Covington Louisiana Restaurants: Downtown Dining Guide

Covington Louisiana restaurants cluster in a walkable downtown on the Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain, about an hour from New Orleans. A train depot kitchen called Lola, the Italian dining room Del Porto, an English tea room, a hotel bistro and an all-day breakfast spot are each named by at least two sources. Walk, eat and compare.

Which Covington Louisiana restaurants do two sources name?

Covington's historic downtown has many restaurants, according to the St. Tammany tourism commission, and the five below show its range. Each is named by that commission or Louisiana's tourism office and by a second source, among them Good Grit magazine. They are not rankings, and menus change.

• Lola occupies Covington's historic train depot, with its kitchen in a caboose, at 517 North New Hampshire Street. The tourism office describes soups, salads and sandwiches at lunch and a Louisiana-inspired dinner menu.
• Del Porto Ristorante serves seasonal Italian cooking with house-made pasta, soups and antipasti.
• The English Tea Room & Eatery, on Rutland Street, serves breakfast, brunch and lunch with afternoon tea and a large collection of loose-leaf teas.
• The Gloriette is the bistro of the Southern Hotel, a historic building downtown, with a French-inspired menu.
• Mattina Bella is a downtown breakfast spot. The tourism office says food critic Tom Fitzmorris has repeatedly rated it the Northshore's best breakfast, and its most popular brunch dish is the blue crab Benedict.

Where can you get a Covington lunch?

Lunch is where Covington's downtown shines, because most of its restaurants are close together. Lola serves a lunch of soups, salads and sandwiches in the old depot, and the English Tea Room serves lunch dishes such as Shepherd's pie alongside tea. If you want something casual and quick, walk and compare menus on the street before you sit.

Plan lunch for before one o'clock. Smaller kitchens close between lunch and dinner, and a downtown stroll in the afternoon is easier after you have eaten.

Is there Covington brunch worth planning around?

Yes. Mattina Bella is the name that comes up most for brunch, with the blue crab Benedict as its signature, and the English Tea Room serves a brunch menu too. Both fill up on weekends, so go early or on a weekday morning. A table of four can order across the two menus, one savory plate and one sweet, and share them. Good Grit's getaway piece lists Mattina Bella as serving breakfast all day.

If the group splits on taste, one table can have savory eggs and the other scones and tea, and the walk afterward through downtown shops is short.

What is a Northshore date night in Covington?

A Northshore date night in Covington usually means one of two rooms. Del Porto is the choice for house-made pasta and a seasonal menu, and The Gloriette suits an evening at the Southern Hotel, where the tourism office says the Cypress Bar has live music. Lola also serves an upscale dinner, per the tourism office, in a building that is part of the charm.

Reserve by phone where the restaurant takes bookings, and ask about the dress and the pace before you go. A walk along the downtown streets before or after dinner finishes the evening. If the weather is mild, ask for a table that suits conversation, because several of these rooms are small and a corner seat makes a difference. Consider staying over at the Southern Hotel if you plan a long dinner, so the drive home does not set the pace.

How do you plan downtown Covington dining?

• Park once and walk. The restaurants listed above are within a short walk of each other.
• Eat early or late. Weekend evenings are the busiest.
• Mix the meals. Breakfast at one place, lunch at another and an early dinner at a third makes a full day.
• Add a trail. The Tammany Trace has a trailhead in Covington.

If you are coming from New Orleans, the Louisiana food drives guide lists other trips.

How do you rate and list Covington restaurants?

Open the map and try the layers: Everywhere, Friends' picks and Open now. "Search this area" moves the map to the streets you are on, and tags such as Date Night, Great Value, Group Dining and Quick Service help narrow a long list. Nothing here says a named place appears, so add the ones you visit yourself.

In the Mosey app only the place and stars are needed, and "Rate each dish too" lets you name the crab Benedict, the pasta or the scone. Tag your companions with "Who were you with?" and they can add their own rating of the same meal. Make a list called Covington day with a note on each stop and share it by invite link. Rating by the dish makes two lunches easy to compare: eat the same kind of order at both and let the difference show up in your notes, and by the evening the list is a short record of what was worth the walk. The ratings page and the lists page explain the steps.

Where next on the Northshore?

The Northshore guides continue with Mandeville, Abita Springs and Hammond. The Louisiana hub lists the rest, and the US food guides cover other towns.

Get the Mosey app, rate your Covington meals by the dish and keep the downtown stops you would repeat on a list.