Cat Cafes in NYC: The Four Open in 2026 and How They Compare

New York City has fewer cat cafés than you might expect. Koneko, the Japanese-style café on the Lower East Side that opened in 2015, closed to the public in August 2026. That leaves four places in the five boroughs where you can book time with adoptable cats: Meow Parlour on the Lower East Side, Brooklyn Cat Cafe in Brooklyn Heights, and two newer cafés in Queens, Kokoro Cat Café in Flushing and Espurresso Cat Cafe in Bayside.

All four work with rescues, and every cat in their lounges is looking for a home. Beyond that they differ a lot, from age limits and session lengths to how much food is on offer. We checked prices, rules and hours on each café’s own website and booking page in October 2026. There is still no cat café in the Bronx or on Staten Island.

NYC’s Cat Cafés at a Glance

Which One Should You Choose?

• If you only have time for one in Manhattan, go to Meow Parlour. It is the only cat café left in Manhattan, a few minutes’ walk from the F, J, M and Z trains, and open every day.
• With young children, go to Brooklyn Cat Cafe or Espurresso, which welcome all ages. Meow Parlour admits under-9s only during its Kids Hour sessions, and Kokoro does not admit children under 8.
• For the cheapest visit, go to Brooklyn Cat Cafe ($15 for 30 minutes) or Espurresso ($16 plus tax for 40 minutes).
• For a long, lazy afternoon, go to Espurresso, where a $49 ticket (Monday to Thursday) lets you stay for three hours with refills of coffee.
• For an evening visit, go to Kokoro or Espurresso. Both take bookings until 8pm or later every night, while Meow Parlour and Brooklyn Cat Cafe close by 7pm on most days.
• For kittens, go to Brooklyn Cat Cafe and book its upstairs Kitten Party room.

Meow Parlour

Photo by Ethan Covey, courtesy of meowparlour.com

Meow Parlour opened on Hester Street in December 2014 as New York’s first permanent cat café. Co-founder Christina Ha is also the pastry chef behind Macaron Parlour. The café has since moved round the corner to 43 Essex Street, between Grand and Hester, into a bright space designed by Sonya Lee Architect. In 2018 it became its own non-profit, Meow Parlour Cats, a New York State licensed rescue, and it says it has fostered more than 3,000 cats since opening.

A standard visit costs $23 plus tax for 50 minutes, and shorter 30-minute sessions are also on offer. Book on the café’s reservation page up to two months ahead, for up to six people. Walk-ins are sometimes possible on weekdays but rarely at weekends. Cancel at least 48 hours ahead for a full refund, or 24 hours ahead for half. Regular sessions are for ages 9 and up, and under-18s need an adult. Younger children can come to Kids Hour, held on Mondays from 4pm to 5pm and Saturdays from 11am to noon. Shoes come off at the door.

Drinks and cat-themed pastries come from Macaron Parlour, and outside food is not allowed. There are also cat yoga sessions, and private events for up to 25 guests are booked through the website. Meow Parlour is open from 11am to 6:30pm Monday to Thursday and until 7pm Friday to Sunday. Delancey St-Essex St (F, J, M, Z) is a few minutes’ walk away, and East Broadway (F) and Grand Street (B, D) are also close.

Adopting: every cat can be adopted. Meet the cat first, then apply online. Kittens under eight months only go home in pairs or to a home that already has a playful cat. Meow Parlour does not publish its fees.

Brooklyn Cat Cafe

Courtesy of catcafebk.com

Brooklyn Cat Cafe is run by the Brooklyn Bridge Animal Welfare Coalition, a volunteer-driven rescue founded in 2007 that has placed more than 6,000 animals. The café opened on Atlantic Avenue in May 2016 and moved in December 2018 to a much larger space at 76 Montague Street, in a former restaurant a short walk from the Promenade. It has since added an upstairs kitten nursery and a room for cats with feline leukemia (FeLV). The rescue also runs a low-cost clinic next door and takes in rabbits, rats and other small animals for adoption.

