Cafe O’Play

Finally a café + kid play area that hits all the right notes. Plenty of space for the kids to play, plenty of place to sit and eat, plenty of food options, and easy visibility of all the areas your kid will be futzing around in. Plus, there are plenty of play options for kids from baby to pre-​teen. Everything from balls, to slides, to play kitchens, train tables, legos, etc. There’s even a pool table, board games, a dart-​board and a couple of video game systems for the too-​cool-​for-​imaginative-​play pre-​teens/​tweens.
I haven’t sampled all the food options, and I’m sure it’s not Canlis, but it’s more extensive than most cafes. Lots of sandwich and snack options, coffees, and, wait for it, beer and wine (for the grownups only, I’m pretty sure) and even WiFi should you be attempting to update your Unilocal reviews or FB status. What’s not to like? Parking’s been easy the two times I’ve been, and it was never so crowded my kid couldn’t find stuff to play with.
My only compaint is: would it kill the owners to have a stash of magazines or newspapers for us grownups?
Longer term I wonder if this place will stay clean and whether some of the «equipment» will withstand the wear-​and-​tear. Or if the answer is no, will the owners manage to replace what wears out and gets stinky? This seems to be the achilles heel of kid play places — as they wear out, the owners stop caring.
It’s too new to make that judgment and let’s hope this place is the exception, because it’s otherwise great. Was a wonderful option on a couple of rainy weekend days, and HUGE BONUS POINTS to the owner for making a game-​time decision and staying open an extra hour on Sunday night when it was pouring outside. Big props from us for that. We’ll definitely be back.

I was in there for less than 90 seconds, so this is less of a review and more of a warning to parents of children under 3. I met a fellow mom there with our 9 month old girls and will simply say that the place is a nightmare. As I was late, my friend was there for 20 – 30 minutes; she looked downright traumatized by the time I arrived.
The Café O’ Play website suggests that: «The play area is designed primarily for children 0 – 6.» To say that they offer a «game and amusement area for all ages» is simply not true. I don’t expect every play area to be infant/​crawler-​centric, but my friend didn’t feel safe putting her daughter on the floor there, lest she get trampled by bigger, stronger kids.
It was particularly stuffy in there, and lots of the moms must’ve been wearing perfume, because the air in there was heavy with scent and kid sweat. Awesome.
Lastly, as far as we could tell, there was one person working there. One. To take the admission fee, ring up food/​coffee orders *AND* make the food. Ridiculous. The place was packed, and perhaps the owners haven’t figured out that children are maybe not so good at waiting in line. Perhaps someone called in sick, or there was some other back story to explain the lack of staff, or maybe they’re just looking to make as much money as possible by only paying one person. No matter, we will never return. We went to the outdoor play area at U. Village and had an great time.

This is a great place to take your children to play! The have a wonderful area for babies and toddlers and well as a separate area for preschoolers! Free wifi, coffee, sandwiches and even beer make this a fun place for parents too! For teenagers there is a pool table, dart board, X-​Box and PlayStation. The best thing about this place is that it is open on weekends. As working parents we have been really disappointed at the lack of weekend play spaces. This place is filing a huge need in the community and it is open late! Right now the pay to play rate is $ 3 per child.

What a great find! This café was designed with me in mind. It’s a café/​toddler play room/​game room with the added bonus of delicious nutritious snack offerings and free wifi to boot. This is just the place for my very energetic toddler to burn off some energy while dad watches over and I can get some computer time while sipping my latte. Or a great place to meet up for play dates.
There is a large mixed toddler play area with one of those plastic indoor play gyms with a small slide and fun places to crawl around. There is also a fun little loft area with dollhouses for maybe some of the older kiddos. My daughter is in the in between stage where her bravado hasn’t caught up with her walking/​climbing stairs skills so I do have to keep an eye on her, but there are plenty of play areas for kids to explore. We spent a lot of time in the play kitchen with lots of fun pretend play toys in bins. I can also appreciate that there is a completely separate area where all the lego and smaller pieces type toys are placed. This area is geared for the 5yrs and up kiddos who won’t be sticking everything in their mouths.
I’m not really sold on the older kid area where there is a pool table, dart board, board games and a Wii video game area, but then again, I don’t have kids in that age range. I suppose for the family with kids of all ages, this would be a nice multi-​purpose meeting place.
The charge for the play area is $ 3 per child. I think that’s just about right. I hope they don’t raise the fee.

We went to Café O’Play’s «soft opening» today and it was a pretty cool space and idea. They have a huge space with one half that looks like a restaurant with tables and booths and the other half with a big enclosed play space. They serve breakfast and lunch items. I remember seeing lentil soup, pizza, and sandwiches on the menu. They also serve espresso and tea. They have toys for babies as well as toys and equipment for older children. There is a space off to the side with «small toys» such as lego and marbles, a loft with bean bag chairs, a dollhouse and a small castle, and another space with rings hanging from the ceiling that the kids can hang from or use as monkey bars. It’s a bit high though so I think it’s meant for older kids. I thought that the doors to get in and out of the play area was a little dangerous. I could see little ones getting their fingers pinched. Maybe a baby gate would’ve been better. We went today which is a free day but starting in March it’ll cost $ 6 to play. It would be cool if they added a kid’s menu, similar to what tot spot café does. I’m curious to see how the play space will be with kids of different ages. I just hope that little ones won’t get run over by older kids. Overall, I like this place and would recommend you check it out on a rainy day! :)