Kitty Café Birmingham — Restaurant in Birmingham

My husband and I were looking forward to this experience probably more than anything else in our trip but unfortunately it left us feeling very disappointed. We booked a table for 2 the day before to avoid queuing and possibly not being seated, we arrived 5 minutes before our booking time just in case and we only had a short queue at the front desk before we read the house rules and signed in. We were not made aware when booking online that you have to pay for entry £7 each, I understand the reasoning behind it and we were fine with paying that as we were excited about the experience more than just the food. Once we had paid and entered the cafe there's another line inside that we had to wait in before we got seated, despite us booking a table prior we had to wait an extra 30 minutes before being seated (all whilst people who came after us were getting seated), we were finally seated at a sofa for two, between two other parties both quite large and with kids. It was a very noisy environment and pretty chaotic, we decided what to eat and had a hard time getting a member of staff's attention, we finally flagged one down and ordered our food and drinks. Unfortunately it was all downhill from there, we had a fairly simple order as we were mainly there for the cats, we didn't order any of the fancier drinks like the milkshakes we simply had one Fanta and one coke, yet we didn't receive our drinks for over 40 minutes and that was after chasing it up with a member of staff. It felt like they had completely forgotten about us and we hardly saw any staff walk past us so we couldn't ask. Our food came shortly after our drinks, I had a margarita pizza and my husband had a cold wrap, neither of us were impressed by the food but it was edible, just nothing to write home about. Up to this point we have not come close to a single cat because whenever a cat comes down to the floor it is followed by a stampede of children; running, stomping and scaring away all the cats. We also realised they forgot our red velvet cake when they gave us our food, we again tried chasing it up but we barely saw any staff. When we finally managed to wave down a member of staff we reminded them and eventually received our cake..20 minutes later. It felt like we had been forgotten about yet again, not only that but it wasn't even a red velvet cake, it was red sponge covered in strawberry sauce and whipped cream, very disappointing yet again. We waited a little while after that in hopes of interacting with at least one cat but each glimmer of hope was quickly erased by the hoard of sticky-fingered mini people. Not only have I been discouraged from visiting this cafe again but the experience has also left me discouraged from having children. We eventually gave up all hope and walked towards the exit, where we were charged just over £25 for the food, which brought the entire disenchanting experience up to a total of £40. I hope to visit another chain of the kitty cafe, but the miserable staff and overwhelming and overstimulating environment of the Birmingham branch left us feeling...

*3rd edit: my overall conclusion - customer service is awful. Both in the Birmingham cafe & via their main centre. this is such a shame….my initial complaint could have been heard, possibly apologised for, informed it would be ‘looked into’ & it would have been finished. Instead they would rather offer a 10% refund than a phone call?? Refusal to accept an issue, promises from ‘admin’ that someone would call/email me back never happened.

**My conclusion….I won’t be going again & will not be recommending to anyone.

**2nd edit: I have continued to contact the main office - been offered a 10% refund of our bill. Not what I want - still asking to speak with a manager…starting to wonder if there is a manager?

*1st edit : so I have now contacted the main office 4 times regarding our experience - feeling that they needed to have customer feedback from our experience at their main Birmingham cafè…still no response.

So I have really mixed opinions on ‘Kitty Cafè’.

The cats were beautiful, the design of the cafe is fun & amazing for the cats.

The service & food was not good.

It’s costs £7 per adult & £5 per child to just enter the cafè - this is a ‘well hidden extra’ it is apparently for the ‘cat welfare’…this is not mentioned in the website booking so came as a bit of a shock!

(Once we had paid to enter) we were informed that there was no pizza, jacket potatoes, & no tea…🙄

We stood waiting 10 minutes to be seated - no interaction from passing staff - finally we decided to make the first move & ask to be seated.

This part was lovely - the cats were beautiful & lots of them around…however (!) I think this experience is dependent on what children are in the cafe - our first 10 minutes was full of 3-5 year olds literally running around after the cats - thankfully they left & the other children were more settled.

Our order was taken (40 minutes later, this was the first time their staff initiated conversation with us) & we were also informed that there were no omelettes (as they had run out of eggs!), & no cake 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

The halloumi wrap had 2 small pieces of cheese in….see photo 😕 The crispy chicken wrap, s’more brownie & garlic balls were ok.

The staff were inattentive - even after a verbal complaint to the manager on duty.

Toilets were dirty & smelly - the men’s urinal was out of order.

We love cats & value cat rescues - but I would not recommend & unfortunately will not...

I'd never been to Kitty Cafe and have wanted to since it opened. I needed a pick-me-up and this was the perfect solution! I dropped in and hadn't booked in advance and was very warmly welcomed by the lovely Ladies at the reception. Booking in took about 5 minutes and a few details and to have the rules and guidelines explained to me. I could barely contain my excitement and in all honesty, I don't remember being this excited for a VERY long time!

I was escorted to some lovely seating in a quiet corner. The furniture is really nice, very comfortable and colourful and fun. The lady who sat me down and served me was absolutely charming, as were some of the other staff I had the good fortune to meet.

It took a while before any cats came over and I admit I did worry a bit whether I'd be blessed with any cat's presence but they soon emerged and walked around their fabulous ceiling height furniture, around the surrounding furniture, the floor and their scratching posts and ladders. Their furniture matches the décor really nicely and the environment is very calm, peaceful and relaxing.

It took a while for my tea and cake to come but to be honest that wasn't a problem as I was busy fussing cats and taking pictures! The Earl Grey I ordered isn't like any Earl Grey I've ever had although it isn't unpleasant, just unusual. So if you're a tea purist it may not be to your taste. That being said, the variety of teas and cake on offer is impressive and I think the prices are quite reasonable especially for such a central location!

You can protect your food if need be with a food covering and the staff are regularly walking around and checking to ensure everything is ok, clean and spraying and cleaning tables, transparent covid screens and areas. There is no smell at all so the cleanliness is pretty impeccable. I can't fault it.

I will DEFINITELY be returning with friends and I can't help but think it'd be the perfect place for a pleasant, quiet birthday celebration!

My dogs and cat are going to hate me (temporarily I hope!) when I go home but it's definitely worth it 😸😻

If you've not been and are a cat lover, you won't regret it. The welfare of the cats comes first and that's amazing and cannot be faulted. I'm very impressed! Thank you for a...