Out to eat in Sioux Falls: Cats, treats and coffee at downtown cafe

We noticed the cats before the cafe.

A large window displayed a bright open room, which hosted a number of cats lounging about on plump pillows and floating shelves — a fluffy world yet unknown to us. 

Then we noticed the awkward glances of the humans inside the building, their hands pausing from petting the felines or vying for their attention with a toy.

Ah, wrong entrance. We scuttled the other way.

Cat cafes are a relatively new phenomenon in the United States, but they have enjoyed their popularity in locales such as Japan, which boasts more than 150 cat cafes around the country since the first opened in 2004. The concept is simple: order coffee and pet cats.

Sioux Falls' own Cattitude Cafe sits downtown on the corner of 11th Street and 2nd Avenue and opened to the public in July 2023. 

Clean counters and modern furnishings welcomed my friends and I when we entered through the correct doors. We arrived in the mid-afternoon, leaving the place barren, save for those lingering in the cat lounge, but that only added to the “new feeling” of the establishment that made it all the more exciting.

The employee at the counter patiently explained to us how the café worked. Customers can book a time slot online or in person to visit the cat lounge for either 30 minutes or an hour.

We booked a 30-minute time slot for $6.36. An hour long would have cost $10.63. As strange as it is to pay to pet some cats, these are rather competitive prices compared to other cat cafes in nearby states. Roseville, Minnesota's The Cafe Meow charges $15 an hour on weekends, $10.50 on weekdays, and Sioux City, Iowa's Coffee and Purrs charges $14.98 for a full hour. 

While waiting for their reserved time, customers can sit in the cafe and order a drink or a bite to eat. The food menu contained an appropriate amount of cat references, such as sandwiches named Cat's Claw or Cat Tree. These main menu items ranged anywhere from $11 to $13. 

Side dishes such as fruit kabobs and side salads ranged from $4.50 to $13 while drink items, such as coffees, teas and alcoholic beverages, ranged from $3 to $8.

Instead of these items, I opted for a turkey sandwich listed on a chalkboard menu behind the counter, along with a side of chips, a cake pop and a soda to drink. Added to the cat lounge reservation, my trip to the cafe added up to about $27.

The cake pop, which the employee pulled from the display case of cat-eared cupcakes and paw-stamped cheesecake bars, was cute with its little cat ears and whiskers but was an otherwise unremarkable sweet treat to snack on while they worked on my sandwich. The sandwich was a simple affair, consisting of sliced turkey, cranberry lettuce mix and mayo cut into a neat diagonal.

Despite its simplicity, however, the turkey sandwich was better than I expected. The bread was perfectly golden, allowing for a softer bite without sacrificing crunch, and the cranberries in the lettuce mix offered pops of sweetness that I normally abhor in savory dishes.

Before I could finish my food, our reservation snuck up on us. I had my leftover sandwich boxed and handed it to the employees, who kindly placed it on the other side of the counter for me to retrieve later.

My friends and I lined up at the glass door separating the café from the cat lounge and soon entered a bright, open space filled with cat beds, cat towers and floating shelves. An attendant in the room took our tickets and explained that in partnership with the Sioux Falls Humane Society, all of the cats in the lounge were up for adoption, save for the cafe's resident cat, Darla. 

We eagerly occupied ourselves with the various cats, petting any and all that either prowled in our direction or napped out in the open. I was pleased to notice a wall that sectioned part of the cat room with little openings at the bottom for the cats to go in and out of if they didn't want to partake in human interaction. 

The attendant was quick to answer any questions we had concerning the cats, whether that be their name or their adoption fees, and it seemed overall that the cafe truly cared about the welfare of its cats.

As soon as we left, more visitors began filing into the cat lounge, and my friends and I exchanged knowing glances, eager for them to have the same fluff-filled experience that we just had. Already, I'm eager to plan my next visit to the Cattitude Cafe and meet all of the cats again.

Oh, and I'll make sure to order some food as well.