as a European I must disagree about the quality of service. I only was a few months in the US, but the quality of service was much better than here. I don't know if there's a correlation with tipping though.
As a European who regularly experiences atrocious QoS in restaurants, I'd be willing to bet it has something to do with the fact they get paid a decent wage whether or not they even notice the customer.
As a customer I prefer "fake" service over being ignored, but as an employee I would prefer the European system.
As an American I also agree, since restaurants in Europe have to pay a higher wage, they can only afford a couple wait staff, which definitely makes it harder to get service.
Waiters in Europe also seem to be less interested in coming to your table.
