Alley Cats Coffee — Restaurant in Spooner

Haven’t been to Alley Cats in years. Since The Dock opened, they totally blew Alley Cats out of the water. Their coffee is better and they were open on Sundays, it was no contest.

However, they moved to the old Spooner Family Restaurant and heard they made a lot of changes so we were excited to give them another go. They made the space beautiful! It looks amazing. So modern and cozy. Lots of seating and easy ordering.

Now the bad stuff. The food and coffee, yikes. We ordered a bubble tea, iced americano, kids grilled cheese, veggie wrap and veggie panini. Tea was good. Americano not good. Almost like the machine needed to be calibarated? It was the afternoon so that’s likely. The food was not good, in any way. The wrap was premade and packed in a ready to go fridge. This means no changes so we couldn’t remove the onions. Oh well. The kids grilled cheese and panini were barely cooked. You can’t really even call the panini a panini. It was a sandwich that was lightly toasted. I asked for no mushroom due to an allergy and it was served with mushrooms so we got a refund for that. We were also given no plates or anything. It was all served to go even though they have a large dine in area. The drive thru is not yet open but when it is I’m sure that will do great.

No reason for us ever to come back. Hope they find a crowd who will continue to visit them because we never want to see a local business shut down but the quality just isn’t there for us. They need to take a better look at their food and step it up. Follow a Panera model maybe? They’re going through an identity crisis and hopefully they figure out what exactly...

My husband and I were passing through town and thought to give this shop a try. My husband enjoyed his keto coffee special with the added chocolate greens (which they forgot to add on and I had to go back and pay for again). I ordered a medium decaf americano over ice. The barista proceeded to make it hot and when I reminded her it was over ice I got a nasty look and it was poured over ice a lid slapped on it and a straw shoved into it ( I also told them I did not need a straw I had mine with me) and it was slid across the counter still hot and now very diluted. I asked for another glass of ice because it was still hot. I received another look from the barista but she slid another cup of ice my way. The hot cup was the used with the remainder of my americano in it for the next drink. I’m sad such a highly rated coffee shop was such a bad experience.(edited 7/21/19 to add response to owner) I contacted Ken per his request, he was prompt in his replies and did endeavor to correct the issue saying this was a teachable moment for his staff. ...

I strongly encourage people to visit locally run and owned businesses, so I was happy to see Alley Cats open in Spooner near my home. My friend and I visited the shop today and I was dismayed that the only way to purchase a decaf coffee was to buy an Americano which is $3.50, whereas a cup of brewed regular is $2. When I mentioned this to the manager (owner) I was blown off telling me that it is organic and all that stuff and the price was similar to his competition. Who does he see as his local competition? (Senior coffee at McDs is .50) I wonder if he has done a thorough market research as to who will be his clientele after the summer people have gone home, I sense it will be people like me, AARP members who like to go out for coffee a few times a week. The coffee was okay, the counter help seemed friendly enough, but the attitude of the manager was a significant turn-off as he evidently doesn't care about seniors. Too bad, I was seeing it as a potential new spot to meet...