From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Eating \Eat"ing\, n.
1. The act of tasking food; the act of consuming or
corroding.
[1913 Webster]
2. Something fit to be eaten; food; as, a peach is good
eating. [Colloq.]
[1913 Webster]
Eating house, a house where cooked provisions are sold, to
be eaten on the premises.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
eating house
n 1: a building where people go to eat [syn: restaurant,
eating house, eating place, eatery]