Kitty Café Reviews 116

I don’t want to put people off as this place is doing such a wonderful thing rescuing cats . I feel it could help cats more if it focused on upgrading the staffs customer service skills and renovating the grotty toilets. From the moment we entered something felt off , there was no one at reception desk . Finally a lady came out and took our entry charge , mumbled something we guessed meant go through . We entered and no one came to us to seat us . We felt very confused and ignored . A man then came over to seat us told my daughter the info and not us and walked off . I had to ask my daughter what he said . He did come back quickly to take our order which I was impressed but then the food was awful ! I had to return my halloumi stack as it was just a wrap bulging with lettuce and no halloumi at all . The man did take it back and bring out a new 1 which was lovely. We then went to leave and pay and got locked in the room to exit and no one came to take our money , my husband had to go back and ask twice to leave and pay and be allowed out . It seems like a place that needs advice on how to treat customers or maybe invest in more staff . I feel sorry for this establishment as it has the potential to really do well but it’s a big let down .This in turn fails those poor cats and any money raised to help them . I get the impression staff aren’t treated properly so can’t be arsed x

Don't get me wrong, this is a cute place. But the cafe owners need to stop thinking about profit and set an age limit. Staff do their best to enforce rules, but with the volume of kids and indifferent parents the cats are over stressed from being grabbed, cornered, we even saw a kid throw a toy at one as his family laughed!

First visit to a cat cafe. I booked afternoon tea in advance including a vegetarian option, when we arrived they had no idea about what we had ordered, mentioned vegetarian option again and it still arrived with fish/meat on. Also had to ask 4 times for a glass of water. The cats were constantly harassed by children and no one seemed to be stopping them. Poor cats seemed stressed. All in all, poor service and poor kitties.

Lovely place and friendly staff.
On arrival you pay entry into the cafe which is lovely inside.
Was surprised not to pay fully but instead you pay when leaving for your food and drink.
Did receive my drink very quickly and it was cold, asked for replacement which was done with no issues.
Waited a while for food and when it arrived i did ask if they were quite strict with times as i know my child would ewt quite slowly, i was reassured i would be ok to stay till we had finished.
Big meals, so glad i had a doggy bag with me. Well worth a visit and cats were lovely.
90 minutes would have suited us better though for the experience.
Happy to pay knowing the cats are well cared for and its a charity.
Also it is very safe for the cats, places to go up high to escape when too much hands on from people.

SPAMMERS. Never visited their website and they keep sending unsolicited emails.

We are very disappointed by our visit. We had a reservation but after a very confusing process to check our booking, (were he kept stopping to chat with other staff members, stop dealing with us to deal with other non pressing customers then stop with them to come back to us, again and again,) we then were told our table wasn't ready. No apology or explanation. After 15+ minutes waiting for a table we were told they have a table but it's not great for wheelchairs, again no apologies and we were given no choice or say. He then led us to this table, where the only place for my wheelchair was facing inwards to the wall with no room to manoeuvre or turn around so I was unable to see the cats or basically anything at all. We were then left at this table for a further 20+ minutes waiting for someone to take our order at which point there was only about 20mins left of our allotted time so we decided to leave. There was only 4 cats around during this whole ordeal. The toilets were also absolutely disgusting. Floor completely covered in urine and absolutely stank.
On trying to leave we were kept between the two doors for another 10 minutes with another family, making 8 people, 1 wheelchair and 1 pram meaning that we could not social distance at all. We asked for a refund and were told no by a very smug staff member who could not stop smirking regardless of how upset we were with our experience today. We asked to see the manager who also did not apologise for the service we received and claimed she was unable to issue a refund.
I advise everyone to avoid this establishment and instead take they're children somewhere that doesn't focus so heavily on ripping people off and ruining they're day out. Afterwards we went to Karen's diner where the service was incredible in comparison.

It was a super experience and we definitely recommend. The staff here were really nice and it was a nice to be around the cutest kitties. The food was also great with a wide range of choices to eat. With a lovely environment for all ages. My children definitely made some paw some time.

We visited Birmingham kitty cafe, my review is not to slag this cafe off, but to get management to hopefully work out a better system, and improve the service.

1. So we were group of 6, my friend has booked in advance, so you'd think the table would already be reserved, but what really happened was, we were waiting in massive qué to check in, to pay fees.

There was only one lady at reception, checking people in and out, took so long, and eventually when we were in, we were standing at the door for at least 15 minutes, with staff walking past us several times and completely ignoring us at the entrance, so unwelcoming so unprofessional, even to get their attention was hard as felt like they tried being as fast as possible to actually walk past us without the chance to be asked. Had NO APOLOGY either!

2. You get only 1 hr slot, you'd think orders will be taken and delivered efficiently, nope, asked to bring hot drink WITH cakes, but delivered late and severely separate, and couple orders for food was completely forgotten, had to cancel in the end as it was time to go.

