AIO for leaving a restaurant because of cat in the dining room? 🐱

My husband and I had a weird experience at a restaurant last night, and I can't stop playing it out in my head wondering if we overreacted or were out of line.

We made reservations a week in advance for a belated Valentines dinner at a local-ish restaurant we've been wanting to try. This is one of those tiny places that bills itself as like eating in someone's (fancy) home. Very small, only 8 or so tables, but still relatively upscale, especially for the area, which is rural. The average entree is around $30.

Anyway. We walk in right on time for our reservation and, from the hostess stand, we can see into the dining room where a cat is slinking around. Underneath tables, between diners' legs, etc. My husband, who has been in the restaurant industry for years - and is pretty well acquainted with the health code - was thrown. When the host (who I believe is also one of the owners) came over to seat us, my husband made a comment like "huh, a cat in the dining room?" The guy kinda smirked and said something about "free pest control." 🤢 We were put off... and he could tell, as he seemed to get more aggressive than accommodating. He said "well i can put him away if it's a problem," in a way that made us feel like it had never been a problem to anybody else. We said no, it's fine, and let him lead us to our table.

At a neighboring table, an older woman diner has the cat perched on her lap and is petting and babytalking to it. She seems to love it! And I momentarily feel bad that we're such tightasses. I remove my coat and sit down, and immediately, the cat is on my lap.

Here's where I wonder if I'm overreacting. I don't like cats. I never have. I don't have a phobia per se, and I don't mind being in the same room as one necessarily, but I don't want them touching me and the thought of them around my food makes me queasy. So with that, I gently brush the cat away, stand up and we leave. No one said anything to us on our way out, but I felt the entire room staring at the two animal haters, and I have been ruminating all night about whether or not we were in the wrong. AIO? 🐱