You could alternatively get service mesh features in the application layer with libraries like Finagle, Hysterix, etc, and not pay that cost. But then you're tied to particular languages, and changing platform features requires making code changes.
It's a tradeoff. I talked about this at Kubecon earlier this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3nfLI3z0hc#t=4m58