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.
I may be spoiled, but its extremely rare we eat someplace where I find the ingredients, flavor, and options to match what we have at home. We don't travel a crazy amount (compared to people with traveling jobs or a real wanderlust), but we get around a fair amount and I see the variability you describe--but only up to a point. There's obviously places where the restaurants are truly awful, and there's places where the food is ok. But no place where on average the restaurants are excellent.
I'm probably in the minority but pasta and frozen pizzas are about the extent of my cooking skill and there are about dozen excellent restaurants within a 10 minute walk... it isn't good for my wallet.
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.