食堂(shí táng) - dining hall, canteen in Mandarin

食堂 (shítáng) is the canteen or dining hall, the place students and staff eat at a school, university or workplace. 食 (shí) means "to eat, food" and 堂 (táng) means "hall", the same 堂 as in 礼堂 (lǐtáng), "assembly hall".

It is specifically an institutional canteen, cheap and communal, not a restaurant you would choose for a night out; that word is 餐厅 (cāntīng). 去食堂吃饭 (qù shítáng chī fàn), "go to the canteen to eat", is one of the most common things a student says all day.

一个食堂 (yí gè shítáng) is "one canteen". Most schools and universities only have one or two, so it usually appears with 学校 (xuéxiào), "school", right in front of it: 学校食堂 (xuéxiào shítáng).