I think this might come down to individual preference. Personally, I find the whole US dining experience rather uncomfortable. Because I come from a country without a tipping culture (Australia), I'm never sure if I'm tipping way too much, or way too little. So my meal always comes with a nice side-order of "paranoia that I'm committing a social faux pas".

I also hate the constant 'how is your meal going sir?' check-in; I just want to eat in peace without some poor guy feeling he has to do the whole fake-buddy routine every 5 minutes to earn his tip. But there seems to be no polite way to say "Hey, no need to constantly check on me, or be creepily friendly. I'm going to tip you anyway". It just feels so contrived.

Maybe I just have poor social skills or something...