So will the sunny Italo/American food it serves. Fat pork-and-veal meatballs and a block of slow-cooked beef neighbour a mop of thick, ragu-heavy spaghetti. An excellent vitello tonnato is topped with plump capers and achieves impressive balance.

Deliciously chewy pizzas boast lightly blistered-crust bases, all covered with toppings you’d find in the land that calls pizza “pie”. The margherita is boosted by a brightly flavoured tomato passata, while salami, artichoke and pancetta vie for tastebud attention on fior di latte.

The fitout is by SA design star James Brown (Africola, Golden Boy). In his fun nudge and wink to the former occupant –Barnacle Bills – half of the dining chairs are blue. Kitsch rules: the bathroom is pastel pink, the floor is beige. There’s a mini table and chairs for the kids, but almost every seat for adults is booked every night.

And therein lies the only problem. Often tables need to be vacated by a certain time – so chow down fast if you want dessert. The sweets list pretends to be expansive, but six of the eight items are gelato or ice cream. The winner here is the tiramisu.

Most of the pizzas cost $22, a bottle of McLaren Vale red or Italian white can be had for $37, and every course comes with bread. So a memorable night can be had at a price that’s very easy to swallow.