Hm. I gave every dwarf a 2x2 bedroom with bed, cabinet, and much later a coffer ...
Food setup: a) Large prepared food stockpiles under each dining hall. Seemed to get used when dwarves got hungry after sleeping.
b) Outdoors plants stockpile, most dwarves who got hungry outdoors or in the barracks went there to get strawberries etc, c) indoor plants stockpile next to workshop, a favorite hangout of my fortress watch and hungry farmers.
Dining rooms setup:
a) these huge dining halls (2) with statues and engravings, next to the bedrooms deep in the fort. These hardly ever got used.
b) a couple of cheap chairs and tables next to food stockpiles, with like gold floors. These were used very often.
c) two left-over 3x3 dining rooms (high quality, engraved) somewhat close to outdoors food stockpiles. Used a fair bit.
Most common dwarves seemed to eat either standing up, or in whatever table (1) is closest to the stockpile where they got their food from. Dwarves who have their own dining room: Same behavior; seems to depend on where they are when they get hungry.
Once a dwarf gets hungry, IMO they path to the closest stockpile that has something they want and can afford (meal or edible fruit). Once once they have that food item, they IMO evaluate paths to their own table (if they have one) and the closest unoccupied one, and choose whichever of these is closest.
(1) table + chair, table assigned as dining room, no owner.
(2) large engraved room, lots of table+chair combinations, statues, only one of the tables assigned as dining room (no owner)