The reviews below are pretty accurate. Do yourself a favor and go a few blocks down to Visionworks or go to Warby-Parker. I broke my regular pair of glasses and the new ones I ordered were going to take 2 weeks. I'll be traveling for work next week so I wanted to get a pair or 2 to take with me. I called a few places to ask if they could do same day- I have a fairly light prescription and I wasn't going to be picky. After trying a few different places, I called this location and they said they could do a 3-5 day turnaround. So I went and explained my plight. The salesgirl was very bubbly and cheery and couldn't wait to help me out. We talked about my insurance and she gave me some options. The faster option was to go through their lab rather than insurance. I would have been fine with that but... Wait for it. So because I had ordered a replacement pair of glasses already, I had a picture of my prescription but they wanted me to get an eye exam anyway because it was handwritten. Ok, I get it. I signed up for the exam. 3 things to note about that experience: 1. The machine she used to read my prescription from my glasses was slightly off. She told me that happens and it was a "negligible" difference. Might be normal but worth mentioning. 2. She didn't dilate my pupils because the machine wasn't working. Now that I'm thinking about it I didn't get a full exam so I shouldn't have been charged for one. 3. (The most important) She shined the little laser in my eye for so long that I complained that my eye felt like it was melting!! She immediately turned it off and the exam was done. My eye is fine now but it was very uncomfortable for a long time. I went back out and now it's time to shop. Mind you, she has my insurance info and knows my situation. The first pair of glasses she shows me are Dolce & Gabbana. Then a Prada pair appeared. I've purchased designer glasses before - via insurance- so the cost has never really exceeded (I'll be generous) - $250. Granted I don't buy THOSE designer brands. In the end I had 4 options in front of me. I picked a pair and she asked if i wanted transitions and anti-glare. I only wanted transitions. A guy came over with a demo to show me why i needed anti-glare. I felt like I was at a timeshare presentation. I could feel the hard sell. And the attitude that comes when you say no to something. So she writes up the order and my total is over $700. I actually laughed. They went back and did some math, or checked my insurance but then the total was $500. Somehow I graduated from the very cheery, happy to help salesgirl to the other, "you need anti glare" guy. She was around in the background but clearly not as willing to help as before. I said I've never paid that much and he said it was because of the frames. Here's the kicker- he then shows me a section and says "you can look at the insurance frames if you want." I told them that I had gotten glasses for $175 (on sale) with transitions and he said he didn't know how that was possible and suggested that I got a fubar deal. I paid for my eye exam, got my prescription and left. At least with timeshare presentations I get a gift card. All I got from this was a dry eye, and a prescription. Neither of which I needed. I won't be returning. read more

Wish I could put zero stars...overpriced, dirty & unprofessional. Several times they have opened up shop way past the listed time & then needed more time to prep store for opening...not sure why because the store is perpetually dirty and smells bad. Was priced at contacts for $110 & I waffled at ordering. They sensed I was taking my biz elsewhere in my voice & knew I was in need and would buy so they offered me the contacts for $70. That's a $40 markup! Not cool! They make way too much $ off of their customers & they refused to fix a pair of Marc Jacobs frames I bought from them 3 years earlier when I dropped about $800 on glasses & lenses. I now go to Riverdale Eye Associates...much cheaper, cleaner & professional. read more