A 30-minute visit to the main café costs $15. Book on the reservations page, where you will also find a 50-minute Kitten Party upstairs ($50, up to five guests) and an hour in the FeLV room ($30). If you overstay your slot, you pay for the extra time. Cancel online at least 24 hours ahead for a refund. All ages are welcome. Children under 14 must stay with an adult and may not pick up the cats, and teenagers aged 14 to 17 can come alone with a signed waiver. Saturday evenings from 5pm to 7pm are for adults only. The kitten room and the event space are up the stairs, with no elevator, and strollers are not allowed inside.

Health rules mean the café cannot prepare food or drinks, so it sells only packaged drinks and snacks. What it lacks in food it makes up for in events. They include Stretch & Snuggle yoga ($28), a Zoomies comedy night on the first Friday of the month ($35, 18 and up, bring your own drinks) and movie nights ($30). Hours are 11am to 7pm on Saturday and Sunday, noon to 7pm on Monday and Friday, and 3pm to 8pm on Thursday. It is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Clark Street (2, 3), Court Street (R) and Borough Hall (2, 3, 4, 5) are all within a 10-minute walk.

Adopting: fees are $150 for an adult cat, $175 for a kitten going to a home with another cat, $300 for a pair of cats and $400 for a pair of young kittens. Single kittens are not placed alone. You apply first, references are checked, and then you meet the cat. There are no same-day adoptions.

Kokoro Cat Café

Courtesy of kokorocatcafe.com

Kokoro Cat Café opened on 1 March 2025 on the ground floor of the Tangram mall in Flushing, by the College Point Boulevard entrance. Founders Dragon Peng and Sherry Jiang got the idea on a trip to Japan, and the cattery is designed as a calm, Japanese-style room. Its 10 to 12 cats all come from Anjellicle Cats Rescue, a no-kill rescue that also supplied Koneko. Kokoro has announced a second location on the Lower East Side, which it lists as coming soon.

A 40-minute session costs $22 plus tax, with up to 15 guests at a time. Book on Acuity. Walk-ins are accepted, but you may have to wait for the next session. Cancellations and changes need 48 hours’ notice. Children under 8 are not admitted, and under-12s need an adult. Everyone signs a waiver, and parents sign for under-18s. Drinks are Japanese canned and bottled teas, coffees and sodas for $4. A $10 package adds a drink, a “catsicle” treat for the cats, an instant photo and a buy-one-get-one-free voucher for your next visit.

Kokoro is open from 11:20am to 8:40pm Sunday to Thursday and until 9:20pm on Friday and Saturday. It closes every day from 3:20pm to 4pm to clean and feed the cats. It also runs cat yoga, meditation and Paint & Purr sessions, and the whole cattery can be booked for private events. Flushing-Main St, the last stop on the 7 train, is about a six-minute walk, and the LIRR’s Flushing-Main Street station is about eight minutes away.

Adopting: apply through Anjellicle Cats Rescue, naming the cat and “Kokoro Cat Cafe” on the form. The rescue arranges pickup at the café or delivery to your home.

Espurresso Cat Cafe

Courtesy of espurresso.com

Espurresso Cat Cafe opened in spring 2025 on 35th Avenue in Bayside, Queens’ second cat café after Kokoro. It has a bright café at the front and a lounge behind it, where the café says more than ten adoptable cats from the rescues Purrific Home and For Animals Inc live. It is the most food-focused of the four. Coffee comes from For Five Coffee, and the menu includes osmanthus, coconut and tiramisu lattes, fruit-flavored Americanos, Hong Kong egg waffles, jianbing and Nutella crepes.

