The name means "beautiful morning" in Italian. Breakfast is the specialty. A real breakfast, with eggs, pancakes, biscuits, bacon, and all the rest of it, made with excellent ingredients and a deft hand in the kitchen. And not just the basics, but egg dishes as complicated as those you'd find in the top brunch places. They also have a good, inexpensive lunch for people stuck at the parish courthouse.
For a million years this was a great old poor boy joint called Nathan’s. It was succeeded in the 1990s by a breakfast specialist called Judice's. It made way in 2007. for Vincent Riccobono, who with his family transformed it into Mattina Bella. He is a cousin of the man of the same name who runs the Peppermill in Metairie. Confusingly enough, Mattina Bella's Vincent managed the Peppermill before he opened this place. Echoes of the Peppermill (and even its predecessor, the Buck 49) appear here.
In Covington's delightful downtown, this is an old store with a pressed-tin ceiling, and antique, copper-topped bar and many large windows. The service staff is always on the run, especially on weekends, but they get it all done in a friendly way.
Be prepared to wait for a table on weekends for breakfasts, although that doesn't always happen. Know that their breakfast potatoes are basically brabants--fried cubes. Beware overflows of spinach-artichoke dip.
| Attitude | 3 |
|---|---|
| Environment | 1 |
| Hipness | 1 |
| Local Color | 2 |
| Service | 2 |
| Value | 2 |
| Wine | 0 |
