a restaurant where you choose and pay for your meal before you carry it to a table. Cafeterias are often found in factories, colleges, hospitals, etc. 自助餐厅；自助食堂 Consumer groups were urging school cafeterias to serve healthier food. 消费者团体敦促学校食堂提供更健康的食物。
Oxford Collocations DictionaryCafeteria is used before these nouns:- menu
- table
- tray
- …
Word Originmid 19th cent. (originally US): from Latin American Spanish cafetería ‘coffee shop’.