CAFE X — Restaurant in Millbrae

I stumbled upon CafeX near baggage claim and felt a strange mix of curiosity and sympathy for the poor robot barista—looked like it had just finished a long-haul flight itself and stretching and flexing its muscles. Out of sheer empathy (and a slight caffeine withdrawal), I scanned the QR code and ordered a Pumpkin Chai Latte.

The ordering was slick, but watching the robot “work” was the real entertainment. Imagine a bored hibachi chef performing with invisible knives—equal parts acrobatics and existential crisis. It stretched, spun, and flexed its metallic arm like it was auditioning for “So You Think You Can Brew?”

The latte? So so. A bit pricey, but you’re paying for the show… and perhaps for the robot’s therapy fund. Worth trying once, if only to witness the future of mildly depressed automation in action. If there more people ordering it would stretch the lines longer than...

I went in interested because they had Onyx coffee - a top roaster from around the world. That’s despite the whole robot shtick which to me is a minus. I’d rather pay a little more for good customer service and coffee. Turns out the robot is also very bad at making coffee. It’s basically an arm that moves coffee made from a super automatic machine. The whole thing is unnecessary. One person could man this stand and do a better job and make way better...

Don't get duped by like me. I thought the concept was really cool and saw Onyx coffee so I figured they were putting out a good product. I tried both a coffee product and the "drinking chocolate". Coffee was watered down and terrible while the "drinking chocolate" reminded me of an expired Swiss Miss packet that you would get at a police station or a DMV. Absolutely would not recommend, I'm kinda embarrassed I...