On February 9th, my roommate sent me a link with the URL of colonycafepgh.com, which led to the website of a new coffee/wine bar in Pittsburgh -- Colony Cafe. Although I love coffee and finding new coffee shops to go to, what drew me to this particular one was the fact that it has adoptable cats as well as coffee. To which I of course texted my boyfriend something along the lines of "THERE'S A CAT CAFE IN PITTSBURGH WE HAVE TO GO", and a few hours later, we had reservations to visit Colony Cafe on March 4th from 4-5pm.
To clarify, the cats at Colony were not in the same area as the coffee/wine bar -- they have their own loft above the bar. Though one quick glance upstairs, and you very well could see a cat or two because of the glass walls the loft has.
My boyfriend and I arrived at Colony Cafe (which is very close to the Strip District) about a half an hour before we could see the cats upstairs, so we decided to get some coffee and wait. Now, I always order a mocha when I visit a new coffee shop because I love mocha, and I love comparing coffee shops. The mocha I had was nothing special to me (though my boyfriend claims that it was very "smooth" - whatever that means). But that was perfectly fine with me because I was there for the cats, not the coffee.
The loft is a very cozy area that accommodates about a dozen cats (according to Colony's website), with a pretty big main room and a section that reminds me of a hallway. Only ten people are allowed in the loft at a time, and reservations are made at $8/hour for each person -- and of course there's rules that have to be followed, but I won't get into those. There's also a veterinarian in the loft at all times in case something happens. All the cats are up for adoption and provided by Animal Friends, which is a great way to see how they interact in more social situations, rather than choosing a cat from a small cage.
If you're worried about where the litter boxes are, well, the cats have their own bathroom in the main room of the loft. And don't worry, you can't see the cats doing their business or even smell anything.
The only downside to the Colony Cafe is that I had to walk away at 5 without any cats.
The Colony Cafe is open Tuesdays-Saturdays from 8am-10pm for the bar area, and 11am-8pm for the cat loft (the cat loft closes for a "cat nap" from 2-3pm each day, though. How cute is that?!). Colony Cafe is also a wine bar, as I mentioned before, and they offer a few food items as well. Booking reservations for the cat loft is extremely easy, and if you want to go, you better book sooner than later because they are booked for the month of March and some of April as far as I researched. You can book a reservation here.