A 40-minute PurrRelax session costs $16 plus tax for up to 15 guests, booked on the reservation page. There are good-value bundles: $19 on weekdays with a specialty drink, $46 for two with drinks and crepes, and a $49 three-hour Feline Therapy Time ticket with refillable coffee, Monday to Thursday only. Weekend walk-ins are very limited, so book. Arrive ten minutes early, and cancel at least 24 hours ahead for a refund. All ages are welcome, and children under 14 must stay with an adult.

The booking system offers sessions from about 11am to 9pm on weekdays and 10am to 10pm at weekends, but the café does not publish fixed hours, so check before you go. The LIRR’s Bayside station is about a 15-minute walk, and the Q13 bus stops at Bell Boulevard and 35th Avenue, a few blocks away. Private events and birthday parties are priced on request.

Adopting: apply directly to Purrific Home or For Animals Inc, which make all adoption decisions. The café suggests applying after your visit, and posts its current cats on Instagram.

Cat Cafés a Train Ride from NYC

Four more cafés are within reach of Penn Station by train. NJ Transit is running reduced service during work on the Portal Bridge from 11 October to 14 November 2026, so check the New Jersey trips before you travel.

• Catfé Montclair, Montclair, NJ. A second-floor lounge of cats from Homeless Tails rescue, with free self-serve coffee and tea. A visit costs $15 for 30 minutes (ages 7 and up), and longer sessions are open to ages 12 and up. It is closed Monday and Tuesday, and walk-ins are not guaranteed. Take the Montclair-Boonton Line to Bay Street, about 12 minutes’ walk away. Adoption costs $225, or $400 for two.
• Rahway Kitty Hall, Rahway, NJ. A small volunteer-run lounge that calls itself New Jersey’s first cat café, with cats from Angel PAWS rescue. It is open only at weekends, from 11am to 3pm, with one-hour sessions for $15. Children under 5 are not admitted. Rahway station on the Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast lines is an eight-minute walk.
• Catpurrccino’s, Huntington, NY. A full café with cat-pun drinks, opened in 2019 by Feral to Family Cat & Kitten Rescue, with a window onto the living-room-style cattery. Adopters must be 25 or older, and the fee is $200. Take the LIRR’s Port Jefferson Branch to Huntington, about 1 hour 10 minutes, then a taxi or bus, since the station is almost 2 miles from Main Street.
• The Shabby Tabby Cat Cafe, Sayville, NY. A large lounge with a separate kitten room, run by its own rescue, Friends of Ollie. An hour costs $18.47 including tax, and an all-day pass costs $32.59. Walk-ins are welcome. It is about 1.5 hours on the LIRR’s Montauk Branch, then a 14-minute walk.

Other Places to Meet Cats in NYC

• Good Home Pet Adoptions runs a free-roaming cat lounge in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It was temporarily closed in October 2026 and plans to reopen at a new location later in the month.
• Social Cat Lounge NYC hosts ticketed events with cats near Penn Station, such as Pilates, paint-and-sip nights and meditation, for ages 18 and up. It is an event space rather than a drop-in café and does not publish an address.
• Cute Cafe in Ridgewood, Queens, is a cat-themed breakfast and brunch spot. Neighborhood cats it looks after visit its back patio, but it is not a cat lounge.

Little Lions in SoHo has closed, and Cosmic Cat Cafe in the East Village, which never had cats, closed in 2026. Some older guides still list both.

Adopting a Cat in NYC

Each café works through a rescue, so expect an application, reference checks and sometimes an interview rather than taking a cat home on the day. If you are ready to adopt and want to walk in, Bideawee at 152 West 24th Street takes walk-ins Tuesday to Sunday from 11am to 5pm. Animal Haven at 200 Centre Street and KittyKind, at the Petco on Union Square, also have drop-in hours. The city’s Animal Care Centers adopt from Manhattan (326 East 110th Street) and Queens, while the Brooklyn shelter is closed for rebuilding until 2027.

If you are new to cat cafés, our guide to what a cat café is covers the house rules most places share. Our New York cat café map lists every café in the state, from the Hudson Valley to Buffalo.