I went to Bonita Nail Spa for the first time earlier last week. Overall, I would not go back for a few reasons - no sanitization, getting hurt from the manicure service & an uncomfortable situation caused by Jennifer for payment at the end. Nails ended up looking ok, but not w/out lots of hurt & hassle.
Firstly, although this is not Bonita Nail Spa's fault, it's something to consider since a nail appointment can take 60+ minutes. When parking, I noticed that there was an hour time limit on street parking & there was no parking lot. I drove around & finally parked in a neighborhood nearby (right next to the police station) where there was 90 minute parking. I prayed my nails would be done before 90 minutes was up to avoid a ticket (there was a ticket officer walking around who I saw as I crossed Hillside avenue).
When I walked into the nail salon, my temp wasn't taken & I wasn't asked to sanitize my hands (red flags) & there was a woman getting her nails done. I had an appointment with Jennifer & told the nail tech working that I had an 11 AM appointment. She told me that I would have to wait 10-15 minutes. I soon found out that the nail tech doing her nails was Jennifer. Jennifer then cleaned her hands but didn't sanitize the seat I was to sit in or any other part of the manicure table/section. THIS REALLY SKEEVED ME OUT DUE TO COVID! There were also no plastic barriers set up for the manicure section between customers & only plastic barriers between the customer & the nail tech. It was the same for the pedicure seats as well. I was expecting thorough sanitization & separation, but that's not at all what I experienced. I only stayed due to needing to have my SNS manicure re-done at that point as my nails had gotten way too long with SNS on them already & I didn't have an appointment anywhere else.
Jennifer wrapped my nails to take off the old powder & I had hardly been in the seat for 5 minutes when another employee came over & tried to up-sale me for a massage which I promptly said no to. Then, when Jennifer went to take off the powder gel, she decided to use a regular used nail file & not an electric nail filing machine. For the entire manicure which included clipping, filing & shaping my nails, dipping my nails in SNS powder, shaping the powder & thinning out the layers of powder, Jennifer continued to harshly file my nails down with a regular nail file (which is a TON of filing). So much filing in fact, that it actually really hurt & I left with small cuts on the skin under the nails.
Now, I have been getting my nails done with SNS powder for years & NEVER have I experienced at any nail salon an entire SNS powder manicure where the nail tech did not use an electric nail filing machine. Jennifer not using one, not only cut and hurt my fingers but also extended the time needed to complete my manicure. The nails also ended up looking thick & gloopy due to Jennifer not using a machine. I had to tell Jennifer to keep filing them down (although I absolutely dreaded telling her to do so due to the pain) in order to get them thinner & more natural looking. She also used a hand cream scrub that scratched & really hurt my skin & there was no complimentary massage as my nails dried which most salons do.
When it came time to pay, I expected $40 for the mani plus a tip. However, when Jennifer saw that I was using a card she upped the amount to $42. Two dollars is NOTHING to me, but it's the principal of the thing. When I'm quoted $40 over the phone the day before when I made the appointment, I expect to pay that amount unless I add on extra services. When I walked up to the cashier stand, on a taped down paper on the counter it said tips were only in cash. I wasn't told this on the phone the day before & therefore didn't have cash on me. I told Jennifer that I had to put my tip on the card this time & I was then told to tip $8 (unprofessional). I said I would write in the tip myself but she had an issue with this. What she explained was that I needed to tell her the total amount I wanted to give ($40 + tip total amount) & that she would then charge me that amount. She then would write down on the tip line how much tip I wanted to take out from what she had already charged me so that she could take that amount out of the register for her tip. This didn't sit right with me & made me feel uncomfortable. Normally when you charge an amount on a credit card, the service amount would be charged, then there's a tip line where you write in the tip, & then there's a line under the tip line where you would write the total charge. The way Jennifer wanted me to do it would get her a double tip. I told her to charge me $40 & that I would write the tip in but she refused. I told her to charge me separately for the tip but she also didn't want to do so.
In the end, I had Jen charge me $40 & I left. I would not got back to Bonita Nail Spa due to all I experienced & I recommend that you do not as well. read more