Amato’s Italian Sandwich Shops

Prices are outrageous! Over $ 12 for a sandwich with a smear of lobster meat!
The girl at the counter was filthy! Her arms were covered in bug bites, and her shirt was stained with food!
Used to be a great place to get «Italians»… now just plain overpriced and other places are cheaper and better! Big thumbs down

Local pizza/​sandwich place. «Real» Italians are delicious. Meat stuffers are epic. There are several locations in southern Maine. Go get some!

So I’m literally still in Amatos waiting for my food being made.
This girl who’s making meatballs with gloves on, stops and reaches on down her shirt to pull papers from under her bra, then stuffs it back down between her boobs! Like way down there, then continues to make meatballs, all while yelling, «You can’t tell me what to do!» Haha So if you’re up for tits+meatballs this is the happening spot! Otherwise this is place is clearly a health hazard.
I didn’t get the girls name but she was wearing a blue zip up sweater with an Italian flag on it.

Lasagna’s worse than the service. I wouldn’t Unilocal about this but this has happened several times with my orders. I called 15 mins. ahead of time. When I arrived 10 mins. later, I was 1 of 2 customers in the store. There were about 5 people behind the counter and only one of them was actually working. The rest were joking around with each other, walking around aimlessly, and basically staring into space. I saw something in a pan near the oven, hoping it wasn’t mine — mine should be almost done. About 10 mins. «after» paying for my order, someone finally just picked it up & placed it in the oven. Turns out, it was mine. I waited, waited, and waited. I was in the store for over 25 mins. The 1 other customer apparently called ahead too. I watched her pay and also wait for her order to be done. After about 10 mins. of waiting, someone finally grabbed it from under the heat lamp/​warming station and gave it to her. Wasn’t that what came out of the oven as I walked in? She was also less than impressed. While I’m still waiting for my lasagna, I see my cheese sticks come out of the oven. After not being careful, one of my cheese sticks lands on the bench. The kid grabs it, holds it notably above the little cardboard box and just dropped it in. He did this for each and every one of them. I didn’t want to say anything while I was in the store but I was completely frustrated. Why did I call ahead? Well, at least I could look forward to my lasagna… so I thought. It didn’t taste very good at all, too much Italian sausage and not enough hamburg and much too much tomato paste in the sauce. Hello heartburn… do I even have any Rolaids? Poor excuse for service and disappointing takeout. This local won’t be returning any time soon.

We were told we needed to stop by an Amatos for the «real italian» experience during our trip to Canada. We stopped at the first Amatos ever built, in Portland, Maine. My husband loved the Italian sandwich. He asked for extra meat and go salami too. I found the vegetables to be very fresh and it was a great combination of flavors. The sour pickles were great. They actually sell jars of their pickles. This place met our expectation and more. We actually stopped by another Amatos in Freeport, Maine on our trip back and got more Italians. We wish they had one of these in NC and we would go all the time.

I, surprisingly, have enjoyed pretty much everything I’ve tried from Amato’s. This location is clean, staff are nice (enough) and service is pretty quick. Since I’ve been a frequent visitor of the nearby hospital, quick, cheap food that’s not McDonalds has been a necessity.
Items are made fresh and can be fairly healthy. I don’t think they use high-​quality ingredients, but it’s better than other alternatives. I’ve had their veggie sandwiches, cheese pazzo, breakfast sandwiches and they’ve all been good. They have some food hot and ready to go, and made-​to-​order stuff is usually ready within a few minutes.
They also have a full selection of soda/​tea/​water and homemade goodies, which I try to avoid, but they look very appealing!
Amato’s offers consistently decent food, at a good price and on my time schedule (i.e. quickly). Once our hospital stay is over, I likely won’t be back much, but it’s a good place to remember for a pit-​stop right off the highway.

