An order from Baga Sushi in east Tulsa can now take an unusual route home: up into the air.

Juan Carlos Barrios, the food truck's owner, told the Tulsa Flyer that customers had already begun placing orders for delivery by drone. He sounded eager to step outside and watch the aircraft carry food away from his kitchen. That gives a familiar takeout handoff a remarkable change of scenery.

The service is called Manna Air Delivery. After opening its first Tulsa base near Cherry Street in August, the Irish-founded company added two more in early October: one at the Shops at Alameda near 21st Street and Sheridan Road, the other at Plaza Santa Cecilia on South Garnett Road. Manna's current Tulsa coverage page lists all three locations as live. A fourth, Garnett Plaza, is still described as coming soon.

For a customer at an eligible address, the route starts in Manna's app. After choosing a participating business, the customer selects a clear delivery spot. When the order is ready, an aircraft carries it over the neighborhood, hovers above that spot and lowers the package on a tether. The drone stays in the air; dinner comes down to the ground. Manna says the flight itself typically takes about three minutes after pickup, although preparing the food and getting it ready to fly take additional time.

That final approach changes an ordinary takeout order into something worth watching. The aircraft can travel directly over the neighborhood instead of following the same turns and intersections as a delivery car. A familiar meal arrives by an unfamiliar route, giving the customer a reason to look up.

There is a possibility for local businesses here, too. An additional delivery option could help a small restaurant reach nearby customers who wouldn't otherwise stop in. But the first months offer a mixed picture. In October reporting by the Tulsa Flyer, Andolini's Pizzeria owner Mike Bausch said drone orders ranged from a few on some days to 10 or 20 on others. Other Cherry Street restaurants described modest or sporadic demand. Baga Sushi customers are ordering, but how much the service has improved the food truck's business isn't established yet.

Speed may become one of drone delivery's great conveniences. So might more precise drop-offs: Manna asks customers to choose a delivery location and says its aircraft checks whether that spot is clear before lowering the order. Whether the service actually reduces missing deliveries, package theft or traffic congestion in Tulsa remains an open question. Those outcomes deserve real evidence as the operation grows.

Residents also have good reasons to pay attention to what happens overhead. Before the service launched, more than 100 people gathered at a Tulsa town hall to ask Manna's chief executive about noise, privacy and wildlife. Those questions remain relevant as flights become a more familiar sight. Manna says its camera is used for a brief delivery-site safety check rather than recording flights, and the company describes aircraft safeguards and operator oversight. The Federal Aviation Administration regulates commercial drone package delivery. Neither a company's assurances nor federal oversight settles how each neighborhood will experience the sound and activity.

In east Tulsa, that promise will be tested among established neighborhoods and locally owned food businesses. Alejandro Garcia of the Tulsa Global District told the Flyer that expansion should deliver meaningful value to the businesses and people who live there. It's a practical measure for a service still finding its place.

The novelty has already crossed into ordinary business. Customers are placing drone orders with a Tulsa food truck, and more neighborhoods now have the option to try delivery from the sky. The larger promises will take time and evidence to assess. At certain Tulsa addresses, though, the next takeout order really can arrive from above the backyard instead of along the street.