I'm sorry but I have to take issue with "service is miles ahead".

American table service is weird. It's an uncomfortable experience for anyone who isn't used to it. You can call it a cultural difference but it genuinely gave us a feeling of revulsion - the fake friendliness, the platitudes, the hovering near the table, the constant refilling, the fucking survey mid-meal, the attentiveness barely concealing the determination to extract your money and shove you out and get another mark on the door.

Perhaps because most of these things seem to primarily seek to recreate the experience of a slave owner and their chattel.

Service in Japan and South Korea is better than in American restaurants and you don't have to bribe the staff to be nice to you. The price on the menu is usually cheaper too.

Also, pooled tips are basically a slush fund for wages since the entire point of tipping is supposed to be to reward good service and if the tip isn't going directly to the person who provides the service, what's the point? Ditto for any tip on a service that hasn't even been performed yet, such as delivery services.

All that said: Outside of higher end catered meals in Europe, service at even a halfway decent restaurant in the US is miles ahead. Mostly because the staff knows that is how they get their bonuses.

If your idea of good service is having a waiter with faked cheer jump at you every five minutes loaded with a jug of ice cubes to check if "everything is great", then sure, the US style is miles ahead.

If you just want a professional to do his job as unobtrusively as possible, the European way is the one to pick.

Tipping culture does not create better service, have you ever been to Italy? People tip because its the social norm, not because they like the service.

It's sad how much work has been put into convincing worker to buy this shit. It is not to their benefit. If you would make however much money after tips, you should still expect to make that same amount in a wage if we remove tips. It's just a hurdle for everyone to jump through so restaurant owners aren't held accountable to pay their staff. It's also not uncommon for them to not make up the difference if the staff doesn't make minimum wage after tips, which they are legally required to do.

Tipping is a racket. If it were in the workers favor, why would their bosses be so in favor of it? If the person who you're working for is ever in favor of something financial, you should pay attention because you should probably be on the other side. If it makes them more money then it's likely costing you money