Originally Posted by GadgetFreak

They are called cafeterias in the US. Many years ago there was an outstanding one in Texas called Lubys. Very good food made on site. Each store manager was responsible for getting locally purchased ingredients and making the dishes on site. There was a real home cooked air to the place. No idea what they are like now. I hope they are the same.

Unfortunately, most places figure they can save a few bucks by making the food in a central place and shipping it and such and as a result it pretty quickly spirals to crap. Some local places remain, been to a few but I suspect they are rare.