Little Lions – Cafe
“This place is not only for "cat people" but also non-cat people since it's roomy and the cats are all chill and happy.”
“It is such a relaxing place to get away from the craziness of New York and just enjoy a cup of tea and kitties.”
“I had the pumpkin chai which was yummy and went well with the vegan chocolate chip cookie!”
Little Lions – Cafe
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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What a peaceful, cat sanctuary. Coming here was well-needed after a stressful week. $11 well spent to de-stress with some new soft, fuzzy friends. I came with a friend and we made a reservation for 10am in the morning on a Friday, which is evidently a good time to go. We were the only ones there for a good 15 min. and had the cats to ourselves. Later a few more people came, but it was by no means crowded.
The place is separated in two rooms. You first enter the cafe to check in and then proceed outside to enter the door located to right of the cafe entrance to enter the cat area. If you order anything from the cafe, they will bring it over to the next room for you once your order is ready. Be careful with your food and drink, as the cats are quite curious in regards to food items. If you want to know the names of the cats, just ask the staff member.
The person overseeing the cat area told us about some of the drama happening between some of the cats. Most of these cats are solitary creatures so quite a few fights broke out between them. We witnessed an intense showdown between two of the cats, glaring each other down. Which ultimately ended in a few hisses and smack-downs. It was quite entertaining to watch.
Most of the cats were kind of aloof and afraid, but two cats, Zina and Diamond, were especially friendly. My friend bonded with Diamond while I bonded with Zina. Zina would come over to snuggle up to you and beg to be petted. I hope they get adopted soon. I still love dogs the most, but after visiting my first cat cafe I can now understand the charm of cats.
Kinda expensive to play with cats, and I'm allergic, but it was fun! The cat to human ratio is way off (7 visible cats, 3 invisible cats, 12 humans) but sometimes they will come play with you if they feel like it. We paid $6 for 1/2 hour, each. They do have lint rollers and wipes for you to use afterwards. Try it once, maybe you'll like it.
P.S. You can adopt the cats if you really like them. They are zoned as a cat shelter.
Perfect time spent with super cute kitties! It's a good tea and dessert place even if you are not a cat lover – two separate spacious rooms – one is cafe no cats, the other is cat sanctuary. There are comfortable sofas in both rooms. And don't worry, yes, you can bring food/drinks you ordered to cat room!
Food and drinks: A good variety of tea selections. I tried their happy tea. It's fruity yet not overwhelming. They also serve cute cat shaped breakfast pancakes and many bakeries.
Plus! Very fair price and friendly staff.
The Little Lions Cat Café is such a delight! I went midday on a Friday, during prime kitty naptime, and met 14 adorable cats. It seems like they are keeping it a 1:1 ratio of people to animals. The space is super cute, with plenty of room to move around and lots of comfortable seating. I fell a little bit in love with a small orange cat named Lily and a sleek black cat named Turkey. Though all the cats are adoptable, I already have an awesome cat at home and I don't need a second (or third) just yet.
I highly recommend making reservations online. And arrive about 5 minutes early so you can grab a cup of tea or a snack. The Kauai Cocktail tea is fruity and fun!
So I've come to the conclusion that, in order to properly enjoy a cat cafe, you need to put actually interacting with the cats second to: 1) enjoying a nice cup of tea, 2) catching up on work or a book, or 3) chatting with your friends. Trying to actually get their attention, let alone coaxing one to come near you, is truly a fool's endeavor.
We came on an overcast Thursday afternoon, and for most of our hour-long stay, we were the only one hanging out with the cats, who were either napping or enjoying being stroked by the employee keeping an eye on everything. Definitely opt for the 30-minute reservation instead of the hour-long one: we ran out of things to do and look at about 15 minutes in. For the rest of my time, I amused myself by reading "Men With Cats: Intimate Portraits of Feline Friendship."
How Little Lions stacks up to Meow Parlour a few blocks away:
1) Depending on the time you pick, you're competing with a lot fewer people.
2) Space is a lot bigger and more well-decorated.
3) Also, I think Little Lions only recently opened and it's on a quiet street so the word hasn't gotten out yet.
Another tip: if you have the money, I'd buy a treat when you're checking in. The food/drinks are on the expensive side but I guarantee you'll have 2-3 cats scrambling over to you when you start eating. Cats = just like people when it comes to food.
$11 well spent!
Came in with a coworker during our lunch hour and it was definitely an hour well spent.
