Mayfair isn’t short of fancy bars or exclusive nightclubs where well-groomed girls with expensive handbags dance around under purple neon lights. It can, however, be hard to find a relaxed, intimate restaurant serving fabulous, traditional Italian food – somewhere down-to-earth that reminds you of your Mediterranean holiday.

Look no further than North Audley Street, home of the much-loved La Caricatura, a small, casual restaurant and bar that has become a favourite with not only the locals, but also visiting pop stars and Hollywood celebrities looking for a friendly, reliable dining experience away from the prying eyes of the paparazzi.

Established in 1949 as part of the old Dino’s chain of traditional Italian restaurants, La Caricatura has evolved into a modern pizza restaurant. Owned by Chris Simpson, it’s popular with people staying in the major hotels on Park Lane, such as the Grosvenor or the Dorchester, and also younger people who pop in on their way to a Mayfair club.

The decor has been kept simple and elegant, with cream floor tiles and dark wood tables, in order to showcase one of the restaurant’s greatest assets (and the reason for its cheerful name): its vast collection of caricatures. Mounted at angles, the caricatures feature almost any major star you can think of from the past 20 years, or even further back. Oasis’s Gallagher brothers, David Beckham, George Clooney and Sophia Loren are some of the most distinctive.

Ronnie Davison, who oversees the restaurant’s management, says: "It’s not a canteen or cafe. It’s a warm, fun atmosphere with table linen and wine glasses and all the traditional dining experience. But the caricatures of the stars on the walls give it a modern, fun feel."

The original owners commissioned caricature artist Russ Cook to provide enough work to fill a whole chain of restaurants of the same name. The chain was never rolled out, however, so this small Mayfair restaurant gets to keep all the spoils in one crowded, eye-catching gallery.

La Caricatura also attracts real three-dimensional celebrities, too. Rock star Jon Bon Jovi orders his pizza from the restaurant when he’s in town and Madonna and her entourage recently arrived there out of the blue. "She was filming her new movie, W," Ronnie explains. "She ended up eating more than she intended and ordering a pizza. She signed autographs for the children and was absolutely charming."

But the restaurant doesn’t just rely on the charm of its famous guests – real or mounted. The food, whether the fish (delivered fresh daily) or the pizza, is sublime. The Times rated it the top pizzeria in London and customers rave about the antipasti of prosciutto ham or soft, creamy mozzarella. Pizzas are cooked in a traditional wood-burning oven and a bar area at the front of the restaurant allows guests to enjoy pre-dinner wine-tasting sessions with complementary canapes before they go sit down to dinner.

A ‘wine flight’ tasting card is the best way to sample wines that you wouldn’t normally choose, either because you don’t feel daring enough to order something unfamiliar or because, frankly, the bottle would cost more than £100. The stems of four sample-sized glasses of wine are hooked up to a handle and carried by the waiter to the table so they literally float over to you. Now what better way to simulate a holiday to Italy without leaving Mayfair!