I have the same issue. But it's part of a general trend for me; I struggle to use "mobile" or "responsive" websites entirely more and more these days. As a result, the amount of times I request "desktop" view on a mobile device has been steadily growing and for more sites. They're trying to be "too fancy", for lack of a better way of expressing such a thing, and it's having knock-on usability effects.

I find myself gritting my teeth sometimes at the design decisions I'm left to implement.

they're loading from localhost and don't perceive any delay

No, we hate it too, trust me.