Cat Cafe Nurri Tallinn: EstoniaCoffee Review (2023)

Cat Cafe Nurri in Tallinn was on our bucket list for quite a while. I always wondered how it is possible to have a fully-functioning coffee full of cats. It turns out it’s possible and legal. Coffee and cats – it’s a perfect match.

What is Cat Cafe Nurri?

Cat Cafe Nurri, or Nurri Kassikohvik, is a family business founded in Tallinn in 2014. by Helen Jõudna and JJ (Jaanus Juhan) Illend. It is a 12-table cafe that sells coffee, food, and cat-related trinkets – magnets, postcards, and such. It also has around ten cats inside.

The grown-up cats come from the Viljandi animal shelter, while the kittens usually come from people who can’t or don’t wish to take care of them. Cats are friendly, social, and adoptable.

You can reserve a table using their simple contact form. Do you think that’s unnecessary? Think again! We were lucky to grab a table on Saturday around lunchtime, and we saw several people waiting for a seat.

Useful Links

https://nurri.ee/en/ – Their webpage. Effective, although the English translation can be better.

https://www.instagram.com/catcafenurri/ – Cat Cafe Nurri Instagram page and the perfect place to meet all their cats.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g274958-d7371068-Reviews-Cat_Cafe_Nurri-Tallinn_Harju_County.html – TripAdvisor reviews

Cat Cafe Nurri entrance
Nurri has the cutest logo ever

What Is A Cat Cafe And How Is It Legal?

A cat cafe is a theme premise where, besides food and drinks, you can also interact with cats. The visitors pay an entrance fee or hourly fee to enjoy the experience, and that money goes to improve the well-being of those cats.

Cat cafes are perfectly legal in the EU, but there are meticulous rules you must obey, such as double doors at the entrance/exit and in the kitchen and top-notch ventilation that ensures the outward flow. Don’t get me started on hygiene rules and animal-keeping licenses. 

The Fees And The Rules Of Cat Cafe Nurri

Now let’s see how to behave here and how much you will spend.

Cat Cafe Nurri Fees

Cat Cafe Nurri has an entrance fee for visitors:

  • 3 € for students and pensioners
  • 6 € for grownups – 19+ years
  • 10€ for families – 2 adults and 1-4 children

The entrance is free for children and people younger than 19. 

Also, if you want to rent the cafe, three hours will costs you 250 €. The consumption of food and drinks is not included in that price.

When you get your bill, the entrance fee will be added to it. We attached a picture of our bill further in the article. 

The Rules Of The Cafe

The entrance fee doesn’t give you the right to harass cats. So, no pushing, pulling or scaring the animals. That is underlined in the menu, too.

Cat Cafe Nurri  how to behave
Cat Cafe Nuri Rules

Also, no feeding the cats with human food. If you wish, you can buy a bowl of cat food from the bar to feed the cats. That will cost you 1.50 €.

From what we’ve seen, these rules are hard to enforce, especially when good part of your guests are preschoolers. However, no cat was hurt whatsoever. Were the cats annoyed or awakened? Definitely yes. But they took it with good grace.

Cat Cafe Nurri Menu

You can see the Cat Cafe Nurri menu here. Be patient, as the webpage isn’t the most responsive ever.

The offer of food and drinks is rather usual for Tallinn premises. We were a bit surprised by the higher prices of coffee. Judging from the tables inside, people were enjoying their food. 

What Did We Order And How Was It?

Suffering from a lack of innovative thoughts, the EstoniaCoffee team ordered the usual: espresso and cafe latte. And as it was lunchtime, we took two pancakes with minced meat and two with condensed milk.

Cat Cafe Nurri  food and coffee
Cat Cafe Nurri – Pancakes And Coffee

The coffee was terrible, which is something people warned me about, but I wanted to taste it myself. Good for me. I didn’t even bother to ask the brand. Later I saw one of those small super-automatic coffee machines on the counter, and it all became clear. 

Pancakes with minced meat were large, and there was plenty of stuffing. The salad was great, and the dill sauce was tasty. 

As for pancakes with condensed milk, they were just that – crepes with condensed milk on the top. Very plain.

Cat Cafe Nurri  bill
You can’t put a price on love, but you can on espresso

How Was The Service?

Disclaimer: We know that Tallinn cafes, pubs, and restaurants sometimes have a hard time finding staff. Nowadays, everybody wants to be an influencer, an IT expert, or Kaja Kallas. With that in mind…

The service was, diplomatically speaking, below average.

A staff member holding an A4 notepad (full of previous orders) took our order.

We ordered two coffees and two portions of pancakes, as we mentioned. We got all four orders at different times, almost thrown at our table, without a smile or a kind word. 

Staff members spent most time socializing at the counter. There is no division of who does what, so the guests get approached by two staff members (which happened to us) or utterly ignored. 

The rude staff is part of the play in III Draakon. Here, it’s the part of the service.

The Hygiene Standards

We had no objections to the hygiene of the place. The unisex toilet was clean, as well as the floors. As for cats on the tables, well, that’s part of the experience.

Cat Cafe Nurri Pros And Cons

Pros
  • You help cats
  • You can pet cats
  • You can adopt cats
  • A popular place for families
  • Cats
Cons
  • Coffee is terrible
  • The staff could use some training (to put it mildly)

Should You Visit Cat Cafe Nurri?

Yes, especially if you have children. Cat Cafe Nurri is a perfect place for all cat lovers to interact with cats and donate some money so they can have a better life.

However, I left with a bad taste in my mouth, and I mean it literally. Paying high prices for low-quality espresso and latte isn’t something I strive to do in my free time. Top that with untrained staff, and I don’t see myself going back again. At least until they hire better staff.

Most online good reviews underline cute cats, while bad ones underline low-quality service. I’ll leave the conclusion to you.