Agreed on needing to have a better process and messaging at ORD. While the servers (I have specific ones in mind) may be competent in practice, I don't find they give off the impression that they are competent or diligent so trusting their process takes a bit of a leap...

I've never had a horrendous wait - maybe ~20 minutes around 6 or 7pm at ORD. I do find ORD has a much less adequate buffet as an alternative vs. EWR though so it's more problematic to be stuck with the alternative.