You check in at the cafe and buy and refreshments or snacks that you want before going next door to the car sanctuary. The food is a solid and I'd definitely come back for those scones!!
The cats are always in a constant rotation because they do get adopted out, which I actually look forward to. The cats are all very friendly and not aggressive in any way.
They're now doing cat yoga! I can't wait to be back to play with more kittens!
We got a Groupon for afternoon tea in the cat sanctuary. I believe it was $39 for the two of us and included a coffee/tea, tea sandwiches, pastries, and one hour in the cat sanctuary. It states on Groupon that this is a $72 value, which is ridiculous, because an hour in the cat sanctuary only costs $11 per person, and I doubt that a few coffees, pastries, and sandwiches are worth $50, even in NYC. I still think $39 is overpaying for what was included in the package.
Anyway, after we checked in at the cafe and grabbed our coffees, we were walked over to the cat sanctuary, which is adjacent to the Cafe but had to be accessed by customers from the outside. They use the doorway that actually connects the cafe to the sanctuary as…storage.
After giving us a brief introduction about the cats and setting some ground rules, we were free to sit as we pleased and to interact with the cats. They also brought our sandwiches and cookies over from the cafe for us – which already seemed a little iffy considering there was cat hair and dandruff everywhere and we were basically touching cats and eating at the same time.
As for the cafe items: The coffee tasted burnt and over-brewed. The pastries tasted (and crumbled) like they were days old, and the white bread of the tea sandwiches were ridiculously stale. The only enjoyable items on our plate were the cat cookies. We weren't here for the food, fine, but for a cafe, they serve really subpar food.
Finally, our experience in the cat sanctuary: The ratio of people to cats was way off. There were about 12-15 adult humans in the sanctuary during our time slot and we could only see and interact with 5 of the 8 cats that they claimed were there. We were literally having cat fights with the other patrons for the cats' attention. Unfortunately, we also ended up with a group of extremely aggressive tourists who kept chasing the cats around and cornering them to take photos (really, you can only have that many photos of the same cats), so we ended up just hanging out in a corner and watching the cats from afar…which isn't really the point of paying to enter the cat sanctuary.
I definitely won't be back, not even with a Groupon because – well, the cost is appalling for what you get in the package and obviously not even discounted in the slightest. I get that cat cafes are all the rage these days, but I'm sure that there are plenty more in the city that would make for a more enjoyable experience.
First off, I'm so glad that some kind of animal cafe exists in NYC. It sounded unsanitary at first, but really it doesn't have to be. Little Lions cafe has 2 separate rooms. One room is where you order food and you can eat there as well. The room next door is where all the cats are, and they stay in there. For those that don't mind mixing eating with playing, you can also choose to eat in there instead.
I got the avocado toast and iced white coconut creme tea. The avocado toast tasted delicious (because avocado!!) but I honestly thought the price was kind of steep. It was just a slice of toast with mashed avocado, chili pepper flakes, and olive oil. It was not exactly filling, it just made me not feel as hungry, and I usually eat small meals already. But again, it was delicious!
The white coconut creme tea was a slight disappointment, though that's kind of on me. I asked the girl which drinks were more popular, since there were so many to choose from and I didn't want to read through all the descriptions. She recommended this, and it sounded awesome. I was expecting a white drink with some sort of dairy or coconut milk in it. It was yellow and there was no cream at all, so the only part of the name that fit the drink was the coconut part, because the coconut flavor was there. It was an okay drink, but had I known what it really was, I would have gotten something else. But seriously, who comes up with these names?! "White coconut creme" is way misleading.
Onto the cat part. I headed over to the other room after eating and my friend and I had the room to ourselves for about 5 minutes, and then people just kept streaming in 🙁 This was around 2pm. It was pretty empty before that, so I guess less people go in the morning time.
There were 9 cats there. Most of them were sleeping. Also, I think at some point, there were more people than cats. It got kind of boring then, because at some moments, I did not have a cat to play with and just had to watch other people play with them 🙁 Despite all this though, I did enjoy my experience there. The cats are adorable. One of them walked right onto my lap. That was my favorite moment there. But then she walked off after a minute 🙁
Overall, I think this place is a great idea, especially for all the cat lovers out there. I really love that they get their cats from the Best Friends Animal Society, because with adoptions, I always feel like you always don't get to see what the animal is like, but this place makes it possible because you can spend as long as you want with one. It's a great way for the animals to have social interaction versus staying in their cages in a shelter all day too, so win win for all!