LA Restaurant Tigawok Serves Robot-Cooked Chinese Food at Affordable Prices | Eater LA
"At 2224 Sawtelle Boulevard in Sawtelle Japantown, Tigawok debuted on May 31 as Los Angeles’s first robot-powered Chinese quick-service restaurant; veteran restaurateurs Tomas Su and Kelvin Wang describe it as “if Panda Express and Chipotle had a baby, but offered more traditional Chinese cuisine.” The minimalist 1,500-square-foot storefront operates cafeteria-style—customers take a tray and preview 15 to 18 staples presented up front in small bowls—featuring dishes such as braised pork rice, mapo tofu, sweet tomato with scrambled eggs, kung pao chicken, Hunan pepper pork, cola chicken, and xiao long bao, with entrees priced between $2.99 and $5.99; eight to ten items remain fixed while about eight rotate seasonally. Most dishes cook in three to five minutes (the longest is Su’s mother’s Henan chile at nine minutes); the robot wok chefs, mostly hidden in the rear kitchen and designed in China with FDA-certified distribution, mimic “wok hei,” reach up to 600°F, can add up to 16 seasonings, test temperatures, automatically wash and sanitize in under 30 seconds, and can have recipes uploaded and distributed across devices to ensure consistency. Ingredients are prepped daily in a central Los Angeles kitchen, a lean staff of five to six runs peak service, there’s no tip screen, and the owners say the automation helps keep prices low; Tigawok is open seven days a week, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. and 5 p.m.–9 p.m., and the founders have already secured a second location in Burbank while eyeing Irvine." - Kristie Hang
