Packed with Caricatura

If you were going to blow 150 notes on a single dish, would it be on pizza? At this recently opened baby from the Dino's family, the Pizza alla Caricatura, topped with an alarming concoction of mozzarella, tomato sauce, lobster, caviar and lemon juice, costs the same as dinner for two in the upmarket swankerie of your choice.

Like you would. Still, as a PR trick, it's done the business. And the regular pizzas, costing more realistically around the ten quid mark, are really rather brilliant: smokily wood-fired; crusts a perfect marriage of doughy and crispy; fresh-tasting toppings and sauces. Pastas, too, taste right: al dente linguine with super-sweet clams came with a deceptively simple sauce of white wine, garlic, olive oil and dried red chilli.

Despite the refit, the hard-surfaced room is more diner than ristorante, with walls lined with legions of skewed cartoon portraits (hence the restaurant's name; we were seated underneath a disturbing, gurning David Beckham).

The service is hackneyed 'bella signora' faux-friendly; try asking for a different table to the one you've ordered for the smile to slip. And then the chip and Pin machine demands a tip on top of the service charge. Er, I don't think so. Marina O'Laughlin

A meal for two with wine, water and service costs about £60. 33 North Audley Street W1. Tel: 020 7629 7070. www.lacaricaturapizza.com Tube: Bond Street/Marble Arch

La Caricatura
North Audley Street, London, W1K 6ZQ