Sadly buffet- cousin cafeterias have pretty near disappeared. They were the mainstay of traveling families when I was young, though never got into the northeast.
In Texas, cafeterias such as Luby’s, Furrs and Picadilly always tried to one up each other, and to compete as food tastes changed.
I do like to eat at “local” cafeterias when I travel. I stopped at S&S Cafeteria in Macon (?) a couple of years ago. Wow, my g-parents would have been completely at home and my kids would have been scandalized. Everything from canned turnip greens, generic mashed potatoes to smothered steak still lives there. I must admit, it was interesting watching the black-white interaction at the restaurant, with older blacks acting very different from younger blacks.
Between regional variations in cooking, and changes in tastes and mass food preparation, everyone should try sampling some of the cafeterias that inhabit our fine country.
Much like eating at diners on the East Coast, which used to be all Greek owned and operated, we are seeing a change in ownership, employees and cooking that will soon exist only in our memories.