Robot Restaurants and Other Fun Automated Spots in Chicago

While 2024 doesn't look exactly like the future we watched play out on The Jetsons, one exception may be the robot restaurants popping up all over Chicago. We found a dozen restaurants (and one hotel) with robot servers delivering food or drinks, and some with robots helping in the back of the house. They were a great impetus to get our kids to try new foods with a little added fun!

For more restaurant fun in Chicago, check out these themed restaurants, the best restaurants with room for kids to play, and the best breweries and beer gardens for families in and near Chicago. 

Robot Restaurants in and Around Chicago

The X Pot—South Loop

This Asian wagyu and sushi restaurant also has locations in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, and it provides dinner and an experience for families looking to connect with modern Asian culture. A cute robot delivers the meals so chefs can focus on making the best food possible; families can also enjoy a traditional face-changing ceremony and a noodle dance where kids can see noodles made right in front of them! 

Kids who aren't wagyu beef eaters quite yet will love the tempura or udon, and consider trying out the 5D room where families can feel like they're eating under the ocean.

Shabu-You—Schaumburg

The adorable robot servers at this suburban Japanese hot pot buffet bring a variety of meats and seafood to your table so the chefs can focus on creating the perfect dishes. Enjoy wagyu, snow crab, sushi, pork belly, and more, priced per person. The buffet includes plenty of cute desserts for kids, too!

Sushi Naper—Naperville

Pick all-you-can-eat or order an entree at this Naperville sushi restaurant and have your order delivered on trays from a smiling cat robot waiter. The all-you-can-eat menu includes some distinctly non-sushi items for kids who aren't into raw fish: chicken nuggets, veggie tempura, and coconut shrimp. The regular menu also has all the katsus, teriyakis, and fried rices you could want!

Sushi Plus—Chinatown, Lakeview, and Aurora

These rotary sushi bars have all the bells and whistles. In addition to the sushi conveyor belt, a train above the belt delivers made-to-order food to your table. A robot waiter can bring out drinks and other dishes. Loyal visitors can get a punch card that entitles them to spin the wheel of fortune on their 15th visit for up to $50 off their total bill. The menu has plenty of choices, too, from the typical sushi items to poke bowls to ramen to agemono and yakimono.

Bawarchi Biryanis—Naperville

If you want a robot server to bring you a different kind of cuisine, check out Bawarchi Biryanis on the border of Naperville and Aurora. The Indian restaurant serves a variety of biryanis (rice and meat dishes with various spices), as well as soup, noodles, curries, naan, and kebabs. Stick around for traditional Indian desserts like Gulab Jamun.

 
Kura Revolving Sushi Bar. Photo by Maureen Wilkey

Kura Revolving Sushi Bar—Naperville, Oak Brook, Schaumburg, and Skokie

At this chain of robot restaurants, the rotary conveyor belt brings your food and the robot server brings the drinks. Each sushi plate is just $3.50, and my kids loved the seared salmon nigiri and caterpillar rolls. Plus watermelon and edamame regularly come around on the rotary, and you can order a keychain with a toy featuring one of their favorite bites from the restaurant. 

Haidilao—Chinatown

Cook your own hot pot at the table while the robot brings proteins, noodles, and vegetables. The human waiter brings your broth to the well in the middle of the table, and you order the rest of the goodies to your table. This robot isn't as cutesy as some of the others, but it's still fun, and kids may love cooking their food tableside.

CM Chicken—Aurora, Glenview, and Lincolnwood

I have one kid who would exclusively eat chicken fingers and fries if I let them, so it's good to see a fried chicken place with robot waiters. This place is Korean; you can get chicken plain, curry, garlic soy, garlic-spicy, or red hot. The cute robot waiter can bring other fun fried items like fries, cheese sticks, shrimp, or calamari. 

Jiang Niu BBQ—Chinatown, Lakeview, and Orland Park

This all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue restaurant has a robot delivering various meats, vegetables, and rice to the table to grill tableside! The best parts for the kids may be the treats—including pineapple and supplies for s'mores to grill yourself. Be sure to go during happy hour for special pricing—kids three and under are free, 3-5 are $7.59, and big kids are $13.99.

Royal Sushi—North Park

A highly animated robot brings food and drinks to your table at this northwest-side sushi restaurant, with fun music to go along with it. Choose an entree like chicken teriyaki, a two or three-roll platter, or individual rolls, and add boba tea for extra fun!

Sweetgreen—Naperville

There are plenty of locations of Sweetgreen, the fast-casual health food purveyor. But the downtown Naperville location was the first to boast an Infinite Kitchen, which is like a robot assembly line for creating healthy bowls. It drops a bowl onto its conveyor belt and then dispenses each ingredient into the bowl as it passes, giving you the perfect meal with no actual human interaction.

We love their kids' options—the Ranchy Chicken Rice, Little Harvest, and Mini Mezze each have healthy grilled chicken with kid-friendly veggie and carb sides.

Mall of India Food Court—Naperville

Nala Robotics operates the kitchens of several restaurants within the Mall of India Food Court in Naperville including Nala Chef, One Mean Chicken, and Surya Tiffins. This is the reverse of most restaurants on our list—the robots do the cooking while the humans do the service, but the proprietors say the food is more consistent when made by robots! 

Try to get a peek behind the scenes to see robots cooking up Indian curries and breakfast dishes or hot chicken wings.

 
Photo courtesy of Hotel EMC2

Hotel EMC2—Streeterville

These robots bring your food a little farther. The adorably named Leo and Cleo are robot butlers that bring room service food from the kitchen to your hotel room, saving staff the extra steps to get to individual floors in this posh River North hotel. They're on call 24/7 and dressed in their finest to bring guests the best service robots can offer.