I think you might be losing sight of the intent of this thread.

It's about restaurant pet peeves. Things that cheese you off at restaurants.

It seems you are fully indoctrinated into the practices common in North American diners - many of them cynically put into place by management aware that they will yield higher returns from customers not so familiar with the ins and outs of the hospitality industry.

Although these might seem perfectly acceptable to you, doesn't mean that the rest of us have to like them. And as this is a WORLD forum, which does not limit its discussion to moderately priced dining establishments in the USA, not all of us share your views that the customer should be expected to second guess the intentions of waiting staff bent on 'upselling' in a way that many people feel is akin to trickery and deception.

Sure, we can all grill our servers and be alert to their attempts to wring extra money from us by asking and asking and asking and inspect the menu's intricacies with the thoroughness of a lawyer. But, personally, when I go out to eat I like to RELAX and ENJOY my food and actually RELISH THE INTERACTION between myself and the human being I'm privileged to be served by that day.

I usually feel that way when I eat out in London, I always feel this way when I eat out in Japan, and believe it or not, I almost invariably feel this way when I eat out in North America too.

I also get peeved by deceptive practices common in a certain kind of Diner. A British equivalent to Applebees or Chilis might be Nandos (which I do not frequent). Here's something tangible that highlights the kind of thing I'm talking about:
"If you want to be pestered by Nando's don't whatever you do tick this box"
It's part of a coupon you seem to need to fill in with your address in order to get a free meal (having collected stamps with previous meals).