Kitty Café — Restaurant in Nottingham

Me and hubby were in the area on sunday and really wanted to check this place out. Booked an afternoon tea online the night before with no issues. When we arrived there was lots of people waiting in the door. The pay system was playing up and causing issues which I get was not their fault but caused delays. We were shown our seats after less then 5 minutes. After about 20 minutes one couple were still stood waiting. Now if you pay for afternoon tea the 7pp fee is included, for your 1 hour slot. We paid £34 in total for the worst afternoon tea we have ever had which took 55 minutes to be brought to us. At no point did anyone tell us there was any issues until we asked and they said they were running behind. The good thing was we were there for 1 hour and 30 minutes and no one rushed us like in previous reviews, I'm assuming because they knew kitchen was so behind and would be unfair. The sandwiches had been sitting out for a while and had the weird crust that egg mayo gets on it when left out, the tuna was soggy with weird orange stains on the bottom of the bread and the ham was literly a sad slice on anemic ham on stale white bread. There was a scone that I can only describe as a stale tesco value plain scone that crumbled as soon as you touched it. And finally there was these little tiny squares of cake and cheesecake on top that just crumbled and fell apart or tasted of nothing. All the plates were dirty ontop and underneath and had stains on them, our knifes looked like they hadn't been cleaned from previous use and had cake, finger prints and jam on them. We also had a pot of tea with warm milk which was a nice touch, but the cups and spoons were also very dirty. I applaud this place for what they do for the cats and re homing etc. But some of the cats are not happy in the environment, I standby the rule of don't stroke unless it comes to you. Too many were stroking the grumpy looking grey one and it was sad watching him get up and move evrytime he was bothered to try get away. He came and sat behind most of the time and I left him alone, when people tried to climb round me to get to him i just told them he doesn't liek being stroked and they left him alone and he stayed there. I would recommend a poster for people maybe to educate them around cat body language, such as ears, tail swishing etc it seemed people thought they paid so had a right to touch every cat. I agree with other reviews about children either having their own area away or simply not being allowed or kicked out if they misbehave. There was a horrible child who kept running away from her mum and stomping on the floor near cats frightening them and trying to pull sleeping ones in for kisses and cuddles when her mum would try get her back. She must have done it 10 times before we left. There was also one squishy faced cat who was happy sitting on his little chair but is covered in mats all round his neck. He was trying to run away from devil child also but she kept trying to cuddle him. The stars are for the cute kitties...

I want to start this review by stating we've been here before a few years ago, and it was wonderful, the best cat cafe experience we've had. We've since been to cat cafe's all over the uk and some are better than others, but none were as great as our first time here. Unfortunately our most recent visit was the worst experience we've ever had out of all cat cafes.

We arrived after booking tea for 2 online, but was just told to pay for the 1 hour each on arrival, had to find a staff member to tell them we booked the tea for 2, then paid more to get what we planned.

As soon as we entered we were greeted with horrifically screaming children running around the building and terrified cats hiding, being chased, and shivering from fear. It didn't get better. We spent the first 30 minutes in shock at how terrible the atmosphere was. Not wanting to move around because these cats were not happy, we didn't want to add to their stress.

Food: The food was alright, though it did take 30 minutes after ordering, which only gave us 15 minutes to eat it before we had to leave. I also saw another group complaining they were also waiting for their drinks for about 50 minutes.

First of all, the menu was not the same as what they had online. During our first visit, I had a popcorn coffee, which was the most delicious coffee I've ever experienced, and I've been chasing it ever since. I was excited to come back and have it again, it is on their website, but when ordering it, I was told the website is incorrect and they don't have it anymore. They should update the website as it's incorrect and disappointing.

The sandwiches were tasty and that's about it for praises. Half of the deserts were still frozen and the scones were cold, which the staff refused to heat up or toast for us.

Atmosphere: screaming kids, scared cats. Cats constantly being poked and woken up with sticks even though you can't enter without agreeing not to wake the cats. no one seemed to be enforcing any of the rules anyway. All of which were constantly being broken in every corner of the cafe.

They didn't seem to be understaffed either, it was a matter of not dealing with running the place.

I also saw one of the cats lean up for attention from one of the staff members, and she recoiled and ignored it as if she was disgusted by the cats. Why would you work in a cat cafe if you don't like cats. That was one of the weirdest things that stuck out to me.

Again, the kids. Running, jumping and stomping around everywhere, with the loudest ear piercing screeches from all directions. I saw multiple cats hiding in corners looking around scared at the sources of noise.

I felt sad that I was here, I felt sad that I gave them money to run this awful place. And I do not recommend this place to anyone, ever.

If you feel like bringing your child here, you are part of the problem. Cats are not toys for your children to chase and throw things at, nor are they a gimmick to draw people into your cafe, this is their home, treat them well,...

I believe if this was a standalone cafe the reviews would be a lot worse than what they currently are as their food and drinks quality just simply weren't good enough (their hot drinks are made out of a machine!)

Firstly, we ordered a tea and a flat white and some food (one of the wraps being a vegan one) and when the tea came the waitress said "here's your decaf tea" and we said we didn't order decaf and the staff said "oh we don't have regular tea so we're just doing decaf is that ok?" and I didn't want to cause a fuss or waste a tea so we just accepted it as it was. The flat white was awful - full of foam. I'm not a coffee snob by any means but it was an awful coffee.

Food came and it just looked sad. All the food is clearly frozen so I'm not sure where the high prices for the food come from. My husband's halloumi wrap had one piece of halloumi in it and my vegan wrap was just pathetic (also served with coleslaw that is not vegan). Even my five year old refused to eat her food...

Whilst having the meal my daughter asked for a babyccino so I asked the person cleaning next to us if we could order one and she said yeah but continued to clean for another 5-10 minutes. I decided to go to the desk to ask for a babychino and the woman I asked said "Yes but I need to get some food first" so I said "Okay can I ask another member of staff then please as I've already been waiting a while to order one" so she directed me to someone else and the drink got ordered. I sat back down and a lady came over with the card reader and said it was £3.95 for the babychino... At this point, I hadn't complained because I'm not really the type to kick up a fuss. But once I heard they were charging £3.95 for warm milk I told the woman all the issues we have had and that I'm absolutely not paying £3.95 for warm milk to which she said "there isn't a way of putting babyccino through the till so I have to charge for a hot chocolate". For a place that I imagine has many many children coming in how have you not made it an option to add babychino to your till? Food and drinks were abysmal so I would suggest anyone visiting to either eat before or after your very expensive hour time slot. To add to all this just before leaving we went to the toilet which were absolutely disgusting. The floor was soaking wet, the ceiling had damp all over it and they smelt vile. If this is the condition of the toilet I dread to think what conditions their cats are kept in.

The Kitty Cafe gets away with being a poor-quality cafe due to the cats that reside there and the business would greatly benefit from providing customers with higher quality food and drinks - even just making their own coffees rather than just pressing a button on a machine!

I have attached photos of inside my wrap (notice how tiny the pieces of pepper are!!), the foam I had to spoon off the flat white and the ceiling in...