NoCo Cat Cafe — Local services in Loveland

The NoCo Cat Cafe is a new(er) place in Loveland. Their niche is a coffee bar with the accompaniment of adoptable cats. Unfortunately, the experience falls flat on both fronts for a variety of reasons.

The pricing is a high. Instead of partnering with the humane society and funding the venture on great coffee, drinks, and baked goods, they charge a $12 cover charge and double down by offering a lackluster selection of drinks and bakery items at higher prices than other coffee houses.

Like the pricing structure, the quality of goods will literally leave a bad taste in your mouth. Instead of offering a full drink menu of lattes, mochas, and drip/cold brew coffees, they offer a single drip coffee which can only be described as drinking gray water filtered through recycled asphalt. To make matters worse, you better like your coffee black as they don't even have a modest supply of sugar or creamer on hand. Their entire in-house supply of coffee additives consisted on 3 packets of sugar, two single-use shots of french vanilla creamer, and a packet of splenda.

The shrink wrapped bakery items they bring in from other vendors are hit or miss. The coffee cake was good and only modestly over-priced while the two-bite donuts are puny, overpriced, and any icing is removed when taking off the shrink wrap.

As for the cats, they are fun and friendly but are greatly outnumbered by the number of guests. There were less than a handful of cats for a place that was at capacity. Inevitably, people will grab a cat and hoard it while a dozen other people wait around hoping a cat fleeing for the safe room will so much as brush up against their leg. There's also hardly any seating so you can't even read a book or do work while waiting your turn to visit with a cat.

While a reasonable concept on paper, the execution here leaves a lot to be desired. There's almost no "cafe" aspect to the business and the human-to-cat ratio means you're highly unlikely to get to visit with many or all the cats to determine if one is an adoptable option for you.

I've had much better experiences simply visiting local animal shelters and stopping at a coffee shop on the way there. Save your money and donate to the local...

We drove up from Denver today to visit the NoCo Cat Cafe and were not disappointed! We’re already making plans to go back again! The cafe is so cozy, clean and modern! The coffee is so good and the pastries were delicious! But the real treat was… THE CATS! We did not expect to get to snuggle with so many kittens. All of the cats were so sweet and snuggly and there were plenty of places to sit comfortably and just snuggle and pet them! There were also tons of toys and fun places to play with these sweet cats. The cats are obviously living a great life at the cafe, just waiting for their forever homes! The owners were so helpful in telling us each cat’s name and tidbits about them. The only downside was the tears from my kid when she couldn’t bring them all home! Love this place!! Definitely recommend for all cat lovers!

As for the $12 admission fee- good on them! Running this establishment is not free! How else are they going to provide a person to operate the place, furniture, cleaning supplies, cat food & litter, etc...

NoCo Cat Cafe is wonderful. From the very first time I walked by shortly before they first opened, I felt welcomed. I was peeking in the window and Christopher, one of the owners, asked me if I wanted to come in for a “sneak preview” before their official opening. How nice was that?! I met his wife Kimberly as well. These folks are doing great work, as several cats have already been adopted in the first few days (like Alice & Amelia, and Stewie—I met them all on the first day). The accommodations for these potential feline adoptees are very thoughtful, clean and with opportunity for privacy if they get uncomfortable with human interaction. I have a friend who opened a cat cafe in another city. I know how difficult it is to operate a business like this that makes little or no profit. Truly a labor of love. It feels good that the $12 entry fee is used for helping to get these beautiful creatures a forever home. I love...