Robot versus Human Waiters in Baguio City
Restaurant Experiences at Good Taste and Oh My Gulay
There was a line to go inside Good Taste Restaurant in Baguio City. I was intrigued. The food might be excellent to get a line that long. Honestly, it was not. Although I am not a professional food critique, I know when the taste is off. But that was not the interesting part of this food experience. For the first time in the Philippines, I saw a robot deliver food and it happened there. In this post, I will compare my experience at Good Taste and Oh My Gulay (Vegetable).
Irritating Sound Heralded the Robot
There was an irritating sound that kept on and on besides me. My two friends, who came from the restroom, told me our food arrived. There was no server so I was confused. They pointed at the small appliance with a catlike head nearby. Within it were trays containing our food. It has a sign that read: “Please get your order as soon as the robot arrives at your table. Thank you.” Good Taste is using robots to deliver food and the irritating sound heralded its arrival. That was the extent of its service. We had to wave and call waiters to pay our bill and ask for baggies to bring home almost half of our order. Just in case you want to know what we ate, our receipt said:
Half Garlic Chicken - 330 pesos
Beef Bulalo - 670 peso
White Rice - 33 pesos
Calamansi Juice - 100 pesos
We brought back to the hotel both the chicken and beef bulalo which the hotel staff at Microtel reheated for us the next day. Later, we decided to eat at Oh My Gulay which is a vegetarian restaurant that exhibits art.
Live Waiters in an Artist Restaurant
The security guard instructed us to go up the stairs. Unfortunately, the restaurant was on the 5th floor. Then, we saw a sign that it close at 7:00 PM. It was almost 6:00 PM but we still went inside to order.
The place was cozy and artistic as shown in the pictures above. We ordered meals that were creatively named as:
Chili Konwari - 250 pesos
Pancit Gulay ni Pepe - 225 pesos
Bandilang Pula - 225 pesos
Dayap Ice Tea - 120 pesos
Limonada - 120 pesos
Truthfully, I forgot what those food items were except for pancit (rice noodles). They tasted good and, unlike at Good Taste, we finished each item while tasting each other’s order. Around 6:30 PM, a waiter gave us our bill. Before 7:00 PM, they were ready to usher us out. They plan to close on time.
Comparison
So were the live waiters better than the robot? No. Each restaurant created systems that work for them. The live waiters at Good Taste were busy but available when called. The waiters at the other restaurant were present but did not interact with us more. The difference is in their ambiance, creativity in naming food and taste where Oh My Gulay is better and cheaper. Next, I will share my observation about Metro Manila footbridges.
Note: My Philippine travel posts will end of 2024. Afterwards, I will switch my focus to educational issues based on my dissertation and classroom experiences.
I will follow a book-in-progress style with some posts exclusively for paid subscribers only. My goals are:
to highlight the Filipino-American relationship in education, specifically about the establishment of special education in the Philippines
to share historical details that I discovered in the DC area that are relatively unknown in the Philippines and the USA which might shed light on why there is a special relationship between the two countries
to introduce Delia Delight Rice, who established the first SPED school in the Philippines, to more educators
to see parallel educational strategies that Ms. Rice did and what resourceful Filipino teachers in the USA are doing to survive in the classroom
My goals might change through time depending on your feedback. If you are not an educator, please refer this online newsletter to others who would be interested in this topic. Thank you for reading and supporting Pilipinas Info.
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