It's like staff not only ignoring you but they just don't listen!
I understand place is busy, but there's obvious solution, create smaller menu if staff is struggling, create more longer slot for booking, my friend said bookings were available almost every 15 minutes, OF COURSE place will be struggling, of course place will be overcrowded and everyone stressed!!! ESPECIALLY at the term times! Create a better plan ! Stressed staff stressed everyone else!!! That's calling for even an accident! And cats get stressed too!!!

3. And lastly -prices, to get in, i understand the purpose of fees, but £5 for toddler, and £7 for adult??
Prices for food that on the menu?? So unreasonable!

I understand that vet fees are expensive, and feels like you're trying to get in as many people in as possible, then charge a lot for less than tempting food, but that creates stress and poor service, eventually you won't have anyone coming over, my friend is quite regular customer, but even she says that the only reason shes coming over is because of cats, if there were no cats this cafe would close down with the speed of light, as food not that nice and prices are ridiculous, plus staff struggles with delivering it efficiently...
I was really hungry, didn't have breakfast at home, looked at menu, and really didn't fancy ordering anything, as it wasn't very tempting, price was ridiculous, and service not efficient, so I finished my cuppa that I've ordered just for the sake of it, and we all went to eat somewhere else ...

1.Reduce booking slots, to give staff time to be nice and efficient (they're obviously stressed), and to stop overcrowding, give your cats little easier time too.
2. Reduce menu to little less choice, that food on menu you've got now doesn't taste very special, and prices are ridiculous, delivery of it isnt efficient either (probably because you've got such massive choice, staff struggles with quality, and time). Maybe if you reduce menu choice staff will have time to focus on quality of it and efficient delivery of it.

And probably then it will be more enjoyable and more popular without overstressing staff and cats!

I work in customer service too, I know what I'm talking about, and know what works and what not!

This was our second time to the cafe. The first time was fantastic. This time was not the same. We were seated 10 minutes late with no apology . Waited 10 mins for our drinks. When it arrived it was stone cold. The place was too crowded and service was awful. Will not be returning again.

Visited for the first time on Friday 17th feb, the place is beautiful, can see the cats have plenty to do and well priced however there needs to be an age restriction on this, children were chasing the cats around and they were clearly unnerved by this, one child was almost bitten by no fault of the cats but them constantly following it around the place and pestering the poor thing, it was really unsettling to see toddlers walking around when these are rescue animals. Some children were also shutting the cats in the toilet area. The cats were happy enough to approach tables but were quickly scared away by loud children and people constantly gathered around where we were sitting due to a cat being laid beside us. I think you should be no younger than 13 visiting this place to ensure the well being of the animals. Overall, as a cat lover I would really love to visit this place again hopefully with a few changes made to the policies so the cats are less stressed.

I loved the kitty cafe, with an MASSIVE exception. The climbing frames are really good and there was loads of toys and places for the cats to go. Food and staff were also great. My only issue was that the cats seemed stressed. There are too many children walking around all at once. The main issue I have is with the amount of children roaming around, pulling tails and chasing the cats around. I feel like there needs to be tighter rules regarding children chasing and bothering the cats, especially because they are rescue and could have had stressful lives already. I think everything else was brilliant and was really put together well especially the climbing frames.

Nice place but…
They charge you £7 per person just for enter, which I find a bit too expensive.
We had 1 hour slot and the staff didn’t seem to be bothered that we had to wait 55 mins to get the food we ordered. We were ignored by about 5 or 6 members of staff and we didn’t get any apology whatsoever.
Cats were lovely though.

Loved this with the kids. We went with our 2 kids and they simply had the best time for an hour. The cats were hilarious, the cafe was nicely decorated and generally, we had a good time. Would we go back? Hmmm... No, the service from terrible, the staff never came to check on us, and it was far to expensive coming to over £80 for 1 hour entry and food :(

After waiting months to visit the Leeds cafe after it needed to undergo a refurbishment which was not their fault, we left extremely disappointed.

We had been so excited and looking forward to it reopening.

As we were unable to book online, we decided to phone to which we were told we could attend later that day which was brilliant it was before Christmas the last day of my 4 year olds school term.

When we arrived with our 4 and 2 year old, it was extremely very cold. I think outside was warmer! We had to ask for our food order to be taken as the assistant had forgotten. It go to 50 minutes into our one hour time slot and we had still not received our order so we had to ask. One hour and five minutes later, our food had arrived to be told not to worry as we wouldn’t be charged extra for the time we needed to then enjoy our food and drink which we were unable to then enjoy!!!

I then asked why it was incredibly cold to be informed that the heating was broken.

I am mortified that that information wasn’t given to us on the phone earlier that day providing we had two young children and it was mid December! There were barely any cats and the ones that did - did not want to engage with people.

We waited and waited and waited for food to the point of having to ask to which my husband wanted to walk out but then food arrived after our one hour time slot. The children were cold. The assistant kept asking for our two year old to be quiet as she was unable to cope with the noise.

We have always supported the Leeds cafe and we have often also travelled to the Nottingham one over the years aswell.

The whole time cost us £60.
We raised our issue with the assistant which was clearly a waste of time.

My husband now refuses to return which is upsetting.

