ROTIMATIC Review!
Have you jumped on the Rotimatic bandwagon yet? My family has and they love it; it was my mom’s Mother’s Day gift this year. Hey hey, no need to be jelly. She has a bunch of kids; we split the cost! They have had their Rotimatic for over one month now and use it daily. I live in my own home with my husband and daughter, so while this Rotimatic is not mine; I have had plenty of opportunity to test it.
According to the Rotimatic website, “Rotimatic is the world’s first fully integrated solution that measures, mixes, kneads, flattens, cooks, puffs and delights. All in one!”
In a nutshell:
Overall Rating. ⭐⭐⭐
Convenience – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Quality of roti – ⭐⭐⭐
Design – ⭐⭐⭐
Price – ⭐
Shipping time – ⭐
Customer service – No personal experience
**Detailed Review**
Packaging, Shipping, Delivery:
My friend ordered one around Easter and got hers a week later. We ordered it one week before Mother’s Day and were told it would take SIX WEEKS to be delivered. This is definitely improvement compared to the 1+ year long waiting list people were on before. Still, six weeks is very long in this Amazon era. Rotimatic comes in a sturdy colorful box with a photo of the product on the outside. It was carefully handled and delivered by FedEx and required a signature. Inside, it was securely packed with styrofoam and in perfect new condition. The machine was easy to put together with minimal parts and we were using it in no time.
Set up:
It.is.big. There’s no other way to put it. It is bigger than an average toaster oven, perhaps the size of a medium printer and takes up a good amount of counter space. Fortunately, it’s pretty looking. Once turned on, on it asks to program which brand of wheat/flour “atta” we use so it can calculate how much water to pull in when kneading the dough. Unfortunately, the popular brand my parents use was not found in its list. The first several flatbreads/rotis came out looking terrible with clumps of dry atta stuck on them like tumors. At this point, I suggested adding plain flour to the wheat to see if it makes a difference. We chose a random brand on the machine and mixed regular flour into the wheat. This time the rotis came out much better. Later we found comparable brands on their website that can be selected for the brand we use and this worked out.
Making Rotis:
Once turned on, it asks how many rotis one wants to make, the thickness, the darkness and how much oil. It takes around six minutes to warm up. During this period, it verifies the atta, water and oil supply. Ultimately it starts making rotis per the selected settings. On the right side there is a plastic tray and a cylinder piece that mix and knead the dough, then ultimately make a ball that is pushed into the oven and pressed into a flatbread. At the same time, another portion of atta, water and oil are measured into the cylinder on the right and another ball of dough is prepared. It makes approximately one roti per minute. I found it took a little longer than one minute though.
Quality of Roti:
Let’s just say, nothing beats mom’s home cooked roti. Now, let’s factor in domestically challenged people, lack of time, convenience, wanting to minimize mess and mom not being available. The rotis are better than what I am capable of making. Stop it. Yes, I can cook most things…but my rotis are shaped like Africa. This is really because I don’t make roti regularly to have enough practice. Rotimatic makes a roughly six inch round roti that is a little on the crispier side. Choose a less toasty setting and the roti is not cooked well enough. We toss the cooked rotis into a hot pot or tuck them into a clean kitchen towel one by one. By the time it is done making rotis, the ones in the hot pot are actually softer and just right to eat. They taste pretty good and are made of literally three ingredients; atta, water and oil; without preservatives, additives or artificial flavors.
Clean up:
All parts including ingredient containers, ball kneading tray and cylinder are removable. They can be washed with a sponge and dish soap or be put in the dishwasher.
Concerns:
1. Can this get any more expensive? Sure, a monopoly is a monopoly, but this machine costs $999. They charge $75 or $100 less per machine if you buy 3 or 5+ respectively, but really, who can do that? I tried to get a group of people together to bulk buy and ship to our beloved tax free Delaware. Every single person flaked and I ended up buying my mom’s Rotimatic alone. Anyway, my main comparison is the store bought frozen rotis we mainly eat at my house (Not my mom’s house; they’ve trooped through delicious handmade rotis for decades). Good frozen rotis are $2 per pack, there are 5 in a pack and roughly the same size as the Rotimatic roti. According to my weak math, we would have to eat 2,500 Rotimatic rotis for the cost to break even. At my parents’ home, nearly everyone eats roti on most days. They would have to make at least 7 rotis per day to reach approximately 2,500 in one year. I worry something in the machine will break before they get there…which brings me to my next concern.
2. The plastic tray and cylinder are quite flimsy looking. I am wondering when they’ll break and what customer service will say to me after one year is up as I did not purchase the extended warranty….which brings me to yet another concern…
3. Has anyone actually had a good customer service experience with Rotimatic personnel? I personally have not had to call them (yet) but have heard horror stories of long holds, not being called back, not cancelling orders per customer request even if the item has not been shipped and more. I think I’m afraid to call to find out!
4. Why is this so big? I am assuming slowly they will work on the design and make a smaller machine or perhaps the same size machine with more bells and whistles justifying its size.
5. The collection tray can hold two, mayyyyybe three rotis easily. Any more than that are you are in the bathroom, they will fall off the tray. One YouTuber pulls out a kitchen drawer under the tray with a cookie sheet on it to catch fallen rotis. I guess that works. My parent’s had to put their huge Rotimatic on a microwave cart, so the drawer method won’t work for them.
Other things it claims to do:
The website and YouTube show a lot of different ideas one can try; such as making rolled out dough for samosas, gol gappa, pizza, puri and more. I have not tried any of those yet. To be honest, they didn’t look appetizing and were more time consuming than just doing it yourself.
In conclusion, my opinion regarding Rotimatic is that despite all the drawbacks, can be worth the purchase for larger families who eat roti. The investment is not worth it for smaller families or those who do not eat roti regularly. Perhaps if the cost came down, more families; even smaller ones would be willing to make the purchase, even for infrequent use. The full one year warranty is an additional perk.
Disclaimer:
This review is my personal opinion from a purchase I personally made and was in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by Rotimatic, Instagram or Facebook.
Do you have a Rotimatic?
What are your thoughts?
Would you buy one?