Toledo Zoo - Old cages = cafe!!

July 2008. Converted cat house that is now a restaurant and dining area.

I only wish that many more zoos would renovate their own buildings and turn them into modern day restaurants or gift shops. Check out the cages along the left side of the corridor, as they are now booths for eating food!

So it is true....i heard stories about it.
nice to see how it looks like......

Central Park, Memphis...those are two that I can think of off the top of my head.

And they called it The Cafe Deli...Why? Surely someone could have come up with a better name than that; that had something to do with the fact that this building used to hold big cats.

If you changed every inadequate, outdated zoo exhibit into a restaurant or gift shop, some zoos might remind more of a shopping mall than they already do now...And where should the animals then go to? It's a very charming idea (remember Vienna Zoo), but limited in its application.

So in the cages are booths for people to eat? That's an interesting twist. Well, I always did think somw people behaved more badly than animals.

@blospz: along the left-hand side of the building are all of the old carnivore cages, still with bars and cement floors but now with eating areas for families. It is a brilliant decision on the zoo's part to incorporate that theme into the cafe, as long as the cat smell was eradicated first!