Yeah, the narrow streets sometimes give away foreign locations subbing in for the USA. Not as much anymore (as everybody's streets around the world are widening) but it was more obvious in the past.
Sometimes the age of things is a giveaway. Old sidewalks, rock walls, buildings, etc. The USA is a very car-centric and the civilization all looks very recent. In some US cities there are protected "historic" buildings & streets from the late-1800s. That probably sounds weird by European standards, but the USA was still the wild west in the 1800s. There are a few areas that go back to the 1600s-1700s (mostly on the northeast coast), but not much. The vast majority of the streets & buildings here were built in the 1900s.
US building & street construction is also pretty friendly to disabled people. There is good wheelchair access. That affects the look of the public places in some ways. The storefronts, sidewalks, etc. There are fewer steps and more slanted ramps. Wider passages & doorways. Etc.
Even when the shoot is being done in America, it doesn't necessarily look like America. Hollywood disproportionaly portrays New York & Los Angeles.
When the script calls the location "a generic suburb" they will probably film it in a generic suburb of Los Angeles. That has its own look, and it's different from a suburb in the midwest or eastern states. The bright sunlight, the southwestern landscape, tanned skin, bright/light colors on clothing & decorations, more classic cars than average, etc.
The rest of the world probably sees this as an "American look" but it's really a Los Angeles look. The eastern US states are a bit different. More forested & wetter climate, the paint colors are more subdued, the vehicles rust out faster, etc.
Hollywood makes heavy use of Canada and US cities/states that offer big tax breaks. In the last 20 years they have done a lot of shooting in Louisiana and and New Mexico, especially when the script calls for a rural setting (in any state).
New York is a popular setting in fiction, but a lot of NY city scenes get filmed in nearby Toronto (Canada). Sometimes one of the other rust-belt cities like Cleveland, Ohio. Those are usually pretty seamless swaps. The New York City natives may spot it, but most other viewers don't know the difference. The weather & landscape is similar and the cities were constructed in the same eras.