We eat out a lot. In fact, I've always eaten out a lot. Ever since my mom went back to work when I was little, our family went to restaurants. To me, it seems worth it to pay for good food with no dishes to do, and that takes under an hour for the whole experience.
I never remember it being as annoying as it is now. Not only is wait staff seemingly way more lazy and incompetent than I recall, but the restaurants themselves are turning into annoying, mediocre places of business. Example:
El Torito is one of my favorite places to eat. Great salsa, enchiladas, tortilla soup. Fortunately, these haven't changed (yet). But, when we were there last, our meal was interrupted several times by (1) a balloon animal maker, (2) a 3 piece mariachi band (omfg no I don't want to hear any mexican music, I am trying to eat, go away), (3) a girl going around selling flowers, and (4) the manager ("is everything ok good to hear it bye"). From the bar area comes the extremely irritating and loud sound of a bad middle-aged classic-rock cover band. All the patrons are packed into inadequate tables with half-benches so that they are wayyyy too close to the adjacent diners. Who are trashy.
If that weren't enough, I can't even get regular iced tea anymore. I have to get the crappy tropical stuff because when you order "regular iced tea" you get bag-in-box reconstituted lipton crap (think "Brisk" in a glass with ice). That stuff is just nasty.