The idea behind this café is better than the execution. However, it is a cute place that is still worth visiting, especially if you like supporting animal rescues.
The café is entirely volunteer-run, and all proceeds go to the local P.A.L.S. animal rescue. The café is very cute inside in a mix-and-match quirky household way, and they have a lot of fun art on the walls. They also have a store in the parlor waiting area with all sorts of items, both pet related and otherwise, that you can buy to further support the animal rescue and its mission. I thought that was very clever, and there's quite a variety of goods for sale, from sparkly pet collars to vintage style tea service sets.
Since the café is run by volunteers who have not necessarily had server experience (and, I assume, same for the chefs) the service is very friendly but not as efficient as you might encounter in a regular restaurant. I think it's important to account for that and adjust expectations accordingly.
What I did think was a little disappointing was the quality of the food. Mine was very bland--maybe I should have ordered something more interesting than the tofu scramble, but I've also had some pretty great tofu scrambles before. The side of tempeh bacon was uninspiring, and I love tempeh in almost any form. Honestly, I could make both much better at home. Plus the food came out lukewarm.
I was also a bit put off by the confusion of what was vegan and what was not on the menu--I would think an animal rescue café would be better at this.
There was a "Vegan Garfield Special" on the menu, which is essentially a sampler platter of all the breakfast items, and it included a pancake. There are not vegan pancakes on the rest of the menu, so I asked whether this meant they could make them on request, and whether it was possible to order, say, vegan blueberry pancakes. I was told that the café does not have vegan pancakes.
Since the "vegan special" clearly lists pancakes, I thought this meant they were out of vegan pancakes that day, and asked whether this means that the pancake would be substituted by something else. No, I was told, the special comes with the pancake; but the pancake is not vegan, because they NEVER have vegan pancakes. I was pretty baffled by the idea of listing something as a "vegan special" when it came with a non-vegan ingredient, and all the more so that this was in no way disclosed until I specifically asked about it. It made the rest of my meal somewhat uncomfortable, because I felt I couldn't trust whether what I was eating was in fact vegan or not, even though after the pancake revelation, I made sure to double check with the server on every item I received.
So I would also warn any persons with food allergies or sensitivities to double check with the wait staff on whether *every* item of your meal is suitable for you. read more