There is a reason almost no restaurant in New York will let your dog sit inside, and it is not snobbery. Health regulations keep animals out of rooms where food is prepared and served, which is why the entire category of dog-friendly dining in this city collapses into one thing: a table on the pavement. That works in May. It is close to worthless in February. Boris & Horton at 195 Avenue A is the exception, and the way it is built is more interesting than the fact that it exists.
Most places that call themselves dog friendly mean a sidewalk table, which is useless in February. Ask Karpo which rooms near you can actually seat a dog indoors, what the rules and fees are, and which ones have heat when the weather turns.
Two rooms, one wall, one legal problem solved
The cafe is split into two distinct spaces: the cafe side, where the food and drink are actually prepared and handed over, and the Dog Dining Room, where the dogs are. The separation is the whole design. Keeping the preparation area free of animals is what makes the operation Department of Health approved, and the dog room is a genuine adjoining space rather than a fenced corner of the same one.
That split produces the most distinctive thing about visiting. If you arrive with a dog, you go straight into the Dog Dining Room from Avenue A — the entrance is marked with paw prints — check in at the front desk and order there. A member of staff finds you a seat. Then you wait, and when your order is ready you get a text, and you go and collect it from the cafe side. It is an unusual sequence and it is not obvious on arrival, which is why people stand around looking confused at the counter.
The five-dollar fee, and how to not pay it
There is a five-dollar daily visit fee for the Dog Dining Room unless you are a member. That is the entire commercial model: a room that cannot serve food directly needs a reason to exist, and a small daily fee plus a membership programme is it. It is not a cover charge in the nightlife sense — five dollars for a whole day in a heated indoor room with your dog off the lead is a reasonable trade in January.
If you are visiting without a dog, you can use either door, and this is the part people get wrong. Tell the cashier you are staying on the cafe side and the Dog Dining Room fee is waived. If you do not say anything and you drift into the dog room, you pay. Say it at the till, before you order.
Off the lead, which changes the room completely
Dogs are allowed off leash in the Dog Dining Room, subject to house rules, and they need to be vaccinated and comfortable around other dogs. That single policy is what makes this different from a patio where six leads get tangled around table legs. A room of loose, sociable dogs behaves like a small indoor dog run with coffee, and it is genuinely delightful or completely overwhelming depending on your dog.
Be honest with yourself about which. A dog that is reactive, nervous in crowds or possessive about food is going to have a bad time, and so is everybody else. There is no shame in using the cafe side instead. People visiting without a dog are welcome too and are encouraged to say hello to any pup that comes over, which is the single best argument for the place.
It closed, and then it came back
Worth knowing if you are working from an old recommendation: this place had a difficult couple of years. It opened in 2018 as New York's first dog cafe, founded by Coppy Holzman and Logan Mikhly and named after their own two dogs. It announced closure in early 2024. The Williamsburg location at 510 Driggs Avenue served its last customers that May and has not returned.
The East Village room came back under new ownership — a former customer turned owner-operator, Carol Krakowski — and reopened with a grand reopening in early 2025. So the current position is one location, not two. Any guide that sends you to Driggs Avenue is out of date, and it is a twenty-minute detour to discover that in person.
When to go
Hours run 8am to 8pm Monday through Wednesday, 8am to 10pm Thursday through Saturday, and 8am to 8pm on Sunday. Midday at weekends is the busiest window and the room has a genuine capacity limit, so a Saturday at one in the afternoon means waiting. A weekday morning is the opposite experience — a nearly empty room, two or three regulars, and a dog that gets the run of the floor.
The late close on Thursday, Friday and Saturday is the underused slot. Eight in the evening with a dog, indoors, in a warm room, is not a thing New York otherwise offers.
Practical notes
Boris & Horton, 195 Avenue A, New York, NY 10009, in the East Village. Open 8am-8pm Monday to Wednesday, 8am-10pm Thursday to Saturday, 8am-8pm Sunday. Approved by the NYC Department of Health. Split into a cafe side and a separate Dog Dining Room; enter the dog room directly from Avenue A, check in and order at the front desk, and collect from the cafe side when you are texted. Dogs off leash in the dog room, subject to house rules, and must be vaccinated and sociable. Five-dollar daily visit fee unless you are a member; tell the cashier if you are staying on the cafe side to have it waived. The Williamsburg location has closed. Nearest subway is First Avenue on the L, or Astor Place on the 6. Hours and policies change — confirm ahead.
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Ask Karpo first
Dog policies are the least consistently published thing in restaurant listings — indoor versus patio, leashed versus off, seasonal versus year-round. Ask Karpo which nearby places will genuinely take your dog today given the weather, and what each one expects of you when you arrive.