I opened the door when I got home yesterday and yelled ‘Come on in Giuseppe’. Then I added, ‘Sweetie, I brought you home an Italian’. She looked quizzically at me as I repeated my first comment. Then I showed her the Amato’s bag and she caught on. I, of course laughed uproariously as I’m sure you the reader are doing now. Ok, I won’t quit my day job, but all of yesterday I had a hankering for an Italian sandwich. So I stopped at the Amato’s St. John Street location and put my order in for two Italians.
Let’s go over the basics again of the Italian. Like I commented in a previous post, I wish Mr. Amato had named this something like Maine’s Own Sandwich, because for those who are from away, particularly Southern New England, NY, and NJ, the definition of an Italian sandwich, or sub, or hoagie is much different than Maine’s Italian sandwich as invented by Mr. Amato and our Italian sandwich makes them shudder with incredulity (to say the least).
Now, there’s nothing I like more than an Italian cold cut sub consisting of ‘proshoot’, ‘gabago’, genoa salame, provolone, oil, and hot peppers, with a few more necessary ingredients, all stuffed into a baguette from Standard Bakery. I’m swooning as I write this.
However, the Maine Italian sandwich is not as I just described. As they say, it is what it is… just some boiled ham, white American cheese, a variety of veggies, with a kicker of sour pickles, which in my view makes the Maine Italian sandwich unique. All served on a long soft loaf of, well, Italian sandwich bread. I dressed the sandwiches at home with salt, pepper, and the side of oil which I requested and served them on the waxy paper they were wrapped in. Completely hit the spot!
Oh, and I love watching the Amato’s sandwich maker cutting the vegetables and layering them onto the sandwich, particularly the tomatoes and green pepper. There really is a beautiful art to it.
Some advice… a Real Italian sandwich at Amato’s is the ham version. So, no need to order a ‘ham Italian’ as that would be right out of the department of redundancy department. Main ingredients other than ham are available if desired. Now, if you’re expecting to go down the line picking out the veggies you want, I suggest sticking to Subway. I believe it’s the combination of all the ingredients which makes this a real Maine Italian sandwich.
About five bucks for Amato’s Italian sandwich. My jokes are free. Full menu online at ‘amatos​.com’

I love love Amato’s and always have a good experience when I go. India street is the best location and St Johns well is the VERY WORST.
The wait time for food is much longer at this location then any other I have been to. Also, the staff is incredibly rude and unhelpful. The store itself is clean and actually quite nice but the service is WORST.

I really liked how the place was set up and that you can buy homemade sauces, etc. I just ordered the classic Italian sub and a jar of pickles. My sandwich had way more toppings than meat. I don’t think 3 slices of cold cuts it in a large sub, although the tomato and onion were fresh. Also, I thought the sub bread was closer to wonder bread than Italian bread. The pickles that I purchased tasted like sweet pickles gone sour and tasted waxy. Maybe I got a bad batch. Next time I will try a different sandwich.

Nice sandwichs we just got… one slice of meat and cheese! All I can tast is bread and the over sour pickels. Way to start being cheap amatos u just lost a family of customers.

Amato’s is pretty consistently awesome. It can get pretty busy in there during the summer, but it’s worth it. Delicious Italians (with amazing pickles), cheese pazzo bread, pizza, all good. Good potato salad, too. Great place to stop in on the way to the beach or the park for a picnic. They also usually have a selection of wine, candy, chips, things like that

There is nothing bad to say about Amato’s except this…
Why the hell can’t I find this in NYC?!
I miss being able to enjoy a GOOD Italian! I miss amazing Pazzo! I want an Amato’s in NYC right now!!!

This is a wonderful, local sandwich shop. They also have pizza, pasta and other kinds of food. The food is great and the cost is reasonable. I always go there instead of Subway or other similar alternatives. The place has a lot of history in Portland, like having the original Italian Sandwich. Best thing is the tomato sauce and tomatoes. I can’t say enough good things about this franchise over the years I’ve gone here. I’m just disapointed they wouldn’t hire me.