After 15 years of success at one location in a fickle industry, Peter Kaba knows exactly what his clientele wants: big plates of affordable food, with generous portions of friendly service on the side. The New York transplant found a formula that worked and has wisely stuck with it.</p><p>Visiting for the first time since Prima&rsquo;s genesis in a renovated Dairy Queen, I arrived to find a significantly expanded version but with the same gregarious crowds as in the early days. Nobody meets a stranger at Prima&rsquo;s, evidenced by the happily tippling couple taking a smoke break by the front door when we pulled up on a recent Friday evening. The husband ran up to my car door and jokingly offered to serve as our valet, and his wife told us we ought to think twice about that.</p><p>Inside, we found two dining rooms packed with an upbeat crowd of families with babies and grandparents in tow, cooler-toting league ball teams, and everything in between. The noise level was startlingly loud, particularly with a number of very large parties present.</p><p>Our quick-footed server had plastic wineglasses readily available for our BYOB wine, and soon we had hot, crusty bread to enjoy with the vino &mdash; but sadly, no olive oil for dipping. From a list of appetizers, we chose artichokes oregenato ($5.99), causing our server to shrug a little. "It&rsquo;s not very big, but it&rsquo;s OK," she offered. The plate arrived as a quartet of warmed canned artichoke hearts in a garlic-olive oil treatment with some oregano and Parmesan on top; we found it appropriate for dipping our bread into while we awaited entrees.</p><p>These came almost seconds after the appetizer, so it&rsquo;s good we didn&rsquo;t waste time with salads . The winner among our picks was chicken arrabiata ($8.99), a plate of angel hair with sliced chicken breast and leeks in a marinara revved up with red pepper.</p><p>A special, the deep-fried, crab-stuffed shrimp over angel-hair pasta with spinach and marsala sauce ($13.99) turned out to be more than the palate could handle. The various elements in the dish fought for attention, and none won. A simpler sauce or saut&eacute;ed shrimp might have helped.</p><p>Spaghetti and meat sauce ($6.59) had a prefab tone to it. Not so the special pizza ($11.99-$13.99), one of the best brick-oven versions we&rsquo;ve had in quite awhile: The thinnish crust showed signs of handworking at the edges, and it was baked to a perfect crunch at the exterior with enough suppleness at the center to handle toppings. Even the green bell pepper, mushrooms, onion and jalape&ntilde;o were fresh.</p><p>I kind of miss the humble quality of the original store, with calzones warming next to the front window and scant room for kiddos to run amok. But clearly Kaba, and his family members who run Prima&rsquo;s today, provides precisely what his market wants.</p><p><hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> <strong><span class="infobox-head">Prima&rsquo;s Pasta & Pizza </span></strong><br /> 6108 S. Hulen St.</p><p>Fort Worth</p><p>817-263-7711</p><p><a href="http://www.primasitalianrestaurant.com">www.primasitalianrestaurant.com</a></p><p><strong>Hours: </strong>11 a.m.-10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, noon-9 p.m. Sunday</p><p><strong>Cuisine: </strong>Casual Italian</p><p><strong>Essentials: </strong>BYOB; smoke-free; major credit cards; wheelchair-accessible.</p><p><strong>Entrees: </strong>$5.99-$14.99</p><p><strong>Signature dishes: </strong>Pizza, chicken arrabiata </p><p><strong>Recommended for: </strong>Families needing something for everyone</p><p><strong>Good to know: </strong>It&rsquo;s very loud when crowded; service is quick; plates are enormous.</p><p></div>