I have no complaints insofar as the eye doctor that examined me at this new site on Grand Concourse by Fordham Road. I am not accustomed to patronizing terms of endearment ("honey," "sweetheart," etc.). Worse, the SUPPOSED "office manager" is a disrespectful, rude, vitriolic virago with absolutely no understanding of customer service skills or common communication skills or common courtesy; she affirmed, confirmed, demonstrated, proved, substantiated and verified she lacks manners and respect, too. I have no idea how she maintains employment anywhere with her belligerent, cantankerous and uncouth demeanor trying to bully others around her with her big mouth; was she recruited from the Social Services' Work Incentive Program? I'm inclined to believe that the "positive" reviews that appear here were written by the staff members themselves, or their family and friends. Imagine, this female barged into the examination room and yelled at the young Optical Technician, "What the hell is taking you so damned long?!!!" and I told her, "It's not her fault; it's my fault," and she glared at me and said, "I'm the office manager...!" I stared at her and asked, "Who do you think you're talking to, little girl? I don't tolerate your kind of nonsense..." She raised her voice and said, "Sit down!" I responded, "YOU don't give me orders, so how do you pretend to make me?" That's when the doctor appeared and told her to go back to the counter. The doctor closed the door and apologized for the clerk's rude behavior; he examined me; upon looking into my eyes he realized what the problem was and referred me for surgery. Trying to call the corporate headquarters via telephone (516-395-9825) (516-900-3703) is just as futile and useless. I've called upward of 12 times this afternoon and no one answers the telephone, and I do not speak to answering machines. IF they're not interested in hearing from patients, then they're not worth speaking to, even if they are a multi-million a year company. I'd rather go elsewhere and recommend others to other optical clinics/office. I recall going to Cohen's Optical on the corner of 106th Street and Madison Avenue (Manhattan) back in the mid-'50s. What a drastic change (for the worse, of course)! I certainly will never recommend anyone to that optical clinic/office, that's for certain! read more

I walked in and said good morning and that I was there for my 10:30 appointment and the first words out of the manager's mouth were "do you have insurance and what's the name of your insurance?". I was taken aback by his interrogation considering it took me two days to make an appointment with them before hand because they needed to verify all of my insurance & personal info (I even had to give them my SS#) yet when I showed up I had to give them my contact info yet again. When it came time to order contacts I asked the receptionist if she knew how many boxes my insurance covered but she wouldn't tell me until I first told her how many boxes I wanted. Obviously I wanted as many as my insurance covered. Something shady was going on between the receptionist and the owner/manager because they spoke in private for good while before finally placing my order. They didn't bother to ask or tell me what brand or type of contacts they ordered. I was given one free trial lense to try on but no lense holder; other offices typically give free lense holders. The optometrist was friendly but didn't really bother to give a full explanation of the exam results. Aside from that, the office is dated and cramped. The bathroom where you wash your hands before putting the contacts on looks like a janitor's closet. In general they were not friendly or informative; they acted as if they were doing me the favor. I would not return there. read more

I decided to bypass the horrible reviews including racism, but the reviews were on point. I entered the optical at 250pm for an eye exam and the nice receptionist (Who clearly doesn't want to be there) set us up by 2:57pm. While waiting he received two calls both of which he said "say I'm with a customer, but was really reading the news paper) so that lack of service made me wonder. Soon after maybe 3:20 at this point he sits down to organize his desk as if my mom and I aren't waiting for an exam. 3:37 now, I tell the receptionist that I want to cancel because his lack of urgency and when she tells him he said "ok and? so let them leave". If he had an hr department he'd be fired, but I suggest for all to go elsewhere. Let his business close down. Ps. He thought without notice that my insurance company was Medicaid, maybe because I'm of Latino decent and he assumed, but can't say for sure. read more

This place is horrible horrible do not go here, they overcharged you more then the other Cohens places. I order my contacts and today is 1/25/2021 and still do have my full order. The guy said I will give u 3 pairs extra for your trouble turned out to be 2 pairs. They lie about things and overcharged. How do u overcharged in a different store when it's the same chain of stores. I will never come here ever even if stuff was free. I've been going to cohens for a long time and this store made me question if I want to continue to come to a cohens again. If I can give a zero star I would but have to give the minimum of 1. Don't go here read more

Even before covid this location would take forever to see you. No matter how early you come. Avoid if you can.

First went there 4 years ago and had a wonderful experience, however the next time I went there (two years ago) I was rushed and forced to pick an overpriced frame that was NOT fitted to my face properly at all. I decided that may have been just a bad customer rep and I made the mistake of visiting again. (since they are one of the few places that "accept" UFT benefits). The young woman who helped me was very pleasant and helpful though she did not seem that knowledgeable. However; when I was asking about pricing and my optical plan, the optician became extremely defensive and rude raising his voice asking "WHAT DOES SHE WANT?" Meanwhile I WAS a fairly loyal customer and had spend almost 1,000 over the last few years. Once he did that I just walked out of the store and say No thank you, I will not be buying anything from here EVER again. DO NOT GO THERE. THEY ARE RUDE, HAVE A POOR SELECTION, THE STORE IS DIRTY AND THEY DON'T FULLY HONOR UFT OPTICAL PLAN. read more

