The future has arrived in the form of Easta, a fully automated lunch spot in the heart of the Financial District. Time Out San Francisco swung by Eatsa for an automated lunch—and OMG we love it.
Buzz abounds for this new take on lunch, so naturally, we had to wait in line. Though hungry lunchers shouldn't fear—the Eatsa line moves oddly fast. Fast is the name of the game at Eatsa, where lunch arrives via a super-swift automated system much like the cartoon Jetson's family enjoyed in outer space.
Here's how it works: diners enter the streamlined, hyper-modern space and approach a wall-mounted iPad. There, they can quickly and intuitively select from the menu, place an order and swipe a card. Within seconds, the diner's first name and last initial appear on an overhead screen (much like at the airport) and within minutes, the name is highlighted and associated with a numbered cubby where food then miraculously appears.
The vegetarian menu is comprised solely of quinoa bowls with various toppings. The Balsamic Beet Bowl and Steakhouse Salad bowl (both $6.95) looked great to us, but the Build-A-Bowl option was too fun to resist. Diners can pick a flavored quinoa, add arugula or mixed greens and select from vegetarian toppings like roasted potatoes, corn, avocado, marinated beets, goat cheese, fried parsnip chips, peanuts... we could go on. The topping list is dangerously temping, includes an array of sauces and naturally all costs extra. Our bowl started at $6.95 and ended up tipping the scales at $12.
If we do say so ourselves, we build quite the bowl. Our lunch, consumed at the handful of tables just outside Easta, was delicious and filling. We were particularly happy with our spicy Buffalo sauce, pickled beets and curried parsnip strips.
The iPad order screen contains nutritional information and adjusts as one adds or subtracts from their bowl. According to the rare human employee (!) we spotted, San Francisco's outpost offers a side of Brussels sprout chips which sell out by 11:30am. Low sugar, low calorie sparkling sodas are available for just $0.95. We tried the Sparkling Cucumber Melon (35 calories) and fell in love. The drink, served right up in that cubby, complete with a straw, tastes like organic Fresca and should be available in coin-operated dispensers around the world.
Everything at Easta is as streamlined as Ikea on a weekday morning. The food is delicious and relatively healthy. And the novelty experience is thrillingly futuristic. We'll be back.