a restaurant in which patrons wait on themselves, carrying their food to tables from counters where it is displayed and served.
a lunchroom or dining hall, as in a factory, office, or school, where food is served from counters or dispensed from vending machines or where food brought from home may be eaten.
Origin of cafeteria
1830–40, Americanism;<American Spanish cafetería café, equivalent to Spanish cafeter(a) coffeemaker (<French caf(f)etière;cafécoffee + -ière, feminine of -ier-ier2; t apparently by analogy with words such as bouquetière flower seller, from bases ending in t) + -ía-ia
The buffet adds the feel of a hospital cafeteria, the people dining look close to death or knowingly waiting to die.
Fast-Food Buffets Are a Thing of the Past. Some Doubt They Ever Even Existed.|MM Carrigan|September 29, 2020|Eater
Yes, someone tells me — an all-you-can-eat Taco Bell existed in her dorm cafeteria.
Fast-Food Buffets Are a Thing of the Past. Some Doubt They Ever Even Existed.|MM Carrigan|September 29, 2020|Eater
Over a number of years, the company took over so much office space—even repurposing an entire building to serve as its corporate cafeteria—that some in Silicon Valley complained it had “sucked the life out of the startup ecosystem in Palo Alto.”