[dragonwriter]

It happens in smaller metro areas in the US; restaurants are notoriously marginal businesses in general, and the two basic success formulas for traditional full-service establishments seem to be “be completely full in a wide window around peak times—which tends to also mean have long waits at peak times” and “attract a very rich clientele and charge very high prices which don't require you to be constantly crowded to make a profit”.

There's also obviously the separate fast-food and fast-casual markets that focus on rapidly cycling customers with minimal delay and much lower service levels; they still try to be full as much as possible which still means queuing at peak times, but the queues tend to be shorter in time or just as deep (or deeper), and tend to involve actual physical, rather than merely logical, queues.