This pho restaurant opened in July in Stevens Point, Portage County, Wisconsin, USA. It specializes in serving traditional Vietnamese pho dishes and many other Asian dishes.
The restaurant owner, Minh Nguyen, said the robots are one of the main attractions for diners when dining at the restaurant. Children love seeing robots in the dining room, so the staff often bring drinks along with the robots to the tables to attract young customers.
The restaurant owner said the idea for the robot came from some of the challenges he faced when opening. He struggled to find enough staff. The layout of the restaurant required servers to carry multiple dishes—usually hot and cold—from the kitchen to the dining area. At first, he thought about using a cart, but it often got stuck on the tile floor.
The robots can solve the problem of carrying up to 10 bowls at a time, making it faster and easier for the waiters. The owner said the waiters also act as bartenders. So while the bartenders are making drinks, the robots can bring food and other items to the customers.
However, robots cannot completely replace waiters. At the restaurant, waiters still interact with all customers, receiving and processing their requests.
Anh Minh said the most popular dish here is the full pho dish including beef belly, rare beef, meatballs and ribs. The restaurant's menu also offers many other special pho dishes, pad Thai, special banh mi, spring rolls, french fries, rice dishes, sandwiches...
The restaurant is open from 10am to 8pm Tuesday to Saturday, from 11am to 4pm Sunday every week.
