NILES — Meatballs, sauce and garlic bread may not be what most would expect to smell at 8 a.m., but it might be if one spends mornings around Mama D’s Italian Eatery.

Each day, co-owner and chef Tony DeNardi gets up and cooks to prepare for his restaurant’s upcoming orders with co-owner and manager Angel McNeil right at his side. They will sell their fresh, home-cooked meals, all under $7, until their supply runs out.

Mama D’s is Niles’ newest Italian restaurant, offering on-site ordering, pick-up and deliveries at 1401 S. 11th St. The site of the former American food restaurant, Swingbelly’s, is now the site of a two-person team of Niles residents whose four months of set-up culminated in a May 4 opening.

“I always wanted to open up a restaurant. She always wanted to support me,” said DeNardi, nodding toward McNeil. “One day, I made a meatball sub, and we decided that’s what we were going to do.”

McNeil said family and friends loved the pastas and meatball sandwiches DeNardi made, which inspired them to open the restaurant.

DeNardi and McNeil originally wanted to sell their food at places like markets and carnivals, but then they met the owner of the site Mama D’s is now on. Instead, they decided to open at a permanent location.

It’s the first time the two owners have ever run a business, but DeNardi said his experiences in the food industry are deep. He said he started out in kitchens as dishwasher, then moved up from line cook to coordinator to sous chef to chef. He worked at a number of mom-and-pop restaurants, namely what he calls “greasy spoons,” an American-style restaurant specializing in fried, home-cooked meals.

DeNardi said his recipes are from his mother, the person whom Mama D’s is named after. She will be coming from DeNardi’s home state of New Jersey to visit him and his first business venture.

Both owners have future visions for Mama D’s. They hope to eventually own the property they’re renting on, then create a seating space that accommodates multiple groups of eaters, not just a few people.

“This is a great location,” DeNardi said. “They’re also putting in a Culver’s, a hotel is coming up, [and] we got a factory behind us. Once people get to know what we’re doing here, it’s going to really catch on.”

In the near future, McNeil said she would like to invest in a place to store cooled foods so they can sell homemade cannoli.

While both menu and location are small, Mama D’s motto is meant to reflect its stature: “Small place, big taste.”

Despite being open less than month, both McNeil and DeNardi are happy to have already received positive reviews on their Facebook page and to have already found a few regulars in the area.

“I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” DeNardi said. “It’s been a great learning experience for me.”

McNeil agreed.

“It’s been great, but it’s also been sacrificing a lot, too,” McNeil said.