At the busy Sizzling House restaurant in Mesa, BellaBot, a sleek cat-inspired robot, delivers ramen bowls and sizzling rice dishes to hungry customers.
BellaBot replaced part of the traditional waitstaff when the restaurant opened in late May last year. The robot cost around $16,000. The investment paid off, drawing online attention as diners capture moments with the white-colored robo server.
During a recent visit to the restaurant in Mekong Plaza, BellaBot brought ramen to our table, but human servers placed the bowls down. While BellaBot gets much attention, the restaurant’s popular Chinese and Japanese dishes are the real draw.
One standout item is the Wagyu ramen bowl, a fan favorite. It's packed with chunks of beef, a boiled egg, wood ear mushrooms, seaweed, bean sprouts and green onions in a chicken-based broth. Customers can choose between thin or thick noodles and select from five spice levels, ranging from none to extreme.
At $27, it's the most expensive item on the menu. Still, the rich, marbled Wagyu beef makes for an unforgettable ramen experience — aside from watching BellaBot deliver food at up to 1.2 meters per second.
Customers don’t have to tip BellaBot, and it doesn’t mind. Patrons can scratch its orange-accented ears to activate its digital face, which might say, "Hey, you tapped me on the head," adding a playful touch to the dining experience. The tactile feedback system inside BellaBot allows it to sense and respond to touch.
"The robot serves 3 to 4 bowls at a time," says Tiffany Lin, the restaurant's manager. "It could carry more, but we stick to four for safety."
Another popular dish is the Black Garlic Tonkotsu Ramen, made with pork broth and black garlic oil. The large serving comes with chashu pork, egg, wood ear mushrooms, bean sprouts, seaweed and green onions.
"Each order is made fresh," Lin says. "If it’s not busy, it takes 5-10 minutes; if it’s busy, up to 20 minutes."
Adding proteins like shrimp, chicken, pork and extra toppings can extend the wait time, but appetizers arrive quickly. The $5.99 fried dumplings, soft on one side and connected by a crispy skirt on the other, are a popular choice, as are the garlic-flavored or plain edamame and the four-piece Spring Rolls. After serving the appetizers, BellaBot returns to the chefs and kitchen helpers.
In the kitchen, the chef loads orders onto BellaBot's four trays, selects the table on the keypad, and the robot navigates to its destination using a LiDAR (light detection and ranging) unit. It can detect obstacles up to 30 feet away and adjust its path when encountering people or objects in its way.
BellaBot replaced part of the traditional waitstaff when the restaurant opened in late May last year. The robot cost around $16,000. The investment paid off, drawing online attention as diners capture moments with the white-colored robo server.
During a recent visit to the restaurant in Mekong Plaza, BellaBot brought ramen to our table, but human servers placed the bowls down. While BellaBot gets much attention, the restaurant’s popular Chinese and Japanese dishes are the real draw.
One standout item is the Wagyu ramen bowl, a fan favorite. It's packed with chunks of beef, a boiled egg, wood ear mushrooms, seaweed, bean sprouts and green onions in a chicken-based broth. Customers can choose between thin or thick noodles and select from five spice levels, ranging from none to extreme.
At $27, it's the most expensive item on the menu. Still, the rich, marbled Wagyu beef makes for an unforgettable ramen experience — aside from watching BellaBot deliver food at up to 1.2 meters per second.
Customers don’t have to tip BellaBot, and it doesn’t mind. Patrons can scratch its orange-accented ears to activate its digital face, which might say, "Hey, you tapped me on the head," adding a playful touch to the dining experience. The tactile feedback system inside BellaBot allows it to sense and respond to touch.
"The robot serves 3 to 4 bowls at a time," says Tiffany Lin, the restaurant's manager. "It could carry more, but we stick to four for safety."
Another popular dish is the Black Garlic Tonkotsu Ramen, made with pork broth and black garlic oil. The large serving comes with chashu pork, egg, wood ear mushrooms, bean sprouts, seaweed and green onions.
"Each order is made fresh," Lin says. "If it’s not busy, it takes 5-10 minutes; if it’s busy, up to 20 minutes."
For appetizers, the $5.99 fried dumplings, crispy on one side and soft on the other, are a popular choice, as are the garlic or plain edamame (right) and the four-piece Spring Rolls (top).
Mario Orduño
In the kitchen, the chef loads orders onto BellaBot's four trays, selects the table on the keypad, and the robot navigates to its destination using a LiDAR (light detection and ranging) unit. It can detect obstacles up to 30 feet away and adjust its path when encountering people or objects in its way.
BellaBot also serves the restaurant's aptly named sizzling plates.
"The sizzling plates can reach 355 degrees," Lin explains. "That’s why we have servers handle the food when the robot arrives. BellaBot is programmed to say, 'Hey, your food is ready, be careful — it’s hot.'"
On our visit, a server handed off a sizzling rice platter with shrimp and another with salmon, both served with corn, edamame, garlic butter and green onions. Each $16.99 platter is protected by a cardboard sleeve reading "mix to enjoy," which helps prevent spills and keeps diners from getting singed. Customers can choose between rice or noodles for their sizzling dishes.
The wooden grain tables and matching chairs create a visually appealing setting, perfect for photos or videos.
Mario Orduño
Standing at 4 feet tall and weighing about 120 lbs., BellaBot is designed to be bottom-heavy to prevent it from toppling over. A full charge lets it work for 13 hours, but if it’s heavily loaded, the staff can swap out its battery during the restaurant's daily hours of 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
"BellaBot serves about 100 times a day on weekends and about 50 times a day on weekdays," Lin says. "It's a hard worker."
Every night, the staff powers down BellaBot, wipes it clean, and charges its battery for service the next day.
