Kitty Cantina — Restaurant in Spokane

Didn't know you had to reserve a spot to pet the cats. On thier website you have to scroll to the bottom of thier hours of operations page. "Book an appointment" is under a different heading and easy to miss. Walked in with my 3 kids and thier grandmother as a treat for my 11 year old's birthday. They didnt have any openings. The 5 of us bought coffee which was $30+ and mediocre. I tried to book a spot online for two weeks later and they wanted to charge me $45 to hold a spot. So... $70+ to pet some cats and drink some coffee? Not family friendly. As an MBA graduate I can predict they'll be out of business once the initial fad is over. If anyone wants to open a competing business they can use the SCRAPS adoption pricing model, walk in only, first come first serve, 30 minute rotation with 10 minute breaks, bigger space, staff a vet tech, no appointment required, and petting the cats should be free with a reasonable purchase at the cafe. If I pay $30+ for coffee I shouldn't have to pay another $45+ to pet a cat. They could also increase walk-in capacity by not fully booking themselves with reservations. For eample: if they only allow 6 visitors at a time, they should only allow 4 of those spaces to be pre-reserved, the other two spaces are for walk ins. Or they can have walk-in only times and shorten the cycle for those who don't reserve a spot. I sense competition in the air! And remember, you can pet adoptable cats for free at SCRAPS.

Kitty Cantina replied to me below and said they charge $8 per person, not $45. I had 5 people, so 8 x 5 is 40 plus the tax was about $45. And that's exactly what the online reservation application tried to charge me. Our café bill was $30+ because my kids ordered blended drinks and also asked for cake pops and a cookie. Sure, that's not "just coffee," but this combination at Wake-up call generally costs us $26 and the drinks are better.

You still get a one star because any business graduate knows that in order to keep your doors open your product and/or main attraction needs to be accessible. Making me schedule an appointment and pay $45 to see your main feature is not accessible. Since I came for my daughters birthday I fully intended to adopt a cat, but I'm not going to pay $45 to see the cat and then another $130 to adopt it. Nice try.

Consider your location; you are just north of Hillyard / Lidgerwood and you're practically neighbors with the Department of Children Youth and Families. Your local demographic will find your prices too high, which means you aren't pricing for social inclusion or economic diversity. Everyone who walked in behind me didn't know they had to book a reservation either, and they were disappointed they couldn't see the cats.

Your disillusion of transparency is exactly that. Snobbery about your business model and saying "hello, read our sign!" won't keep your doors open. Only a good business model will keep your doors open. I hope you don't go out of business, but once all the upper-middle class white people in Spokane have had their fill of your store I hope you adopt some of the methods I described above...

I haven't tried the food/drink and the employee I spoke with was courteous so the one star is not for those reasons.

I took my 4 year old son to see the cats at the Kitty Cantina today and when I arrived I saw a sign stating reservations were required. This was disappointing but that wasn't really the problem. I asked the lady at the counter how the process worked so we could plan a future visit. She explained that it cost $50 for an hour long visit of up to 6 people in a group. I was shocked! She said the fee is to cover the care of the cats food/litter etc. I was really disappointed that if just two people want to come enjoy the cats for maybe 15-20 minutes while they have a snack they'd have to pay $50!! I asked if there were any open reservations later in the day and she said there were not. Which means they're make probably $300+ just in cat viewing fees that day. The website explains that they charge this fee to pay employees to care for the cats because they don't have grants or volunteers. That's because they're not a nonprofit like the animal shelter is. There website then goes on to explain that they charge $20 extra on top of the adoption fee the shelter has. For what!? There are so many animal lovers out there who foster animals for the shelter and volunteer for the shelter etc and you don't see them asking for extra adoption fees and money for their time. I feel the Kitty Cantina poses as if they're doing this business to help cats but it seems that they are using the cats just to make extra profit. I took my son to PetSmart near by and had a wonderful encounter with an adorable adoptable cat for free! I didn't have to make a reservation either. I also have a 1 year old who wouldn't have been allowed at the Kitty Cantina but I could take her to the animal shelter or the PetSmart. Be aware only rich people are allowed to pet cats at the Kitty Cantina. My advice take your $50 to the animal shelter, pet the cats there and donate the...

After being advised by Spokanimal that all their cats/kittens were out in Petco's and the Kitty Cantina, thought I'd head up and see what's the cantina is like. Walked in, ordered a drink and asked to visit the kittens. I was then informed I needed an appt and there was no appts left for that day. When did appts to adopt a cat start happening?? Told them I have $200 to spend today, but no go. As I wasted the drive up and wasted time waiting for my purchased drink, one of the baristas made a sarcastic comment to me. I let her know that as a customer, that was unacceptable. There were 4 baristas working at the time and all of them shut up as soon as I said it. One tried to defend the other. This world needs some serious customer service training. Why did Spokanimal NOT say that before I headed up there?? And, workers need to keep their opinions in check while on duty!!! I will NOT be going back, and will NOT advise to anyone else.

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Update: Although I am very impressed with getting a response (rarely happens), I do not agree that she was acting with professionalism when she made that comment based on the tone and fluctuation in her voice as she said it. I am completely understanding of the new process in adopting however, I live in the Spokane valley! Why did no one at Spokanimal inform me of the need for an appointment PRIOR to driving up and...