1. Hajime (Thailand)
The Hajime Restaurant in Bangkok is Thailand's first Japanese robot restaurant, where all the serving waiters are robots.
Customers order their food on a touchscreen display and their robotic waiter will whizz into action. The friendly robots will also dance to entertain as they work and go out to collect empty dishes at the customers' table. The owner of the Hajime Japanese restaurant, Lapassarad Thanaphant, said she spent 30 million baht ($927,600) on the restaurant including the purchase of four robots from Japan.
Customers order their food on a touchscreen display and their robotic waiter will whizz into action. The friendly robots will also dance to entertain as they work and go out to collect empty dishes at the customers' table. The owner of the Hajime Japanese restaurant, Lapassarad Thanaphant, said she spent 30 million baht ($927,600) on the restaurant including the purchase of four robots from Japan.
2. Miracle of Science, (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
Opened in 1991, Miracle of Science stands strong as the leader in geek-chic. Its menu is hand written onto the wall and it was one of the first restaurants to employ the open floor concept. This place is always packed with artists, musicians, geo physicists and computer gurus who know they don't have to go anywhere else looking for a good time.(Link)
3. World of Warcraft (China)
A World of Warcraft themed restaurant in central Beijing, serving WoW inspired food under Azeroth-themed murals. The food remains a mystery - if any readers want to translate the menu please do - but there do seem to be PCs there so we suspect a slight LAN party ambience. Maybe not the ideal venue for that anniversary dinner you promised your significant other.(Link)
4. Barcade (Brooklyn, NY)
In 2004, five friends came together and opened their own bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Each had been working in either film/TV or graphic design in New York and four of them had attended Syracuse University together. They were enthusiastic about American craft beer and had grown up in the 1980's playing classic arcade games. Looking to start their own business, they decided to take a chance and combine the two passions. Barcade is a bar with a dual focus; an endless rotation of American craft beer and an equally eclectic lineup of classic arcade games.
5. Mundo Tapas Bar (Sydney)
Mundo Tapas in North Sydney provides an iPad as the menu for customers to browse and order from. Diners can now see a picture of what each dish looks like and view tasting notes before making that all important decision of what to order. So come on in and spice up your senses and be part of the new way to dine.(Link)
6. Library Bar (Los Angeles, CA)
The Library Bar is a very nice place for geeks to hang out. The books on its shelves were probably purchased by the yard and it's located next to, yep, the library, shtick that could killer lesser operations. However, this handsome bar has a stellar craftsman beer list, comfortable seats and no attitude. If you're hungry, the barkeep hands you a menu and a phone so you can place a delivery order from the Wolfgang Puck Gourmet Express next door.
(Link)
7. moJo iCuisine( Taiwan)
Imagine a world where you could go to a nice sit-down dinner and not have to worry about when the waiter would come by to take your order. A restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan called moJo iCuisine achieves just that by letting the customer browse through the menu and even order through an interactive touch-enabled table. The food is described as a mix of “western food, fusion, and molecular gastronomy.” The interface was designed to be viewed from both directions, so both you and your dining partner can play with the interface from opposite ends of the table. You can also choose what kind of “table cloth” you'd like to cover the table with while you're dining.
8. Clo Wine Bar ( New York, NY)
Clo Wine Bar: Proof that the moneyed set have fully embraced the digital age, this wine bar centers around a communal table with an elaborate interactive touch-screen surface. On the fourth floor of the Time Warner Center (joining the likes of Per Se, Masa, and Porter House), Clo makes choosing from more than 100 international wines (available in 2 oz. and 4 oz. pours, as well as by the bottle) as easy as buying music on an iPhone. Patrons can scan through illustrations of each bottle with their fingertips, and with the swipe of a credit card, an Enomatic dispenser squirts out the wine.(Link)
