I tried looking around for something similar, but didn't find anything quite like this in the suggestions.
With the dwarves constantly going into the food storage to get food and drink, it really doesn't make the dining room very useful. So a solution. Cafeteria line and buffet line equipment. Have all the common food service equipment that could be load up with various food items to serve out to dwarves. This would also make plates, cups, and utensils useful. Also, putting drinks on tap would make so much sense.
How would this all work?
1. Make a dinning room.
2. Put in a cafeteria register. This would be the command item for the room. Designate an area for a cafeteria or buffet. Without an economy, the two would be mostly the same. With an economy: Buffets are pay once and eat as much, and Cafeterias are pay per item.
3. Add plates, cups, and utensil stands. This is where dwarves will storage and retrieve such items.
4. Add food serving stands. This is where ready for consumption food is put in. You can designate the food to place in here.
5. Add drink stands. This is where you tap the kegs and fill up cups. you can designate the kegs to place here.
6. Add cleaning stands. This would clean plates, cups, and utensils for future use.
7. The place could be staffed by peasants as the labor is simple enough, but they would going experience in the Food Service skill. They reload stands, run the register, and clean.
Benefits:
1. Dwarves stop making constant, long trips to food storage. Dwarves will find a cafeteria or buffet first, before going to food storage. Then, they'll look for a dining area or place to eat their food.
2. Served food gets a little more mileage out of it. Depending on the skill of the food service workers, you'll feed more people for less and it'll be more enjoyable food.
3. When the economy is enabled, you'll be able to either provide cheap food for the masses or nickel and dime them for everything.
4. The cafeteria and buffets will also increase the variety in a dwarves diet per meal even.
5. Stands individually can be used to place easily accessible food to areas away from the dining area: Putting booze around work areas (and barracks), food in hospitals, and snacks around housing.
6. Being able to serve a lot of dwarves efficiently.
Disadvantages:
1. More workers to keep things going.
2. More equipment
3. Pissed off dwarves when a stand runs out of their favorite item. "Dammit! They're out of scalloped plump helmet!"