The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 3 letter word TABLE MAT
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
T
A
B
L
E
M
A
T
More clues leading to the result TABLE MAT
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "something seen at meal time" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case something seen at meal time = table mat.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.