A New Jersey man had a rather shocking experience when a delivery turned grotesque during his meal. In a recent lawsuit, he claimed he found a delivery driver’s dentures nestled inside his Jersey Mike’s cheesesteak.
Baysville resident Fernando Rodriguez had ordered food from the now private equity-owned Jersey Mike’s in April 2025. All seemed normal until he realized his meal had something extra—someone else’s false teeth.
According to court documents, the delivery driver, Teresa Gildea, allegedly left her dentures “embedded” in the cheesesteak. Rodriguez noted that upon delivery, the sandwich appeared to be sealed with Scotch tape. However, he was soon horrified to discover a denture inside.
The shocking finding did more than ruin his lunch. Rodriguez reported feeling extreme shock, disgust, emotional distress, nausea, and a significant loss of appetite as a result of the incident, as outlined in the court filing submitted last month.
Rodriguez’s attorney, Ian Goldman, expressed concerns over food safety, stating that “finding a foreign object from someone who has had direct contact with the sandwich raises serious issues.”
In a twist, police were called after Rodriguez showed up at the Jersey Mike’s with his sandwich and the dentures, pointing out that the bag seemed tampered with. During the investigation, the manager confirmed the bizarre situation.
When officers contacted Gildea, she initially tried to place the blame on Rodriguez’s father, claiming that it was his dentures in the sandwich. The police report noted that this excuse didn’t hold up, leading them to question her logic further.
Eventually, Gildea admitted to the mix-up. She explained that while eating her lunch, she had inadvertently put her dentures into Rodriguez’s order while attempting to check it for accuracy because of prior complaints about mistakes in deliveries.
The lawsuit accuses Gildea of “tampering” with the food, while outlining Grubhub’s failures in training employees and Jersey Mike’s shortcomings in food packaging and storage.
A Grubhub spokesperson responded to the situation, noting their disturbance over the incident, which they asserted does not align with their service standards. They confirmed that Gildea’s delivery contract has since been terminated.
Attempts to reach Gildea were unsuccessful, and Jersey Mike’s has not commented on the matter as of yet.
