Visit to Taz cafe

It's been awhile since we had the time to bring Amber to a dog cafe, we used to be a frequent customer of Doggiestyle Cafe at NEX, however after moving location with the deteriorating of services, we didn't get to visit any new cafes until recently. Taz Cafe & Bistro is located at Jalan Leban, along Upper Thomson Road, this along with the recent Poodle Cafe were located nearest to us, we had wanted to visit Poodle Cafe initially but after hearing reviews about the place, we decided to try out Taz Cafe first. We took a cab in, the place was not that hard to find if you have an IPhone, we had to guide the driver as usual, they are so pampered that leading the way had became our responsibility, we reached in about 15 minutes.

Like most dog cafes, Taz Cafe was located along a stretch of shops with PLC store nearby, this helps to attract the attention of animal lovers who happened to be sending their pets there for grooming, the good thing about this is that customers can also browse through the nearby pet store while waiting for their food to arrive, this is a win-win situation for both customers and businesses. Upon entering the glass door, we were welcomed by a couple of dogs at the baby gate, one of the staffs came to lead us in, it was pretty packed but we still managed to get a table near to the entrance. Upon browsing through the menu, we noticed that Taz Cafe had a wider range of human food to choose from compared to other dog cafes, as for dog menu it was more or less standard, in our opinion, the ingredients used for dog food didn't seem to be very healthy - too much vegetables, so we just went ahead with our orders, ordered crayfish pasta, black pepper pork chop, a mocktail and rootbeer float. A friendly lady approached us and asked about our dog, she then asked if we were the ones that dropped a message to their facebook page - we needed to confirm if the cafe was opened to public for the day, we then knew that she was actually the manager. We talked for a bit and was told that the playground for dogs were temporary closed due to maintenance, it was a shame that we couldn't get to experience their indoor playground on our first visit, we also learned that a couple of dogs walking around the place were hers, they were all adopted.

After awhile we decided to let the dogs out to play, we do not allow Amber to be let out right away upon entering any places with dogs, we need to access the environment and other dogs to make sure that it was safe first, also to let her calm down before playing. Taz cafe's concept is a bit different from other dog cafes out there, tables are placed on the sides of the walls with only a big one in the center, this is a good concept in our opinion because it allows more space for dogs to roam and run around without risking the chance of getting injured, owners can also monitor and look after their dogs with ease, some cafes are so packed with tables that dogs tend to hide underneath or even knock onto objects without owners knowing. We have to admit that we are very cautious about little things like this, we watch over all our dog(s) very close to minimize accidents, even with water bowls placed on the floor we will also take note not to let anyone drink from there, for educational purpose, sharing bowls with other dogs has 2 risks - getting bitten by aggressive dogs and/or being sick from drinking contaminated water.

Amber was excited but she could still hear us when we call out to her, Pocky on the other hand was busy running around and greeting everyone, nonetheless he was behaving rather well for his age, we brought both of them to the pee tray and they peed without any trouble, the pee tray used were the standard kind with metal grills on top, would've been better if Yogi Pee tray or similar could be considered. We were lucky that there weren't a lot of unstable dogs on that day - met a Chi Hua Hua type dog who was territorial but not dangerous, simply kept chasing and disturbing Amber but not much to worry about, she would just run towards us if she felt too uncomfortable, another was a reserved large breed dog hiding under a table, we had to make sure Pocky didn't approach it as he was curious and tried walking towards the direction a couple of times, other than that just some untrained dogs that pee and poo at our table, in which a guy or a lady (can't figure out the gender) asked us to clean their leftovers even though we weren't the respective owners, he seemed really unhappy while we were eating and came to clean himself, we do understand owners not wanting their dogs to step on pee/poo but the problem was that we had already started eating and his dog seemed to be very interested in our food, trying to climb onto the table and barking, not sure if there were any misunderstandings but some people are just so demanding (like their dog). Unlike Doggiestyle cafe, there isn't anyone appointed to clear up pee/poo so everyone has to do their part to clean up after their own dogs, we could see that most of the customers did not even bother to monitor their own furkids during free roaming, which is probably why there are so many accidents and quarrels happening at premises like this, most don't even know that their dogs are doing business at other tables, some irresponsible people also feed other dogs food without asking the owners first. One should always watch over their dogs and make sure it doesn't cause any trouble, always be responsible and bring your dog back if it is misbehaving!

Our food was pretty good, pork chop is okay, just a little tough but the black pepper sauce was great, we loved the crayfish pasta, the sauce was similar to chilli crab but not too spicy, as for drinks, being on the expensive side it didn't taste as good as we expected - diluted mocktail, rootbeer float comes only in a glass (most floats we tried came with the whole can), drinks are at $5.80 per glass, our total bills for 2 main course and drinks round up to about $40+. 

Overall, our experience at Taz Cafe was great, food is good but can be improved, service (cleaning wise) could be considered in the long run. The winning point of Taz cafe would be their generous allowance of empty space for dogs to roam about, more tables means more income but the management is kind enough to put the dogs first, which is what we truly appreciate. We were disappointed with the play room being closed for maintenance, however we will definitely return next time to let Amber try it!