Ordered from the online shop on 6th Dec hoping to get stocking fillers for Christmas. I checked the tracking when it became available and the estimated delivery is 11th Jan and the parcel is coming direct from China.

I emailed to check this is correct and was just told "yes thats right".

It looks like they dont stock the items in their shop in the UK, so if you buy it will take weeks and weeks for it to be delivered from some Chinese stockist.

If this was written on their website somewhere I wouldnt have bought from them so I feel misled, and the customer service when I figured it out for myself is not what I'd expect.

I'd recommend not buying anything from their shop.

Birmingham cafe.
Visited for first time on Sunday morning for my daughter’s 8th birthday. She loved her time there. However, we had pre-ordered a banner and cake with topper which was forgotten about upon our arrival. The service was really slow although staff were friendly. The food was nice ( tea, cake, panini) I do feel that maybe it should be policy to stay seated though as kids are allowed to wonder around and whilst most were well behaved it’s annoying when a cat visits you and then it’s scared off by an eager child from another table. The cats do regularly visit the tables so you’re best staying put anyway (or maybe just have designated play areas) the decor was fun and the cats were well looked after. Overall ok.

Recently visit the cafe in Nottingham, such a nice place, friendly staff and my child enjoyed interacting with the cats and the way they followed her they seemed to enjoy it too! Can’t wait to go again.

I visited on Monday 5th September to Birmingham kitty cafe.
I booked this for my daughter as a surprise as she really likes cats and thought the cream tea for 2 would be great. I got a group on voucher and no one answers the phone in this cafe so I booked online 1 hour slot as it states on website.

No mention was it on the group on site or on the kitty website you can't use the voucher on weekdays as it was still half term according to the rude person on front desk, I would have to rebook and come another time.
She called someone over who basically repeated the same thing 2 times.
I stated I still have a table slot booked can we use the slot and see the cats at this point the very rude girl repeated I couldn't use the voucher and I had to state yes u have said that I heard u the 1st 2 times.
Long story short had to pay £12 entrance fee and when we got our table cats was all hiding.
When lady on next table got her food a cat jumped up and grabbed her chicken nugget and ran off.
Later on 2 cats came back jumped on left over cake and cream on another table and started eating it I'm sure the cream will not be good for them. No staff came over to stop the cats they was too busy.
Like this poor cat was starving all the cats was hiding and after ordering 2 cakes and 2 hot chocolates we was not really impressed the food cost £14.30 plus £12 to get in and my daughter thought it was OK.
But all the cats looked scared by the young kids chasing them. Think if the cats was in a shelter or actually re-homed would be a better idea.
Left feeling sorry for the cats some of who looked like they are starving and are made to preform in this circus. Almost felt bad and wanted to free them.
I got a refund on the unused voucher on line. So I certainly won't be going back unless it's to free the cats.
I wouldn't recommend this place for people with young kids as 1 kid got bittern by a cat while he tried to stroke it.
I wouldn't recommend this place to cat lovers either you will be not impressed by how scared and unhappy the cats look.

Went here for my birthday. The cafe charged a £25 surcharge to enter for the 4 of us- 2 adults, 2 kids. There was no dough products- like pizza or paninis which accounted for 2/3rds of the menu. The service was terrible. It took roughly 45 mins for them to bring out 3 omlettes some nuggets and wedges. This would have been ok, had the food been good- it was lukewarm and the omlettes were undercooked- inedible. We saw guests who arrived after us get their food before us and there was no updates on our food running late etc. When the food did arrive it arrived in drips and drabs- not all together. Our food and the kids food were served roughly 20 mins apart which was far from ideal. To top it off our sofa was covered in someones chewing gum which had not been cleaned away- bearing in mind we arrived shortly after opening you’d expect a clean to have been done after the previous day? I unfortunately sat in this chewing gum and when we asked to have this cleaned up the waitress gave us some paper towels and left us to it! Ever try cleaning up sticky gum with a dry napkin? nearly impossible. On leaving we were asked if we enjoyed our visit- to which we raised our experiences. This was met with a response of ‘sorry- hope your next time is a better experience.’ There was nothing about looking to improve/ learn from our poor experience or offering for us to speak to manager/free return or money off the bill - which was, with entry £60- not great for undercooked cafe food. This made the apology seem un-genuine and like the cafe wanted rid of us before we kicked up anymore of a stink. On a side note the cats hardly mingled. They hung around the feeding area situated outside the toilets. I don’t expect the staff to be able to do anything about this but I think the feeding area could be relocated centrally so the cats are around the guests a bit more but understand this may not be possible.
Overall this nearly spoilt my birthday- had this been our only planned trip whilst in Birmingham it would have done. The lack of customer service, the speed of the service and reaction to us sitting basically in chewing gum was unacceptable. The staff were brilliant with the cats- i suspect they need to focus on human customer service. I would recommend some training for the staff and a review of their menu to improve the quality of the food and the timings at which it is served. Coupled with the high cost and the unwillingness to try and rectify our poor experience I would be very wary if planning your visit here and would not recommend. This review is for the Birmingham store. I wish we’d read likewise reviews before as we are not alone in our poor experience.