Skip to Content

Catfe: Vancouver’s first cat café

Catfe-Vancouver-Cat-SPCA

Catfe, Vancouver’s first cat café, is now open for business with huge excitement from the cat-loving community in Vancouver.  I heard about Catfe through social media and was eager to get up-close-and-purr-sonal with the resident cats.  Cate is part cafe and part foster home for cats from the SPCA. Yesterday, I had my one-hour visit at Catfe and in this review I will share with you my experience.

Reservations Recommended

With the much generated buzz about Catfe, public demand has certainly exceeded capacity at least for the time being.  I made my reservation for Catfe through their online system just over a week ago prior to their opening on December 14.  As it currently stands, bookings are full until mid-January.  They do accept around two walk-in customers per hour, however.  Catfe permits a maximum of 16 visitors at a time for the 8 cats in the lounge which seems like a comfortable ratio.

Catfe-Vancouver

Meowlicious Menu

Catfe visits are for one hour and admission is $5 per person with any cafe purchase (or $8 with no purchase).  The Catfe menu includes a small selection of savoury and sweet items.  Savoury options consist of curried lentil soupred pepper, spinach and goat cheese quiche, and gluten-free, vegan pizza bun.  The purr-fect sweets available are Earl Grey ganache meowcaraon, chcocolate cat cake nom,  strawberry or mocha chocolate cat cupcake, and gluten-free vegan brownie.  They serve coffee from local roasters Moja Coffee and Silk Road Tea from Victoria.

Catfe-Vancouver

My husband and I ordered lattes ($4.00) and the Earl Grey ganache meowcaraon ($2.95).  They were presented in a take-away format – that is, paper cup and brown pastry bag.  I guess it is less for staff to clean up rather than conventional cups and plates.

Catfe-Vancouver

Catfe-Vancouver-Macaron-Earl

Catfe-Vancouver

My Hour at Catfe

After making our food purchases, we made our way to the cat lounge which is separated but adjacent to the cafe.  We checked in with a staff member at the desk.  The staff quickly made an assessment as to whether the lounge was at capacity before admitting us.  We reviewed the Catfe rules which included not picking up the cats, rubbing their bellies, waking them up if they are sleeping and to be overall gentle and respectful.  After washing our hands at the sink, we proceeded into the lounge.

Catfe-Vancouver

The Catfe lounge has a hipster chic interior with wooden accents and floor-to-ceiling windows.  The area is adorned with cat-themed decor as well as meowchandise for sale.  The overall vibe was very relaxing and conversations were kept to a quiet tone.

Catfe-Vancouver

Can you tell that this is a cat pillow?

Can you tell that this is a cat pillow?

There were 8 cats on site although only 2 or 3 were actively engaging with people.  Others were taking bathroom breaks in a private room (cats-only) or sleeping.  With some gentle cat-calling, two of the cats, Mittens and Jinxie, came to me and I petted and played with them.  With so few cats active at the time, small groups tended to gather around a single cat.  You do end up kind of hangout out with people you do not know because of that.

Catfe-Vancouver

Catfe-Vancouver

Expect some “policing” from the staff to ensure the safety of the cats.  For example, I overheard one staff member ask one group who was playing with a cat if the cat came down from the shelf on her own or whether they brought her down themselves.

Catfe-Vancouver

Adopting A Cat

I asked one staff member about the adoption process and she noted that staff at Catfe are qualified adoption counsellors.  If you are interested in adopting one of the Catfe cats, you will need to fill out a form as well as engage in an interview with one of the staff.  The purpose is to ensure a good match between you and the cat such as to reduce cats being returned to the SPCA.  All the information is then sent to the SPCA for view and the turnaround time is apparently about a day.

Catfe-Vancouver

I saw how beneficial Catfe was in allowing people who wanted to adopt a cat to be able to interact with the cat in a relaxed and social environment.  You get to know the cat’s personality and connect with the cat, if you will.  My mother-in-law has a cat that she adopted from the SPCA.  That cat turned out to be more of  an outdoor cat rather than indoors!

Catfe-Vancouver

Overall Impression

As a dog-owner, I was highly entertained by Catfe such that I could be easily purr-suaded to the feline side.  Catfe is more about being with the cats rather than a foodie experience.  It was overall paw-sitive and furry fun.  Rating: 3.5/5

For more info, visit Catfe on their website or social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Catfe Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Sharing is caring!