04 May 2023 , 16:10
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A new restaurant employs robot waiters to take your order, deliver your food and provide some cheery bleeping sounds as you dine.
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Sakura is a Japanese all-you-can-eat dining space on Cheetham Hill Road on Manchester where robot waiters greet you with announcements and chirping sounds, Manchester Evening News reported.
The robots let you order your food using a tablet at the table before serving you the appropriate dish, making it the perfect place for introvert diners who prefer avoiding small talk.
The restaurant offers a range of nigiri, maki, teppanyaki and other Japanese delights for around £30 per person, which isn't bad given they've had to invest in the mechanical helpers.
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Sakura Japanese restaurant on Cheetham Hill Road (MEN MEDIA)The venue is keen to point out that it is "robot-assisted", so if something goes wrong you can speak to a person rather than explain the complexities of an over-cooked steak to a confused looking tin can.
On the menu there are soups, dons, rice dishes, sweet and sour chicken, chicken wings, chips, crab claws, tempura and even ribeye steak rolls that are all part of the all you can eat offering.
It’s a dream come true for big eaters and robotics fans, but the reality might not live up to your expectations for everyone.
Reporter Ben Arnold visited the high-tech hotspot to see whether it was worth the hype, and came away feeling that it wasn't.
Prawn tempura, squid rings and dumplings are on the menu (MEN MEDIA)“I went in wanting it to be great, truly I did, but ended up wanted it to stop after the first few three dishes. They start out cute," Ben wrote.
"One turns up at the table with a bowl of prawn crackers and some kimchi as a little entrée that I’ve not ordered, and that’s fun too.
“But then it just stands there, side on, its blinking robot face staring the other way. Do I have to tip? Say thanks? Goodbye? Is it watching me? It gets bored of this eventually, and tells me to touch its face panel to signal it can get back to work, which I do, and it does. It’s a relief.”
When the robot waiter returned with the food he had ordered, he found himself unimpressed and feeling like the "strong, instantly detectable flavour" of cumin was overpowering his meal.
The duck was not a success in Ben's mind (MEN MEDIA)“The chewy, greasy squares of cumin brisket had been nowhere near it. The lamb chop was a sorry flap of protein with a perm of thin, spiralised carrot perched on top like a man wearing a sad and obvious toupée," he continued.
“I still don’t know what was inside the deep fried sesame balls, but might start using the phrase as an insult. The grilled chicken gyoza were barely room temperature, so I didn’t eat them beyond a first exploratory bite.”
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The restaurant lets you order five items every 10 minutes from the tablet at your table. However after a while, Ben began to feel that the robot’s greetings became like "a catchphrase from a horror movie".
The robot waiters may not be replacing their human counterparts anytime soon (MEN MEDIA)He was also unimpressed by the food, including the lemon chicken, sweet and sour chicken, duck and katsu.
However having a robot waiter to whom you could pass the food meant he swerved an awkward chat with the waiter, adding: "It felt a bit cowardly doing it that way, but better that than having to explain to an actual real person how bad they were".
He described the desserts as "inedible".
As for the overall experience? "It was a depressing vision of a future that as a species we probably deserve, a grim purgatory we will have brought upon ourselves," he said.