Sip & Purr Cat Cafe – 2021 E. Ivanhoe Place, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Open 10am to 9pm every day, except they close 6pm on Sunday, and closed Tuesday.

I've had coffee here a couple of times and found it it be a great place to sit, even though it's a fairly tight space and the best seats are wobbly high ones (so you can look into the glassed-in cat part of the cafe). Still comfortable, though, because of all the good vibes. Not a place where someone's going to be dominating 20 cubic feet of airspace working at world domination on their laptop. When I first heard that a cat cafe was opening here I was, naturally, excited—picturing a kind of anarchic, hippie free-for-all, you get the picture—cats that you get to know over time, better than people, the shy cat everyone tries to draw out, and the aggressive cat who always tries to share your soup. Then I found out there were rules, and indeed, you needed a reservation, and there was a fee (nearly the price of a matinee movie)—I was, at first, bummed out. But as far as I can tell, the reason for this structure is to benefit the cats—and the ultimate goal is to find each cat a home. After all, most cats wouldn't be happy with a permanent residence here, you know, sharing their space day to day with so many other cats, new cats, and strangers. It's not like a store cat who—that is their store. The cats do seem pretty happy, though, so I'm guessing they are treated well—and I'm thinking, on their way to finding new homes. For me, it's a good place to sit and look through the glass windows into the cat part of the cafe (plus, you can imagine, if you're imaginative, that it's the human zoo). Good coffee, and also a lot of stuff to eat, and a lot of gluten-free stuff. Other coffee shops should have this much gluten-free stuff. I'm still thinking about that gluten-free coffee cake. Also, exceptionally nice bathrooms, which I think always says a lot (good) about the people who run a place.

Randy Russell 2.20.19