The Cafe Meow — Restaurant in New Hope

We had high hopes for this place. My husband and I went for the soul purpose to adopt a new cat. However, it is nearly impossible to spend any time with any one cat due to the lack of rules imposed and the amount of people let in at one time. Children were allowed to run after cats and pick them up to bring them to another part of the room and 'hold them hostage' in a sense where the cat would try to flee, only to be held in place. Also my husband and I experienced three separate instances where a cat was approaching us to just have a child run up and grab the cat. We realize that this is probably due to poor parenting, but the establishment could have fast hard rules and have someone in the room to supervise and uphold rules at all times. There was one cat that was scared to death hiding behind a condo. I sat and just whispered to it and just rubbed it's head, when from the other side a child grabs the cat and drags it out-cat was not happy and fought to get away. Poor cat was so scared. Someone in the establishment did come in the room about 15 minutes later explaining to the Parent that that children cannot hold cats against their will. So I was pleased to see that happen, but it would have been better had someone been in that room and stopped the behavior immediately. At this point it had already been 45 minutes of bad behavior. It wasn't just children either. Some of the adults were just plucking cats out of hiding places. Honestly-these cats need to be treated so much better than this. It was very disappointing and very disheartening. These cats were very very over stimulated, and many just wanted to be left alone. And they should have been. We desperately wanted to find a cat to adopt, but we are not going to traumatize an animal for our gain. We do hope they all find good homes.

Our opinion is If you are looking for intimate alone time with a cat to see if you both are a fit for each other, this place is not it. If you want to have a cat choose you, it will not happen at this establishment. We are happy that our money goes to help feed and house these beautiful cats, but we are sad that we didn't get time to interact with one due to lack of any rules or any order in place. It felt like a petting zoo. Disappointed.

Update: I appreciate the mgmt response to my review. And I honestly understand their point, but we were told on the phone, (when asked if we have children) that they had rules in place for children. So we assumed that this meant they establishment was watching. And it is not a paying patron's responsibility to correct a child that is not theirs- that should have been from the mgmt eyes on the situation. Also-what I perceive to bad behavior may not be in the eyes of mgmt. I would have had to left the room, taking time away from what I paid to be there to wait in line to make a complaint. Someone in the room would have been best. I wasn't aware of the rules, I saw none posted and nothing was spoken of. Maybe a suggestion for future use is perhaps before we are let into the room, mgmt should speak to all those going in as a group on the rules. This might be beneficial to everyone so...

So for context, im a low income resident in MPLS, and I cant keep pets at my apartment. Initially, this was a space I really enjoyed and used to do sketches and just hang out around cats for a little while. This would have been my 4th visit.

Today, I didnt have an hour but made a reservation anyway because in the past, a reservation was the only way you could do a visit. I didn't know that changed - after I arrived, I saw a poster that stated a happy hour rate for 15/30 minutes that would save me a little money and was great for the time I did have, but when I asked about it, staff insisted on it being walk in only (ok), AND that they couldn't cancel or adjust our reservation. I asked where on the website the service pricing was (bc honestly if i just wasnt reading it right that would be my own fault and id have taken the L), but after 10 minutes of the staff member clearly not finding it on the information page of the website shrugged it off and told me it was "On Facebook".

So heres the thing-- I dont use social media, and if i knew there was a way to do walk-ins to save money (something that wasnt available last time i visited btw), i wouldn't have made a reservation in the first place. I would have just tried a walk-in!! Why offer an alternative service that actively punishes people for making a reservation?

To be clear, I dont MIND that you cant make reservations for the discount rate- that makes sense from a congestion/demand point! But not having special pricing information clearly accessible on your website is bad practice, and I felt totally snubbed when I tried to negotiate as a result of the information being unclear. Not being able to adjust a reservation in person after it's made so that you can do the walk in rate when it isn't even busy feels predatory and honestly it sucked to be treated this way as a returning customer.

I dont typically go out of my way to leave bad reviews. Running a business is tough, and im generally understanding as someone in the service industry, but frankly that's why I'm so put out, because as someone with service counter experience, I would have at least contacted management to clarify instead of practically rolling my eyes at customers who have the audacity to want clearer information.

I'm hoping that perhaps this motivates management to make changes to their site so that all of their services are stated CLEARLY on their site. That way, customers dont feel punished for not keeping up with social media. Offering a service that people who took the time to make reservations for can't even use if they are in the right place at the right time makes me feel like some clients matter more than others.

Im disappointed. I ended up leaving without even using the reservation I made because it soured my feelings. I'm frustrated with my experience, and the staff didnt even commiserate, they just shrugged it off and said "sorry, too bad! We cant do...

I purchased 2 adult, 2 children reservations for the cat room online. I read the written expectations and understood them. We had a great start with a barista with glasses. She was friendly and explained a few simple rules. As we greeted the first cat we saw, I noticed a few adult customers who appeared put off by my son and nephew (8 & 9) which was upsetting. We engaged with the cats and we're enjoying our time. After 30min my son needed to use the restroom. We reentered the cafe and a barista in yellow cheerfully asked if we were having fun, I replied yes. She smiled and we went on our way. Going back into the cat room the vibe was tense, it still felt unwelcoming by the adult customers. I did need to remind my son and nephew to not run, quiet down and be gentle a few times. Typical behavior for their ages. I couldn't shake the feeling that we weren't welcome by a few adult customers. In the last 5 minutes my nephew was saying goodbye to the cats. Suddenly the gal in yellow approached me and my sister, asking who his (my nephew) mother was. My sister said she was. She sharply said "he can't run up to the cats- he did it again. If he doesn't stop we'll have to ask you to leave." I looked back and watched my nephew take too quick, large, goofball, kid-like steps to a cat. We agree it wasn't the best way to approach the cats. However it felt strange she was addressing this with only minutes before our time was up. We left feeling unwelcome to come back by both adult customers and this staff member. My sister has contacted the company via email. Whoever responded came across defensively and fully sided with the staff. Claimed we had gotten a warning when we hadn't . Even said we got another warning when several customers complained, we hadn't. We were told nothing till those last few minutes. They say we ignored their requests which is a lie. We were excited to try this new experience but will not return. The unspecified expectations are too high for kids 7+, they took one side of a situation and wrongly accused...