Cats' Playground — Restaurant in Seoul

Visited Cat’s Playground twice, with our first experience having been pleasant and good - we had no issues whatsoever. However, upon our second visit, we were served by an employee who attempted to ring up our order. Last time, I paid with my international credit card which I had no problems with my entire trip in Korea as well as our first visit to the Cat Cafe. Despite our card being an INSERT card, the employee swiped aplenty, inserted multiple times half heartedly and explained it wasn’t working. Tried three cards in total, one digital card using Samsung Pay and all she tried while looking confused and uncertain on how to process the transaction.

We didn’t think anything of it and another employee was kind enough to point us to an ATM to withdraw cash. While flustered, we were kind, polite and returned with the cash. Went about playing with the cats and when my friend checked her account and saw she had been charged a total of 57,000 won for our order which the lady had ‘unsuccessfully’ processed. We went to the counter to explain the money had been charged and taken from our account, showed the transaction amount, date and name which matched exactly. They refused to refund the money and put us on the phone to the “owner” who was rude, unprofessional and was telling us that it wasn’t his problem and he wouldn’t do anything to help. We thought to call our bank which he also recommended after being abrasive and uncooperative.

Spoke to a bank representative who explained that the establishment (Cat’s Playground) was holding the money and they needed to refund. An employee came and asked if we were leaving despite still having drinks left and the business at hand unsorted. We remained amicable and respectful and updated her to which she communicated the owner’s earlier sentiments and that they can/will not do anything. Had to tell the bank how they were refusing to help on their end or refund and so we had to file a dispute against the establishment.

We had our flight later that evening and so couldn’t return to see if the money would come out despite it already having been taken out - as they unhelpfully suggested we do in the beginning. Three days later and the money has been charged, taken from our account and so we’re out $67 AUD awaiting for the dispute resolution.

With how uncaring, blunt and rude the owner was, for our next trip we will be avoiding which is a shame as the cats were cute and most of the experience was good. Only afforded Cat’s Playground the stars we did because...

This is the worst cat café I’ve been to in terms of animal neglect. The space is cramped and unclean while the cats are sick, stressed, and unneutered.

When I first walked in, I was handed a bag to put my belongings in because the cats seemed to urinate frequently on the floor— keep this in mind for later. After my party sat down and ordered our drinks, we decided to start looking around the café. The space was extremely small (especially for 60 cats) and not well maintained with food scraps from other visitors littered around and various piles of cat vomit. Giving them the benefit of the doubt because it was almost closing time, we decided to stay a bit longer. After examining the cats, some of them were lethargic and severely underweight despite there being multiple bowls full of dry food while others were sniffing and had crust buildup within their eyes and ears. I eventually went back to my table to find two cats who appeared to be in an awkward position. One was kneading on the other for quite some time and then it tried mounting it. That is when I realized I was given the bag because these cats were unneutered and spraying things to mark their territory. After that exchange, my party decided to leave due to the uncleanliness and hostile environment of the place. On our way out however, we saw a cat who was eating at a chocolate cake left out on a plate at a table. Despite the staff being near me and witnessing this, he just ignored it and continued to laze around. I had to be the one to pull it away from the cat and put it back on the counter to the other staff there.

If you want to visit cat cafés in Korea, please avoid this one. I don’t know how they’re still open despite the condition some of these...

Had an OK experience. It is about average compared to cats cafes I’ve been to in Taiwan and Japan.

The good: The cats are well-socialized and appear healthy. Price is very good. Atmosphere is nice and calm, and there are kids having a great time here with the cats. Many of the cats are incredibly chill and amazingly patient with kids - probably the best I’ve ever seen in a cat cafe.

The not-so-good: The table you get placed at matters A LOT. Get placed near the center? Cats everywhere. Get placed in a remote corner like I did? Zero cats and you can’t move tables (not even the ones where can you sit on the floor with the cats - I thought they were open to anyone but apparently they’re also for the lucky). To make it worse, this place is CROWDED and despite there being a lot of cats, it has the second lowest cat-to-person ratio I’ve ever seen (the lowest being a cat cafe in Washington, DC). By the time I walked out at 3pm, there was a long line of people out the door and down the staircase waiting to come in to play with a bunch of exhausted, treat-stuffed cats.

I’d personally would prefer it if they charged more money but reduced the number of people allowed in...