BEIJING—Wang Peixin has seen the future, and he’s sure it features robots serving up fried dumplings.

On a recent day, a white robot wearing a flowered kerchief rolled across Mr. Wang’s Together Restaurant, a plate of pork-and-water-chestnut dumplings upon its built-in tray. As it traveled, it played an upbeat pop tune. A trio of customers hummed along and whipped out their phones to film its journey.

“Young people like to pursue what’s new, and robots are a fashionable, modern style of service,” said Mr. Wang, who owns the Together Restaurant in central Beijing.

China is in the middle of a pronounced bout of robot fever. Robots—or jiqiren, “machine-people,” in Chinese—are cropping up at banks, where models with high-pitched feminine voices engage customers in basic dialogue and urge people to wait in line. Others have made appearances as wedding officiants. The Dragon Spring Temple in Beijing has installed a squat robot in custard-colored robes to converse with the faithful.

Restaurants are ground zero in the craze. Numerous robot-themed restaurants have sprung up, with machine-people serving as chatty maître d’s, working as waiters or slicing noodles in the kitchen. Some robot staff are also programmed to dance and sing.