Canteen - It is an eating place where schools, factories, and companies provide food, drinks etc. Dining hall - It is a very basic one. A large room where people eat together. Cafeteria - It is a place where you select food from a counter and pay for it before eating.

Cafeteria, A New York Institution For Twenty-Five Years. Cafeteria.” Since we opened our doors in the summer of 1998, dining at Cafeteria has become a rite of passage for New York's movers-and-shakers and visitors alike for twenty-five years.