Dear Darien Eye, I have been a loyal customer for over 30 years, I just want to share my experience after scheduling a appointment for 09:30am When I arrived early I told the receptionists that I was early for them to verfy my benefits. She said that was my responsibility. She said she had done all that she could do. I question her about what she just said. She then confirmed that is was my responsibility I told the receptionist to cancel my appointment and that I would be fling a complaint against the business. I can not believe that checking benefits now is the responsibility of the customer. Hope you survive in this competitive business climate. read more

What a great surprise.... I was so happy I found this office. Dr. Varghese was great & her staff was so very nice. And I give them a huge A+ for their safety precautions in the office. Will definitely be recommending this practice to friends & family. read more

In a nutshell: Dr. Varghese is the best optometrist I have been to. She is patient, friendly, empathetic, and professional. She is a caring individual and really takes care of my eyes. We recently took our very-young son here for his school eye exam and had another wonderful experience. She had so many great strategies for keeping him on task during the exam. The staff was patient with him as he went in to get his eye photo taken, as it took him a long time to stop blinking and moving. The staff even helps you pick out eyeglasses if you want help. They are not pushy or try to sell you anything; they let you alone if you do not want their help. They really are relaxed and happy to serve you whenever you are ready. I am happy my family has found a great office and one we trust. read more

First of all this office does not offer sanitizer, you are asked to wash your hands in a sink located in the hallway towards the back of this very small and tight office, then you sit to wait right by the same sink. Dr. Varghese is not at all a Eye Specialist, the equipment for the eye exam is old and out dated and her diagnosis was incorrect! (Found Out when I received a Second Opinion from a Experienced Eye Specialist). When I received Bill it was addressed to the patient who is a minor!!, Patients who are minors should have their names and information protected (HIPPA). The bill should have been addressed to the Parent or Insured which was no where on bill. Nope would not recommend this office! read more

Darien Eye Specialists provides exceptional service. Dr. Varghese and her staff are knowledgeable, patient and friendly. My children were very comfortable with her during their annual eye exam. My husband had lost his glasses while on vacation and Dr Varghese went the extra mile to get our eye prescription transferred to the closest optometrist on a busy holiday weekend. Overall great place to go for eye care! read more

I called this office today to make an appointment. I was asked right away what kind of insurance I had. I'm a senior and have bcbs medicare. I was told rudely to call my insurance. I pay for vision. Iwill not refer anyone to this establishment! read more

I have been going to Darien Eye Specialists since I was a kid. The staff is caring, knowledgeable, and very responsive. I always feel like they are doing what is best for me and know I can call or email anytime with a question. Rare to find doctors you really trust, but here I do trust them and wouldn't go anywhere else. read more

I've been to Dr. Varghese at Darien Eye Specialists twice, and each time had a wonderful experience! I've never had to wait more than 10 minutes to be seen by the Dr. and the office staff has always been very friendly and helpful. They have a wide selection of reasonably priced and fashionable frames and lenses to choose from. read more

Terrible experience! I have been several times to find myself waiting for 2 hours+ for minimal service including the "privilege" to speak with the doctor for 4 whole minutes. What's more, is half the process starts over because the doctors don't consult each other, even for the same patient! Overall, poor POOR service, coordination and scheduling for average professional treatment! I would not ever even consider considering recommending anything from this location to anyone! read more

The support staff here are always very helpful. The backend lab is a hit or a miss, but the staff get it sorted out for you. I have purchased eyeglasses here and had them repaired also. Be patient with them and they will be patient with you. read more

I've been going here pretty much all my life (I'm 34 now) and have always had good experiences everytime. I have a 7 year old son now and he's a patient there as well now, that should say a lot! Nice office staff, great doctors, We'll be patients there for a long time to come read more

Will Never bring my kids here again! I have tried giving Dr. Robert R. Richardson many chances before, year after year he seems to disappoint us very time. - Dr. Richardson is very arrogant, never introduces himself in a profesional manner when he walks in to the room. He has no patients for children, He has been rude many times in the past to my 8 and 9 year old in the past by not even giving them a chance to answer when he is asking them to read the letters in the Snellen chart. He rushes throughout the whole exam, with out giving the proper care to children. He does not spend any time answering questions parents might have in regards their kids vision. He gets very annoyed if a parent shows any type of concerns. My kids at a very young age can feel his negligence, and his rude behavior can be sensed as soon as he walks into the room. - Dr. Varghese on the other hand, is vey polite and very professional, too bad we can never get an appt with her. My kids have no complaints about Dr. Varghese. We will no longer be patients of the Darien Eye Clinic due to Dr. Richardson's poor behavior, lack of etiquette and poor service. I have recently transfered my childrens eye care to a new facility, near Naperville, on the first visit the doctor here diagnosed my daughter with a eye condition, was given an eye patch and now her eye might not get corrected due to the lack of intrest Dr. Richardson gave my daughter these last years. This new eye doctor spend more than an hour with my kids, doing all sorts of test on their vision, treated my kids with love and respect. My kids left the office saying only wonderfull things about their new eye doctor. I only regret that I didn't dismiss Dr. Richardson sooner. My advise to parents: Do not come here!. read more

