Originally Posted by psyang
Haven't seen a review of the Regal Cat Cafe here yet, so here's ours:
I took the family to The Regal Cat Cafe a couple weekends ago. If you don't know, it's a cafe with a second room (separated by a glass wall) that has around 10 cats from the MEOW foundation. You pay $10 to go in the room and play with the cats in one of the 45 minute time slots. They let up to 12 people in the room at a time. The cats are also available for adoption.
The kids have been all over me to go since it opened, so we reserved our spots in the cat room and went. The cafe part is about the size of a small starbucks - maybe 4 tables with some bar seating facing into the cat room. When we walked in, there were about 10 people in the cat room, all sitting around the outside, and only maybe 2 cats that could be seen. I thought it was going to be a disaster. We got drinks, signed waivers, read the rules, and waited.
When our time slot came up, we washed our hands, and entered the room. It's a well lit room set up for cats - lots of places to climb, hide, and sleep. Several cat toys lie around. There is also a cat door to a closed off room, which I presume houses litter boxes, and maybe provides a place a cat can just get away. You are allowed to bring your coffee/snack into the room, but I suspect that might change - one cat in particular was able to pounce on a couple snacks while their owners were busy with other cats.
While we were there, one cat stayed perched high up. Maybe three were sleeping, and the rest just hung around, ready to play/interact. It was actually a lot of fun. Cats chasing little bell balls around the floor, cats just lying around, letting you pet them. They seemed to enjoy the attention and felt at home with all the people around. All of the cats in the room had already been adopted. Hopefully they aren't expecting the same level of attention in their adoptive homes because they were kings/queens in the room, no doubt. Not sure when the next set of cats come in.
Overall, it was a fun experience, but I can't see it being a regular thing - maybe once or twice a year for a treat for the kids. $10 felt just a bit steep, though they said the fee goes towards maintenance/care of the cats.
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