2 or 2
Min / Bite
The 2 minutes or 2 bites rule is as old as time. Upon the delivery of your food to your table, the server should wait either 2 minutes or until you take 2 bites to check back in on you to see how you are/aren't enjoying your meal. It's a basic method used to proactively seek guest sentiment. The last thing any server would want is for the guest to not enjoy their meal, the focal point of the overall restaurant experience. Especially at such an early juncture in the experience, one can easily course correct.
This is a widely known practice in the restaurant industry. As a consumer, [in certain] you have either picked up on these rules or known them instinctively. The real problem arises when you don't get checked in within 2 minutes or after your 2nd bite. As a consumer, you want that standard to be upheld on your behalf.
When standards aren't upheld, then quality is in question. Quality can be measured by what is and isn't valuable or useful. Surely it's useful to have a filled cup of water or a quick check-in by a server after your 2nd bite. But I would argue it's more so valuable than it is useful.
Anytime I willingly part ways [from] with my hard-earned money, quality comes into play more so than anything else. I'm fully aware that servers earn their living on the percentage of the ticket size. That percentage is largely determined by guests like me. Therefore, outside of the actual food itself, what value is the server bringing to my meal? I would say it's 2 very valuable qualities I base all my tipping on.
Listening
Can they pick up on subtle cues? - like I don't drink alcohol or eat pork, so don't offer me the wine [if] of the day or tell me how good the pork chops are, or it's not really important to me how long the wine has been cooked out of the sauce, I don't want it.
Can they remember details? - like medium well and not medium rare. Or putting the [aoli] aioli sauce on the side.
Discernment
Can they make the distinction between the right time to upsell vs the time to downsell? (actually recommending something less expensive on the menu).
Lastly, can they anticipate when it's appropriate to insert themselves into the experience vs. when it's not?
All of these things I would weigh far more than the 2 bite rule.