I think it was probably in the high school cafeteria. The cafeteria in the North Texas State Univ. was also pretty grim in the early 1970's,and McDonald's has some truly awful stuff. I hope their Euro locations are better. If the VA hospital cafeteria has burgers, I'm sure they're awful.
The Burger Street drive-ins in the Dallas area are usually pretty good for that sort of food. The one I use is actually pretty palatable. It's near my primary grocer, so I eat there a lot.
I posted recently about trying a burger at the downtown Dallas Hooter's, with KSCS 96.3 FM midday radio hostess Kim Stewart. (Kim has told me it's okay to name her and post photos taken there, although I don't know how to post pics here, and have no Online photo host. That's a C&W station, so I'd never heard of Kim until we met while on jury duty. I'm more into pop, New Age, and classical music. But I had no quarrel with her suggestion that we try Hooter's.

)
I did pay attention to the food, despite ogling the waitresses, and I'd say their burgers are better than most fast food places, but not quite equal to the ones at the Burger Street I patronize.
But the best burgers that I've ever encountered were at Snuffer's on lower Greenville Ave. in Dallas. It's a sit-down place, and they used to have some waitresses who were off duty flight attendants and SMU students. I haven't been in there for a couple of years, and this burger discussion will probably stir me thence. Be warned: parking is at a premium. The fries have enough grease in them to make an Arab oil-producing country jealous, but they're good...in moderation. My daughter used to order their chicken breast sandwiches, which are probably healthier. But the burgers are the best I've had, I think. And I believe they use real ground round beef, not synthetic pseudo-meat.
BTW, the curly fries at Hooter's and at Burger Street are pretty good, and Hooter's also has fried dill pickles. I liked them better than expected, but the sauce they serve didn't appeal. They can sub. bleu cheese dressing or catsup.
And they had enough onions. Red onions are something that I want on a hamburger. They even help to clear a stuffy nose.
Hooter's has the cutest servers, and outfits. Sure beats using a drive-by window at Burger King!
Can any of you guys recall when they had waitresses who skated out to your car at drive-in burger places? Later, they just walked out.They were called carhops, I think. Haven't seen any in years. And not many independent burger parlors like those that employed them!
T-Star