The issue with considering the fee into meal reimbursement is that (for me at least) many of the restaurants require paid parking that is not reimbursed, so I have always considered the shop fee as covering my travel expenses to the restaurant. When I'm out of town, it covers my taxi fare.
On a few occasions when I have not been able to find any way to order within the posted expense limit, I have brought it to their attention and they have been good about raising the limits. Once you start ordering above the minimum requirements, the remainder of the meal is usually on you, however.
While the bidding for travel is a relatively new concept, travel fees have always been pretty low with Coyle. There are a few exceptions to that, but you have to be creative in stacking up multiple shops if you want 100% of the travel expenses covered. Perhaps I'm just getting slower as I age, but I used to be able to take 2-3 hotels in a row and I can't do that anymore. The current writing requirements are definately more time consuming than they used to be.
On a positive note, when you are into evaluating the high-end resorts, there are no very few issues with meal overages. They will cover 100% of the dining and you just have to worry about the travel expense. My last few hotels have also covered transport to/from the airport to the hotel.