Hampton Vale restaurant adds to the alfresco offering

Mattoni at Hampton Vale and Mattoni at Eye village are both preparing to reopen for outdoor service, in line with lockdown restrictions on April 12.

Both restaurants will be opening from 12pm – 2pm and 5pm – 10pm from Monday, with the opening hours reviewed after the first week,

The Hampton restaurant has now added to the seating it can offer customers outside in line with the city council’s push on cafe culture.

“Staff are really excited and cannot wait to get back to do what they truly love,” said owner Goretti Lobato.

“Mattoni isn’t just a business it’s a family and staff have built a relationship with our wonderful customers. Lockdown has had an effect on their mental well-being - they are so bored and miss the interaction they get with customers

“We know our customers by name, we know what they like in terms of food and drink our customers know each and every staff member and have a special bond. April 12 cannot come soon enough.”

Goretti added that new menus will also be launched to coincide with reopening.

“Lockdown has had a negative impact on personal life and business but it’s also had a positive outcome,” she said. “We appreciate each other more and we’ve had time to look at new ways of trading ie QR codes on tables - no menus which eliminates the tedious job of cleaning menus all day long, new menus, complete clean down, updating policies and procedures, updating equipment with the help of grants, staff training etc so it’s not all negative. In life you need to also see the good and focus on that.

“There are still strict restrictions imposed by the council - like 1.5 metre distancing for outdoors which isn’t great when you have a small space - but just to be able to see even if only 20 customers for us is better than nothing.”

Here is what near neighbour Gurkha Lounge is doing in Hampton Vale.