I would never recommend this place. I ordered a pair of customer ray bans with my prescription lenses. Once i got the glasses the frames are clearly cheap fakes. Such a waste of 190 dollars. The customer service rep tried to tell me the frames all have sharp edges at first. I will never walk back into this store. I give this place negative 5 stars! read more

Pleasant enough staff, though a bit inattentive; friendly optician. But the equipment is old, dirty, and quite literally seemed like it was about to fall apart without a rubber band or two to hold it together. The exam was very inexpensive, but the selection of frames not very impressive, and to be honest I didn't trust the prescription--it may have been fine, but it was hard to have any confidence in the equipment or the quickness of the exam. In the end, I couldn't get the man at the counter to give me a copy of my prescription so I could go elsewhere for frames. I ended up going to a Lenscrafters on 23rd Street that had been recommended and starting all over, and where the equipment seemed state of the art, the exam was much more detailed, and the doctor and technicians gave a sense of confidence. read more

The worst eyecare on 231st. They are over priced with bad services. My aunt bought a pair of sunglass from them which is not even brand for 150 and they say she can return them because they "customize it to her size". All they did was give her the glass which is actually tight on her. Wow they are no different than theifs because my aunt don't speak English well and is over 65. Literally got me mad. read more

It's pretty terrible. For all the services, my "free" glasses ended up costing a fortune. That's my own fault. Customer service is okay, but I got my contact lens exam there too. Big mistake. The test wasn't too expensive, but buying contacts from them is extremely overpriced. I looked online to buying my contacts, but I need to put in my optometrist's information. Not too long after, I get a call from Cohen's and they pretty much say that I have to buy contacts from them for 30 dollars extra. When I told them I was buying them online for $60, they lowered the price to like $75. Why don't you just validate my contact prescription and let me buy it online instead of your marked-up ones. Scumbags. read more

My mother and I had unpleasant visit when dealing with one of your staff members. Particularly the Dominican lady with black hair and the under eye eyeliner. She realized my mother and I spoke Spanish but our last name wasn't Latino. Out of curiosity, she questioned our background and the difference in our last name. Upon learning that it was my mother's married name, she then asked a VERY stereotypical rude question about my father's background. She then said because I am the daughter, I was more of one background than the other. That was ABSOLUTELY UNCALLED FOR and had nothing at all to do with helping my mother pick out glasses. This staff member should be FIRED IMMEDIATELY! What an absolutely ignorant way of dealing with customers. How would she like it if I were to ask her rude, stereotypical questions about her Dominican heritage? Because of her, we will never come back to your store and I will definitely pass along the message to other people looking for an eyeglasses store never to come here! read more

