Colour Cafe Kensington (Calgary) — Local services in Calgary

I’m writing this review because I would hate for another family, especially one on a tight budget, to end up in the same situation we did.

I received an email about the Pottery & Puppies event for September 6th and thought it would be the perfect way to celebrate my daughter’s 10th birthday. I booked five entry tickets ($15 each, $75 total) for her, three friends (all 10 years old), her younger sister, and myself.

On August 28th, I emailed the studio after booking: “I booked for 5 people from 12:30–2:00 for the Puppy and Pottery event. It’s for my daughter’s 10th birthday—myself, her, and three of her friends. I was hoping you could accommodate us with a table so we can all sit together.”

I never received a reply. When I called on September 5th, I was told to arrive early because of the crowd. I explained it was for a birthday and that I’d just be supervising the kids. That seemed fine. I also asked about cupcakes and was told outside food wasn’t allowed.

When we arrived early, I was shocked to learn all the tables were already reserved, and we were placed at a patio table right by the entrance. For a group celebrating a birthday (something I had communicated in advance), this felt really disappointing.

The kids each picked a pottery piece, but there were no options under $39—most were over $50. They chose: two small deer ($52 each), one skate ($48), and one hedgehog ($39). With entry, we were already at $267.

One of the other parents, who had driven 30 minutes, stayed with us to help supervise. With four young kids needing help choosing pottery, picking paint colors, and going to the bathroom downstairs, it was necessary to have another adult. The manager even said she’d bring an extra chair for our table. There was no mention at that time of extra charges.

The kids had fun painting (though needed lots of help since three coats of paint was too much for their patience), and I bought cupcakes and hot chocolate. We only had about five minutes total with the puppy before being asked to pass it along, which felt underwhelming for what was advertised as a “puppy event.”

When it came time to pay, I was told I owed an additional $62—$15 for the parent who stayed, plus $16 each for two of us who didn’t paint (a “non-painter fee”). I was stunned. That meant $304 on top of the $75 I had already paid when booking, bringing the total to $379 for two hours of painting with four kids.

When I asked to speak with the manager, she compared my situation to another single mom she was also charging and said she had to be “consistent.” I offered to pay the extra entry for the other parent, but asked if she could waive the “non-painter fee” since we were only supervising. Her response: “Do you want me to ask the parent to pay for herself?” I was mortified.

As I paid, I overheard another parent also frustrated, being told he needed to pay entry and for a pottery piece just to supervise his kids.

Overall, the kids enjoyed painting, but the costs, lack of communication, and the unexpected charges for supervising adults left me extremely disappointed. If you plan to attend, be prepared to spend far more than you anticipate—even if you don’t paint yourself. Unfortunately, we won’t be returning after we collect our...

Me and my partner just left their bunny event and over the course of the night we both got more and more frustrated. First off their prices are so high. Advertised a 15 dollar event "paint with bunnies" and their cheapest pottery seemed to be around 30 dollars, already a minimum 45 dollars not on drink or anything either. We sit down and have to watch a video on our phones that loosely explain the process and are given tiny pallets which continuously need to be refilled by the staff. The girl with the purple hair I think was named Jenny, I couldn't quite catch it as it was very loud for a place that labels itself "relaxing". Jenny was great, you can tell she does care and is trying her best but she was extremely overworked having to run around to every table. Everyone else there just seemed to rush us and interupt us, one woman came around with a clipboard, practically slapped it on the table and made us pay right there, when initially we were told we pay at the end. She dragged her recipt paper through our pallets and handled our peices that were in progress with messy hands and never once tried to act friendly. I think this system would greatly bennifit from reorganizating so that you pay for your peices first and then sit down, bigger palletts, having people dedicated to a certain section like restaurants so 3 different people arent asking me if I want a drink. I'm also scared to pick up my peice as that organization is just "take a picture and show up in 5 days when it might be on the shelf that anyone can just touch". Now the bunnies. We didnt see them for 2 hours, the event ran 7-9 as Advertised and we did not see them until 9 as they apparently had them outside, where anyone walking past the busy street could see. I understand the again very loud environment is stressfull and maybe not safe for bunnies in which case, this event should not have happened at all. They took people table by table, starting at 8pm, to see them and we were told that if we finish early we would be next in line. This did not happen and midway through this conversation with yet another staff someone interupted her and she left mid sentence without saying a word to us. When we finally saw the bunnies there was just some guy, who we asked, is not an animal handler and does not work there but is just a guys friend. I tried to ask where they got the bunnies wether they were rented or something and was told "no they are owned, i own them, i got them from a breeder, you can have one if you want" I also overheard him say the glaze was nontoxic for them, which makes me highly highly concerned for the ethics happening at this place. I got excited to see bunnies which is why I signed up but if I had known I would have spent 65$ to see bunnies in the grass I would not have come. More event transparency and organization would have been...

Meh. I don’t like leaving poor reviews but after humming and hawing decided to anyways.

Everything was quite expensive. I don’t mind paying a premium for good service and unique products, but there was a sparse selection. Products are not wrapped. I paid $70 to paint something, surely you can include even newspaper and a bag? The customer pick up area was just a corner by the door. There is nothing stopping you from taking other people’s items/having your items taken or mishandled by another customer. Upon payment, the staff member had me type in my own contact information in a spreadsheet underneath other customers’ visible personal information. The staff member was on a phone call for the entire duration of my visit, including on the day of pickup. While they checked in a few times during painting, we felt it was disingenuous and distracting from his phone call. The bathroom did not have a working light. Or soap. There was an insane amount of piled up dirty paint pots and brushes lined up on the walk to the bathroom. Maybe it gets busy, it was not busy when we went. They show you a QR code to a 2 minute video on how to get started rather than spending the time to do so, even when there are no other customers present. Other customers came in and left due to a lack of stock. The staff member informed them the lack of choices was due to them moving in two (2!!) whole months. They are just moving across a few buildings down, why did they not have basic mugs, plates, and bowls available? Said customers had to repeat themselves multiple times. I assume this is because the staff member had airpods in and was in a phone call the entire time. Our order number is written in pencil UNDERNEATH the glaze on every single piece that we painted. So it’s just there forever I guess. The bottom side of each piece has nicks of different colours. I assume this is built up from the bottom of the kiln. I am quite surprised they make food there - the counter that food was prepared on had personal effects, painted products, and random other stuff. “We won’t call or email you when it’s ready - just show up in a week” Surely this is the bare minimum to ask for, no? For such a unique and personable experience, nothing about the experience felt salvageable. I ended up disliking my project solely on the experience.

Maybe it’s better now that the business is in a new building, but most of our gripes were with service and the general way the business is run, which I imagine has carried on to the new building.

TLDR Just go to...