I've found that eating out varies a lot city by city (estimate: 50%+?). Some cities have excellent base-level food; others are terrible.

As someone who lived in Atlanta during the restaurant revolution, it went from "I could do better than this at home" to most places being able to put together an interesting plate I couldn't/wouldn't do at home. And oddly, pre-pandemic prices didn't change that much when it happened.

My working theory is that restaurants only strive to be a bit better than the average restaurant in an area.