MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: Positano Restaurant
Seven months after opening on Annapolis Street, general manager Chris Spencer is making Positano a gathering place for all of West Annapolis.
Ask Chris Spencer when Positano closes and you will get the posted hours, followed right away by a caveat: walk in one minute before the top of the hour and he will gladly greet you. “We are not a bank,” he says. He would never dream of clearing a dining room at ten o’clock sharp, and the regulars already know the real answer anyway. Positano closes when the last person leaves.
The restaurant and concept was created by owners Brian Hovermale and Lino DiMeo of other local restaurants such as Carpaccio Tuscan Kitchen & Wine Bar as well as Galliano Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar.
Right in between
Spencer likes to place the restaurant on the map with a joke he shares with guests: figuratively and literally, Positano sits right in between its neighbors. “We’re not pub fare. We’re not fine dining, but we’re right in between,” he says. The menu takes its inspiration from the Amalfi Coast town the restaurant is named for, then leans into the Italian favorites everyone knows: brick oven pizzas, chicken and eggplant parmesan, handmade pastas. The food is simple and non-pretentious on purpose, served fast and casual with what Spencer calls “one foot in the fine dining mentality” when it comes to service. Above all, he wants Positano to be a place West Annapolis can call its own, full of familiar faces.
Drinking from a fire hydrant
Spencer and the owners knew they were stepping into the unknown when opening their restaurant in West Annapolis. Then the doors opened. “Right out of the gate, it was like drinking water out of a fire hydrant,” he says. Seven months later, Positano is still packed every Friday and Saturday night, reservations strongly encouraged. That is no small feat in what Spencer calls August being one of the slowest stretches of the restaurant’s year next to January; with over a decade of managing restaurants in the Annapolis area, he would know.
Part of the success is pricing. Ninety percent of the menu comes in under $30, Spencer admits is an abnormality these days. Pizza and pasta carry friendly margins, so the restaurant can take a smaller slice of profit and still put excellent food on the table, giving guests real bang for their buck. The bigger part, he suspects, is that the neighborhood was simply ready. West Annapolis, he says (no pun intended), has been “really hungry for a place like this.”
Guests, not customers
“They’re not customers. They’re guests.”
Years ago while working in Washington, D.C., Mr. Spencer heard a statement from a general manager that changed his outlook about the restaurant business that would resonate for years to come, and it has become the backbone of how Positano operates.
The distinction shapes everything. A guest is someone who you welcome into your home who naturally you want to impress, so the team goes the extra mile on large parties, dietary restrictions, and any reasonable accommodation. “I don’t want my staff to merely take orders,” Spencer says. “I want people to facilitate a dining experience, to be knowledgeable about the menu, to anticipate the needs of our guests without them having to ask.” His reservation system quietly helps: when the hostess greets a table, a ticket prints noting whether it is a birthday, an anniversary, or a first-time diner, helping the staff get to know their guests more quickly.
Knowing a guest’s name, their favorite table, or what they ordered last time are details Spencer calls a lost art, and it’s exactly what he wants to bring back to the area. His advice to his team doubles as advice for life.
“If you take pride in what you do, you’re going to be a success in anything that you do.”
The renaissance man behind the bar
Spencer has spent over three decades in and out of the restaurant business, with detours along the way through corporate America while simultaneously still being involved in the business as either a line cook, server, or bartender, and he will happily tell you, “I’m a bit of a renaissance man.” He is a mixed media pop artist who works mainly with portrait art of famous cult movies and music icons, in everything from woodworking to recycled materials to acrylic paint, and he’s a musician too. That creative streak flows straight into menus, the beverage program, and his favorite ritual of all: making custom cocktails. Forget what the internet lists about what never to ask a bartender, like “What do you like to make?” Spencer loves the chance to create something specific and memorable, which only adds to the overall dining experience.
He is also a sommelier, and the future he sees for Positano leans into it: wine dinners, private events, catering, and a staff trained to help guests discover something new, with a brand-new fall wine list on its way. In the meantime, you know where to find him: behind the bar, checking on guests, gladly greeting whoever walks in. Even one minute before close.
Find Positano
Chris Spencer, General Manager
106 Annapolis Street, Annapolis, MD • Sun–Thu, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fri–Sat, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. • positanoannapolis.com • Brick oven pizzas, handmade pastas & a sommelier-led wine list, with a new fall list on its way
