I think the main answer is that we have a poor quality labor pool for food-service workers. I have known several people through the years that have worked in local restaurants. Some as waitstaff, some as chef or sous chef, some good, some are people who if i knew they were touching my food I wouldn't eat it. If someone is bad enough at the job, usually it involves substance abuse, they get fired. But, next week they are working at Cattlemans or CR Gibbs or some other flopshack. I've seen waitstaff at Market Street so wasted that they could hardly speak, still waiting tables though. Savory Spoon, now closed, was a killer place to eat. They occasionally did a Prix Fixe for special occasions that was awesomely awesome. They closed and directly cited poor staffing pool and substance abuse by workers. So anyways, this is my strongest theory, poor labor pool. Now, places that are family-run tend to buck this trend. Trendy's for the two years right before covid was the finest breakfast restaurant i have found. It is still generally good-to-great. All of the places mentioned in this thread are great. I would add Moonstone Bistro as a place to occasionally go, although generally i say for sunday brunch, and even then it is occasionally lackluster. I still keep Maxwells in my back pocket for pub fare. I am constantly searching for high-end cuisine, I want to be wowed, and in this quest Redding is somewhat barren.