Whiskers & Wine Cat Cafe

Adams Avenue Bar Pairs Cocktails and Wine With Cat Therapy | Eater San Diego

"On Adams Avenue, I visited San Diego’s first fully-licensed bar, restaurant, and animal sanctuary where guests pet and play with adoptable, cage-free kittens and cats while enjoying cocktails, local beer, wine, and a menu of drink-friendly bites. The two-story venue partners with San Diego-based rescue Saving One Life and offers $30, 75-minute cat therapy sessions bookable online, during which customers can use cat teasers and wands or watch felines frolic on a shelf play wall, climb a partitioned cat-only staircase to an enclosed roof deck, or retreat to a secret cave for naps. For those who skip the entry fee there’s a small dining area with glass viewing. The menu features flatbreads like the salami-and-olive Purrscuito made with fresh-baked bread from Sadie Rose Baking Co., paninis (Italian, club, meatball marinara), salads, and shareable snacks such as Meow Mix for humans (a sweet-and-salty nut and dried fruit mix served in a wine glass), Kitten Tots (baked tater tots), and a CharCATerie Board with cheeses, meats, and handmade dark and white chocolate leaves. Cocktails include Jaz’s Pearfect Meowtini (gin, elderflower liqueur, pear juice, and mint) and Nick’s Whiskey Meower (whiskey and sweet-and-sour mix with a red wine float), and the lounge pours wines exclusively from Record Family Wines of Paso de Record Vineyard. Co-owners Nicole and Chris Smith say they hope to expand Whiskers & Wine to another location once their combined restaurant, bar, and humane-society model is fully worked out." - Helen I. Hwang