A patron opens a cabinet for her meal. (Photo courtesy Moki Media)

Tomorrow, hungry DC office workers can step into the future a little with the opening of San Francisco-based Eatsa on K Street.

The futuristic fast casual food chain will open its first DC location at 1627 K St. NW, serving up quinoa-centric salad bowls through an ordering system that could have been inspired by The Jetsons cartoon. As a patron, you walk into Eatsa, and order your quinoa bowl from a specially mounted iPad inside the entrance. You can order a standard bowl or customize your order, and then your meal slides into a specialized cabinet with your name on it within a few minutes at the other end of the room.

Sampling two of the standard bowls last week proved illuminating and tasty! Eatsa’s teriyaki Bento Bowl — with edamame, stir-fry quinoa, and apple-cabbage slaw — and the Burrito Bowl — with guacamole, asada portobello mushrooms, and tortilla chips — were both delicious and quite filling. Eatsa bowls start at a price point of $6.95, and you also can purchase an assortment of side items, ranging from chips to fruit to parfait (quinoa-based parfait, albeit).

Check out the Bento Bowl and Burrito Bowl, pictured below:

The ordering system is really slick, and produces a meal quite quickly if you’re in a hurry. Eatsa staffers are on hand if you have trouble ordering as a first-time customer. Essentially, however, the food ordering and delivery system tracks you through a credit card used to buy the food at an iPad kiosk. It will remember your order history as well for those of us who like to order the same thing quickly. Once you place the order, Eatsa places your name on a board where the “cubbie” delivery system will produce your meal. Customers also can order meals through the Eatsa mobile app and thus skip the line for the in-store kiosks.

“Customers are looking for a new take on fast food, and Eatsa fills that void by combining the speed and affordability of fast food with delicious flavors and premium wholesome ingredients,” said Eatsa CEO Tim Young in a statement. “Besides providing delicious food to happy customers, we want to dispel two common food service notions: that food served fast must be junk food and that healthy food is always more expensive.”

Eatsa is poised to fulfill those goals quite handily! The DC location officially opens Tuesday, Nov. 29., and its hours will be 7am-6pm, Monday through Friday.

Here are a few more pictures of Eatsa’s interior on K Street. Parklife DC visited Eatsa at the invitation of the establishment. If you would like to invite us to check out your restaurant or bar, email us at parklifedc AT gmail.com.