Inside the wonderful world of Manhattan’s Meow Parlour cat cafe.
Julie Gerstein
Getting into the Meow Parlour cat cafe is a little bit like getting into a very exclusive restaurant. You wait in line in a vestibule just outside the door. A discerning door girl asks if you have a reservation. You can see everybody inside having a amazing time with a bunch of cool cats, but they're just out of reach. Finally, when you make your way inside, take off your shoes, and douse your hands with sanitizer, you're allowed to join the party.
We've been trying to go to a cat cafe since we first heard of them five or so years ago. Did it disappoint? No. It is exactly as advertised: a chill ass spot with a bean bag chairs and a bunch of cats hanging out at a range of energy levels. (Actually, it could have been more of a cafe: the menu is mostly cookies, can we get some wraps or something? But they do have Blue Bottle coffee.)
Meow Parlour
Cat cafes first started in Japan, and have morphed into other animal-based recreational cafes. Now Tokyo has goat cafes, rabbit cafes and, uh, bird cafes. But this is kind of a new thing in the U.S. which is why we thought we needed to go check one out. Located in New York's Lower East Side, the cafe hosts a rotating cast of furry cat faces, all available for cuddles, pets, playing and adoption (via no-kill shelter KittyKind). Visitors pay $5 to hang out with the cats in half hour increments, free to play and pet as many cats as they want.
It turns out people are really into playing with cats.
We hadn't really considered what type of people would be at the cat cafe midday, midweek, but it was clear as soon as we walked in the door, the people watching was half the experience. People love talking about cats, man. Their own cats, cats long deceased, and the many rad cats of Meow Parlour.
"My son lives with us and he doesn't want the cat in his room but of course the cat always wants to go in his room," says one 70-ish woman to one of the cafe's two full-time employees. She bends his ear for another ten minutes, going through the list of her cat's maladies. He nods with kind understanding.
"I used to have a cat but my ex got in the break up," says Ting, from Queenstown, New Zealand. So as part of Ting's visit to New York, she decided to make a special visit to Meow Parlour. Ting is lying on the floor with a couple of cats within arms' reach.
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