Good lunch value. Pasta Pomodoro is a chain reaching from Northern to Southern California, and Arizona, but it started in San Franicsco's Marina district in 1994. Pasta Pomodoro came to this location in Mill Valley's Strawberry Village a couple of years or so after the old Strawberry Joe's had a fire and closed. We all missed the Italian food, so this place filled quite a void. Joe's is a well known chain in Marin, still with lots of locations in the county.

The interior is quite cheerful and bright. Pasta Pomodoro has a nice lunch menu with good values, as most of the things come with your choice of soup or salad and are reasonably priced.

Dad chose the salad, and he said it was quite fresh and had a nice mix of greens and other toppings.

I chose the minestrone soup. I must admit, I've always loved their minestrone soup, and have been known to order a bowl of it for dinner on winter evenings. It's consistently good. Even though it was a pretty warm day, I just couldn't resist.

Dad's salad was followed by the healthy chicken pasta, which he enjoyed. Very generously portion, as was the salad, Dad could not finish either, although he gave it a good shot.

I had the Conchiglie Pollo as my main dish, and it was good other than it was way over sauced. There was a lot of 'tomato soup' left in the bowl. But I enjoyed the nice al dente of the pasta which had chicken, sauteed garlic, broccoli and sundried tomatoes in the mix. The waiter was quite pleasant and prompt too. This is a nice neighborhood place, even though a chain, and they've worked out a good recipe for success.