Ive spent three years in Spain and their service is way more varied than that. I would say cafe and restaurant service is comparable to here easily. The culture is different but the service is equal, perhaps more professional due to the ages of those involved and the fact that they can live on the wages they make. Other places, the trains for instance... Slow. Well, no, the trains are fast, the ticketing and customer service is slow.
Now, you travel there, or especially France during tourist season, and you won't get their normal employees, because they don't work for tips, and they have mandated and significant pto because they live in a civilized manner. Then, you might get horrible service. Because no one, at all, wants to be working when everyone they know is on vacation.
The part I'm falling down on us enjoying the scenery. Most of America's restaurants are in strip malls. If someone has the misfortune to be at an Applebee's receiving horrible service, what is their recourse, to look at a parking lot, stare at 4 lanes of surface streets, and bemoan the car culture?