witnessed this, honestly have seen it many times over the years. He regularly wears gloves while making food, then handles cash and the register. Then he goes straight back to handling food without changing the gloves or washing his hands. Today's visit, I specifically saw him handle sandwiches with blue gloves, then the register (same gloves), then go out back and handle pizza / spatulas with the same gloves, then go back to working sandwiches WITH THE SAME GLOVES. This is such an in-your-face insult to customers who already pay hefty amounts for mediocre food.

I do not know his name, but he's easy to recognize. Larger, kinda tall guy with longish sideburns. If he's making your food. Keep an eye on him, I guarantee you'll see the same thing I regularly do. Someone needs to re-train or reprimand this guy. Clearly has no regard for customer's health or safety.

I've always been a big fan of Amato's and they usually provide great quality. So it really stinks that this big wart is ruining a great location. Next time I see him handle food like this in front of me, a video will get filmed and posted for sure. If he was handling others food like this, I'm sure mine was probably too. Who knows, if he's handling food like that after handling the register without changing gloves or washing, he must be also handling the store phone, what else, his personal phone that he uses in the bathroom, the toilet scrubber? Just a big slap in the face. He...

If you know, you know. Amato's is one of the quintessential sandwich shops in Maine, and as a born-and-raised local, there really is nothing like it, as they proport in their slogan. When living out of state, every time I came home to visit, my first stop was for a Real Italian, a Moxie, and Humpty Dumpty All Dressed chips.

I've had a generic review here for years, but I needed to update it after this weekend. It was a busy Friday, I was on my way home from work and picking up an order my wife had placed for the whole family. I didn't have the order details, and so some of this was certainly my oversight, but when I arrived home, a sandwich was missing, and another was generously lacking in vegetables, though I would only learn this last bit on the drive back to the store.

Upon explaining the situation, no less than three staff members jumped to fix the situation, finding the lost sandwich, remaking the other, and additionally providing me with a quart-sized soup/salad container of freshly sliced veggies, just to make sure that we had all we needed. The customer service was - in a word - exceptional. I had even proclaimed that this was not enough to sour me as a customer, and they still insisted on going above and beyond.

Thank you again to the Amato's South Portland staff. You made...

So I walked in and asked for a small Italian sandwich with no cheese and they said OK; just a few minutes and I'll ring you up. Thinking silently, I said to myself, "I don't want to get a large sandwich today because I don't want to make a mess, and I don't want it to go to waste." I stood to the side. The boy behind the counter then stood there doing nothing for (let's say, a few minutes), then started talking about personal affairs with a customer who appeared and tried to order, for a few more minutes. They noticed I was still waiting and tried to charge me for a large sandwich. I pointed out that it was a small. He charged me for a small and made sure that the slip said that my sandwich was to be a small sandwich (because it still hadn't been made yet). Some random person resembling the lead singer of the Black Crowes came out and made me a large sandwich. I said, "I ordered a small sandwich." The reply I got was rude, upsetting, made me feel awkward, resulted in the waste of food, and if I were the manager I'd have been furious. Snidely the cashier laughed as the lead singer of the Black Crowes underwhelmingly stated, "Well I'm not fixing it now, so just take it, man." Breathe...