I am absolutely shocked to read the awful reviews most (alleged) customers have given Cohen's at their Riverdale location. My experience has been radically different, so much so, that the only reason I am giving them only five stars is because that is the highest number allotted on this website (Yelp). I have purchased several pairs of glasses from them in the past 20 years. The quality of their workmanship and their customer service is, based on my extensive experience with them, second to none. In these past 20 years I have also once purchased a pair of glasses from another optical place here in Riverdale. I did it because they accepted my insurance and I wanted to see how much money that would save me. While I may have saved as much as $200-250, it is no exaggeration when I say that even if they offered me another like pair of glasses for free provided I come to their store I would reject their offer since I wouldn't want to go through that humiliating experience with them again especially for such shoddy quality glasses. Not only is that other optical store's workmanship nowhere near comparable to Cohen's but it would be an insult to Cohen's and thus very unfair to even mention the services at this other optical store in the same breadth. Had they merely made me feel as if it's my obligation to please them rather than the other way around, that would have been bad enough. But it was much worse than that. To add insult to injury, they made me feel that I ought to be extremely grateful to them that they took me on as a client in the first place, as if I were a charity case. I also want to mention that over the years whenever I returned to Cohen's to have any one of my glasses adjusted or repaired, not only would they do it willingly but they also made sure that I was totally pleased before I left the store. And I should be embarrassed to admit that at times I came to them with glasses that I handled very carelessly such as stepping on them (obviously inadvertently) or a couple of times after sitting on them. While at those times they did say that they cannot guarantee they can repair it, in fact, I may run the risk that when they try to repair it, it might end up breaking and render it unusable, and while each time I willingly took the risk, not only did said glasses never break but Cohen's would return the glasses to me in brand new condition where not even the most highly qualified expert would have been aware in the condition the glasses were in prior to Cohen's incredible repair job. I should add that even when my glasses were in the condition I described and which took some time to repair, they never charged me. After giving Cohen's such a glowing and completely honest review, so thoroughly honest that it doesn't contain even an iota of exaggeration, I therefore feel it is morally incumbent upon me in the interest of full candor to acknowledge something for which Cohen's has and continues to receive criticism, criticism that I find justifiable to the best of my knowledge. It appears to me (as to others) that Cohen's is quite pricey. Without having done any extensive checking, it is nevertheless my impression that their prices are much more comparable to optical places in Manhattan. Albeit, it's conceivable that in Manhattan the prices might be even higher, and at some places perhaps considerably higher. Before I purchase another pair of glasses from Cohen's I would like to check out the opticians in Manhattan and perhaps a couple more right here in the Bronx, close to the Riverdale area, to see if I can truly get the same quality of glasses I buy at Cohen's from other opticians and where the service is at least satisfactory and yet where the prices are either comparable, and if they are comparable to good optical places in the Riverdale section of the Bronx (as opposed to the South Bronx which would make it an unfair comparison), I will offer my apologies to Cohen's and post another comment to this website or if the prices are not only lower, but lower enough where it would make a significant enough difference to my financial health. I will keep you posted. Thank you Cohen's for providing me with top quality services over the years. I am very grateful and I will continue to show my gratitude by remaining a loyal customer (provided, your prices are comparable as described just above). Once again, I want to reassure the reader that this review is thoroughly accurate in all its detail. The only reason I feel compelled to write this is because I can understand if some of you will question the sincerity of my review, thinking perhaps I wrote it because I have some financial stake in Cohen's business (I assure you I don't) since most customers at this website gave Cohen's not only a one star review but for the most part describing their services in the most egregious terms. Shifra Stern read more

This is the worst place to go to please stay away they are a rip off they tell you about promotions and once you done tell you you don't qualify when they don't even have any restrictions. The place smells funny and they try to sell you some cheap contacts and get upset when you tell them you only interested in acuvue please stay way to anywhere but here. read more

First, they didn't honor their $99 exam + 2 boxes of contacts, charging me $170. This was after they claimed they could only order me a 6 month supply (not a 3 month which was initially quoted) since I DIDN'T have an astigmatism. I had to argue for my prescription so I could order my glasses elsewhere since I couldn't find a pair I liked in their overpriced selection; even so, they scribbled a set of numbers (only) on a slip and I left, only to discover that they gave me the wrong prescription! After a week, I had to call to see if my contact order came in and after a slight hassle on the phone to even find my order, the store representative told me it's been ready for "a while." Upon picking up my prescription, I asked for a copy again and finally got a correct prescription that actually matched the boxes of contacts and stated the measurements for my eyes. I was insanely disappointed with the service considering they carry a franchise name; I'm never going back nor would I recommend this location to anyone. read more

I dropped in for a brief adjustment to my glasses that I had purchased at another Cohens Optical store. The customer service gentlemen was very helpful and nice, and the young woman also. read more

I really don't like having to give a low rating to any businesses that are in my neighborhood but I have to keep it one hundred. The two other reviewers that posted negatively about this place are pretty spot on. I've been here once before (back in 2008) and received decent customer service and eye exam. But I went in today and although the eye exam was fine the young lady at the front desk thought she could fool me. She proceeded to show me expensive brand name frames that I CLEARLY cannot afford since I have Medicaid managed care. I tried a few on but I knew the actual frames that Medicaid covers were somewhere else because I had been shown them the day before and I told her this. As soon as the sales girl gave me prices I declined. Right now I'm unemployed and therefore have NO BUSINESS spending what would've been $400 on a pair of designer frames, not even if I were working! She eventually did lead me to the Medicaid covered frames and I picked one but it was amazing how her demeanor completely changed once I went for these no cost frames! Why in the world would I pay anything for glasses when I can get them at no cost from my Medicaid plan?! I get that maybe she missed out on some commission but that's life! I suggest she work on her customer service skills. read more