T-Bone Jones probably lasted longer in that spot post-rebuild than anything else there, and the reason why most of the other restaurants failed, it's because they sucked. Sodolak's, Rooster's, others I can't remember...they weren't very good.
Now, whether or not Rooster's went down because of the "Greg D. curse" is up for debate, but if you notice the Yelp! reviews, only the 4 and 5 stars reviews are from the first two months or so, the reviews plummeted by March or so, which suggests the food quality began to deteriorate.
Arguably, I'd say that Amico Nave isn't in the best location either, the building hadn't been a restaurant in years and has some of the worst lighting I've seen for a commercial space, but in summer 2013, when I drove by after work, it was consistently packed on a summer weeknight, and say what you want about Feed Barn, but it's completely hidden from major corridors, and has been a popular spot for years.
But you know what? I don't think it's the large size, the prices, the lack of a full bar, the food, the location, or any other singular factor of why it's not that popular:
Paolo's is confused on what it wants to be. Is it supposed to be a nice Italian restaurant for dates and company outings, or a family Italian restaurant that would be a better alternative than Carino's or Olive Garden? A kid's play area and steep prices do not work well together, and if it wants to succeed, it's gonna pick one or the other. They need to either quit pretending to be upscale and drop the prices to competitive levels, or scrap the kid's play area and be a good Italian restaurant. You can add a full bar and try to add event rooms to try to cut down on space, but until it makes up its mind on what it wants to be, it will never achieve greatness.
