I was going to be in the neighborhood, so it was with great excitement that I made the trip to the current cat craze coffeehouse, the first in Seattle, nay, Washington State, the Meowtropolitan Cat Cafe. (As the name suggests, the venue itself is begging for puns, so pardon my jumping in on the pun fun.) I envisioned having a leisure cuppa while being charmed by alternately lazy or playful cats of all colors and sizes, endorphins oozing out of my pores. I’d read the articles and hype leading up to the opening recently, and was surprised to see it required reservations. Now they are open and their website is up, I understand the rationale – only 10 people at a time are allowed into the separate cat lounge to interact so they don’t get over-stimulated. The website suggests placing reservations two weeks in advance, and the $10 cover charge includes a drink and 50 minutes of feline fun time. The cats wear g-strings so you can stuff in a tip when they are particularly cute. (Okay, that’s a total lie.)
Partial view through the full-length window into the catatorium. (My phrase, not theirs.) The cat area is nicely done, a glorious cat haven, with high ceilings, scratching posts, wooden cubicles lined in burlap they can chill in, ramps and high spots to climb nearly out of petting reach, and a bridge I kept hoping one would venture across, but alas, was not meant for my peeking eyes. After sanitizing your hands in a double-door area between the café and the cat zone you can bring in your beverage and torment the kitties with feathers on sticks and pet to your furry heart’s content – if they deem you worthy of their attention. Unless you rub yourself with catnip before you go in, (oh my, isn’t that a brilliant idea that has the potential to go horribly awry!) I would say you should keep your expectations low. They are cats, after all. They sleep two-thirds of the day, and there are nine other people in their room vying for their blessed attention all day long.
Tasty Herkimer coffee!
Of course you can also walk in simply for coffee and pastries; they have some adorable trendy cat-faced macarons, that were frankly too cute to eat. I had a “Death by Turtle” bar, which I managed to survive. They offer your usual beverage choices – including a “catpuccino” plus a mocha cleverly named the “meowca,” which looks good in writing, but when the barista called it out everyone shared the same perplexed expression trying to cipher out what he was actually saying. Like, sorry dude, I don’t speak that jive cat language! I had my 8-ounce latte in a porcelain cup on a saucer, which gets a thumbs-up in my book, though when I placed my order after several scrambled minutes of waiting – in a jagged queue that wasn’t designated as either an order or pick-up line – I wasn’t asked my choice of “here or to-go?” and noticed every other customer had the sadly universal wasteful paper cup. (Come on, Seattle! Haven’t you got with the program yet?!) Seating consists of a few rustic wood tables and a bar top area at the counter as well as one with four stools at the window looking into the cats – the prized area for those of us too cheap to pay for cat time. There is also a full-length window next to the front door, two-people wide, which was usually occupied while I was there, so I spent most of my time head-bobbing back and forth to catch sight of the promised cats. Other than that, the best place to get your voyeur on is looking through the window from outside.
Of course you can also walk in simply for coffee and pastries; they have some adorable trendy cat-faced macarons, that were frankly too cute to eat. I had a “Death by Turtle” bar, which I managed to survive. They offer your usual beverage choices – including a “catpuccino” plus a mocha cleverly named the “meowca,” which looks good in writing, but when the barista called it out everyone shared the same perplexed expression trying to cipher out what he was actually saying. Like, sorry dude, I don’t speak that jive cat language! I had my 8-ounce latte in a porcelain cup on a saucer, which gets a thumbs-up in my book, though when I placed my order after several scrambled minutes of waiting – in a jagged queue that wasn’t designated as either an order or pick-up line – I wasn’t asked my choice of “here or to-go?” and noticed every other customer had the sadly universal wasteful paper cup. (Come on, Seattle! Haven’t you got with the program yet?!) Seating consists of a few rustic wood tables and a bar top area at the counter as well as one with four stools at the window looking into the cats – the prized area for those of us too cheap to pay for cat time. There is also a full-length window next to the front door, two-people wide, which was usually occupied while I was there, so I spent most of my time head-bobbing back and forth to catch sight of the promised cats. Other than that, the best place to get your voyeur on is looking through the window from outside.
Considering they booked over 800 reservations in the first few days of opening, I suspect they’ll do well. They need to work some bugs out on the coffee front, but I imagine they’ll be successful at adopting cats out, and providing a feline-fix for those sad folks who don’t have the pleasure of a cat at home. My cat café curiosity is quenched. Meow I know.
RSS Feed