Certainly in San Francisco. The one in Santa Clara was often pretty empty. I'd sometimes go there when I was working in Silicon Valley but I also went to school in the area. As for "express", once I was there (before I was working in the area) and just sat there for an hour with my beverage since they forgot me. But they finally brought it out, apologized, and comped me the meal plus a $5 gift certificate that I never used. I had plenty of time and the money was probably more important to a poor college student than time.
As for Pasta Pomodoro - I liked it. It was quite affordable and simple without being kitschy like most ideas of what "Italian" is. Adriano Paganini said it was similar to the kind of simple/affordable restaurant he grew up with in Italy. I had several Italian friends who really liked it. My favorite was the frutti di mare, which was just spaghetti with a tomato sauce and shrimp and mussels. I don't think there was squid though.
Paganini has done a bunch of restaurants including Delarosa and Super Duper.
He's got 20 Bay Area restaurants and counting
sf.eater.com
We also understand value, which is critical. I think it's because value is what people need in San Francisco. I like value myself, I really do — I grew up with not a lot of money in Italy, and that made it important to not spend money if you don’t have it. So we not only understand value, but we’re passionate about providing it. It's important — and interesting — to me to operate restaurants that are not exclusive. Restaurants that anyone can afford. You might think we're doing this because that is what works, but that's also what we're passionate about.
The truth is, restaurants in San Francisco are getting too expensive. They don’t need to be. I also don't like the whole fanciness, the whole exclusiveness. I can afford it, but I don't like it. I want young people to be able to afford to eat at my restaurants. There is room for restaurants that are more exclusive and more expensive; there is just not room for hundreds of them.