Saturday’s In Syracuse: Luna Cat Cafe
Here at SCS, we LOVE everything having to do with Syracuse. We are going to start a weekly post series called Saturday’s In Syracuse where we will post our review of a local small business in the Syracuse area. If you would like for your small business to be reviewed, please send us an email.
Luna Cat Cafe is an awesome hangout place for college-aged kids, families and people going on a first date (assuming you aren’t allergic to cats). It’s a large building that is divided into two rooms. The main room you enter into is the dining room where you order your food and let them know how long you want in the cat room. The connecting room is the cat room.
You can pay for a half-hour in the cat room, an hour or more. The Luna Cat Cafe is located at 1001 E Fayette St, Syracuse, NY 13210. You can find them on Instagram here.
The dining room is relatively small. Our first time there was the night before Halloween and there were probably 20 other people in the dining area which did feel quite cramped. I can’t imagine they’re typically getting that busy though and everyone was wearing masks. The dining space feels reminiscent of Roji Tea Lounge (if you were lucky enough to go there when they were open). They have board games available to play and the staff is super friendly. My son and I played Jenga which seemed to be causing us both a bit of anxiety (him; because he didn’t like everyone being able to see him play and possibly mess up, me; because I didn’t want everyone to stare when they inevitably fell and made a very loud noise). No one seemed to be paying us any attention but it felt much more comfortable when we switched to the game Sequence. This was likely just because we’re two anxious people, however, hey, we’re all reaching the tail-end of a multi-year quarantine-type situation and I’m assuming most of us have developed some social anxieties so just some things to keep in mind.
My son ordered Sake chicken which was served over rice. I ordered a side salad. I got the vibe that they didn’t actually have a full kitchen to cook in. My side salad was exactly as you’d expect. Their house salad was similar to other ginger salad dressing I’ve had elsewhere and tasted amazing. Wish I could buy a bottle of that stuff. My son liked the sake chicken and did not like the rice. I tried the rice myself and it was quite undercooked. They had special drinks for Halloween and we loved our Halloween drink. The second time we went, we got bubble tea. We’re avid bubble tea drinkers and both did not like our bubble tea at all.
On to the main part of the review… the cat room. The cat room was awesome. We did a half-hour which was more than enough time. There were four cats that are lifetime residents of the cafe and then five cats that were available for adoption. They had a book listing every cat they’ve successfully adopted. When you enter, you’re greeted by a worker who explains how the cat room works and answers your questions. You’re also signed in at that time. We moved around the room playing with different kitties. I found one cat that I wanted to sit and cuddle and my son went to go watch the movie they had on. The cats seemed so happy and well cared for. They even had some of the cats dressed up for Halloween. The cat room was alarmingly clean considering how much cat hair and dander must circulate through there. We had an awesome time and have already been back since.
Conclusion: Luna Cat Cafe is an awesome place to go in the Syracuse Area. Its location is great, the atmosphere feels totally inclusive, the cat area is a bunch of fun. Eat dinner beforehand and opt for dessert and time with the kitties and you’ll have a blast.
