This is a prime location along 'restaurant road', the myriad other adjacent choices including Greek, Indian, Chinese, South American, Thai and – gasp – even British.
Formerly Wanted, a restaurant owned and run by a South Downs College catering tutor, the building has been revamped inside. The most striking aspect of its past design, the wall of bottle ends, has found its way to the recycling bin.
Its new owners have de-cluttered the two-tiered space quite dramatically – the walls are now burgundy, the chairs and tables a solid Far Eastern wood and wrought-iron mix.
Mirrors, smart lamps and uber-modern food-subject paintings and plants add to the cool interior. The kitchen is now on-view by the bar, another plus.
Whoever chose the benches on the higher level overlooking the street, however, didn't sit on them to make sure they were the right height.
But all was forgiven because of the excellent skills of the waitress who quietly and efficiently served all the tables by herself. Good service is far too often overlooked or abandoned.
The menu does not startle the horses and many of the offerings can be found throughout the UK.
Start with bruschetta, soup, mussels marinara, garlic bread or an antipasto platter of cold meats – which bizarrely included feta and brie, not Italian cheeses.
A Peking Duck salad with hoisin dressing also stood out as a distinctly odd addition on a pizza and pasta menu.
Eleven pizzas, nine pasta and three gnocchi dishes dominate the mains selection. Although your average Italian may be distinctly disturbed by the combos – Hawaiian, Greek, Peking Duck and BBQ chicken – these are not unknown toppings in the UK.
You are having a laugh in the best Ricky Gervais tradition, owners, I suspect. Meat lovers' pizza, a whopper with chicken, pepperoni, pancetta and meatballs, vies with the barbecued one with chicken, red onion, Monterey Jack cheese and a BBQ sauce base.
All pizza dough is made on the premises daily, as is all the pasta – choices including penne al forno (chicken, mushrooms, broccoli, Parmesan, cream) and vegetarian Bolognese. I kid you not. Instead of meat it's made with soya protein, mushrooms, carrot and chilli. Why not call it something else?
At lunchtimes Al Forno offers half portions of pizza and pasta so I did just that: I had half a Margharita (mozzarella and tomato) and half a Bolognese (the traditional meat variety) to get the gist of the cooking.
The Bolognese was a crude attempt at this dish, the messily put together bowl coming with a wilted salad and half a buttered baguette.
Neither pasta nor sauce stood out. Nor did the pizza, the only redeeming feature the thin base which came with identikit salad and baguette. Enough already! A very strong tomato puree with cheap mozzarella didn't help to create a pizza of any merit.
This pizza and pasta market is an overcrowded, over-familiar one. If taking it on, the food has to be so much more appealing, tasty, genuine and toothsome than the competitors' take on the genre.
Here it just doesn't make any kind of grade, Pizza Express being the benchmark – even if this wasn't the reason for Al Forno being in business.
Customers will compare it to this hallmark, the prices not all dissimilar. Raise your game and you may succeed, Al Forno. Buon fortuna!
My bill came to £11.35 including a passable glass of Pinot Grigio but not a well-deserved tip.

Al Forno, 39 Osborne Road, Southsea. (023) 9282 0515.
Open: From midday-11pm every day.
Food: ***
Service: ****
Atmosphere: ****
Disabled access: Yes.
How to get there: Osborne Road is off Clarence Parade, Southsea. Parking on-street.

Diners' View
Giuseppe Sardu originally from Sardinia and Alice Hayman, from Southsea: 'You would not find such food in Italy,' Guiseppe said, 'the penne al forno is really not typical of our cooking.'
'I can't say I was delighted by eating here but the people are so nice that I would hate to criticise them,' Alice said. 'I think they could at least offer a pleasant salad garnish.'