Years ago I ate at a small Italian restaurant near Lake Conroe. The marinara was like lick your plate delicious. I spent over a decade trying to recapture that flavor and failed at least 50 times, until throwing together a quick meal one night with a recipe my wife had stumbled upon.
I used to use store bought as a base and then add from their. At the risk of sounding like a tool it tastes too tomatoey. Now I simply buy canned diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce at approximately a 3/1 or even 4/1 ration. Add a generous amount of red wine, (something not too sweet) then sauté chopped onions and a pinch of garlic, and season with Italian seasonings. I also skip the ground beef and use ground Italian sausage only. Its off the chain. Good luck on your dish. Lemme know how it goes. Everything tastes better with VICTORY