Amazing experience. Came in initially for glasses for my daughter since she lost hers. Staff was very patient with her trying on all the kids' glasses. Then my son asked for glasses, so they took him as a last minute appointment for an eye exam. Dr. Varghese was very patient with my son and did a thorough exam. At first, he was squinting to try to fail his eye exam to get glasses (yes, my son! lol), and I think Dr. Varghese realized his techniques. Mind you, then she put on 'Superman glasses' as she called them, and he was able to read the lines perfect. So, thank you again to Dr. Varghese for thoroughly checking him. However, he actually started crying because he did not need glasses and was very distraught. Well here steps in great customer service from Cathy, Jasmine, and Kate who totally took care of him; they gave him an extra pair of glasses from the back that didn't have a prescription plus a case. It totally made his day and he hasn't stopped wearing them since. It made me tear up from his happiness from their wonderful customer service! The service here from the Doctor to the Staff went literally above and beyond; and I am so grateful for Darien Eye and being able to work with them. Would totally recommend them to anyone! read more

My entire family have gone to Darien eye Specialists for years. We love Dr. Varghese. She is very professional and provides excellent care. The entire staff are friendly and extemely helpful. I would highly recommend this office. read more

I have been a patient at DES for several years. Dr. Varghese is one of the most thorough, patient and kindest doctors I've ever had the pleasure of dealing with. I have never felt rushed and my concerns are always appropriately addressed. Even my young children are eager to have Dr. Varghese check on their eyes! This small office is quaint, clean and inviting. The staff is always very welcoming and extremely helpful when it comes to picking out new frames, coordinating with insurance and ensuring a proper fit when the frames come in. My contacts and glasses always seem to arrive ahead of schedule. I must also mention that I had a family member visiting from out of town and she awoke on a Saturday with an eye issue that became urgent. I called DES and Dr. Varghese readily agreed to adjust her personal schedule so that she could accommodate an appointment and we could avoid a trip to the ER. What a testament to their ethics! This is a beautifully run practice... your eyes will thank you! read more

I've been going to Darien Eye Specialists for the last 7 years and couldn't be more pleased. Both Dr. Varghese and Dr. Richardson are very knowledgeable, personable, and makes you feel right at home. The staff is great...they really help out when trying to select the perfect frame. Good selection of frames that are priced well. I've never had an issue with insurance billing. I'm a Darien local and would rathar support local businesses. Year after year, Darien eye has proven to have "earned" my business. Can't understand the negative review?? read more

Our experience at Darien Eye Specialists has always been excellent! My whole family (which includes myself, husband and 4 kids) have been going to Dr. Varghese for years. Each time she has been kind, patient and caring. Dr. Varghese really takes the time to hear our concerns and does a thorough examination. I can tell she is listening by the kind of questions she asks. Also, her memory is out of the world! With me having 4 kids (and her already having hundreds of patients) its amazing how she can remember medical treatments she has prescribed for them from years ago without even looking at the charts for the kids history. Our recent visit is what really made me want to write a review. My oldest son (8yrs) has had recent troubles with his vision. I was pretty sure he would need glasses but worried how bad it was. Also, I wasn't sure if he would take care of the glasses once he got them. Dr. Varghese did a great job making me feel at peace and I didn't even voice all these concerns yet. Right after the examination, she told me in a very professional and empathetic way that my sons eyes are healthy so that's a great thing, but his vision is a little weak and would need glasses. She told me the numbers on each eye and it was not as bad as I had imagined. After making me feel better and explaining the results she then explained it all to my son in his terms. And to top it off she gave easy ways for my son to remember when to and when not to have his glasses on, both so he would not strain his eyes further and also so he would take good care of his glasses. AMAZING! Next, the staff was soooo sweet and caring. Jan was a great help assisting us with picking the best pair of glasses for my son. She even shared what the kids are into now a days and gave suggestions on which ones meet the needs we were looking for. This helped make picking out the glasses faster and easier. My younger son who was at the appointment made Jan a drawing which she said she loved and would put up on the wall!! Sooo sweet!! Thank you for a great experience!! read more

Don't go here for contacts, particularly for your first time. Dr. Richardson was awful with my 16 yr old son. We warned him ahead of time that his eyes were very touch sensitive, he has a hard time even putting eye drops in. Instead of working with this, perhaps first demonstrating how it is done, trying different methods of insertion - Dr. Richardson basically held his head down and pried open his eyes trying to force it in repeatedly, directly over the eyeball. I was sick to my stomach watching. I had contacts for 30 years before having Lasik and have been to many eye doctors and I have never, ever had such an unprofessional experience. On top of which, he had a reaction to the contacts (which I later found out was a vasal vagal reaction - while uncommon, it definitely happens to some people when they get contacts or the dye test) and fainted in the chair. I was the one who went to him when he said he felt dizzy and held him up in the chair when he slumped over. Dr Richardson didn't even do the basic medical first aid when someone faints which is to lie them down and put their feet higher than their head. His chair didn't go back, I had to ask for something to put his feet on and they gave us a little block, which was useless. You'd think after this he would at least TRY to be more gentle removing the contacts, I asked to try several different things at the time: letting my son try it himself, sliding the contact down before pinching it rather than right over his eye. We had to endure the doctor poking, prying and pinching again. My son was dripping with sweat by the end. He never complained once, although he was shaking like a leaf. The doctor then said he'd never seen this reaction and that my son was probably hypoglycemic and/or diabetic. This was all on top of learning that he was colorblind, which he was still trying to process and worrying about. Now he has had this totally traumatic experience that he will never forget and will never, ever get contacts for fear of the same thing happening. This doctor may be fine at exams (I have no idea since he barely tested my son), but his manner and methods are terrible and he needs serious training in contact insertion, removal, first aid, and most of all compassion and consideration for his patients. No wonder he's stuck in a dead corner of a strip mall. I only went there because of insurance requirements and the previous yelp positive remark. read more

Where to begin with this horrific experience? I wouldnt have even given it one star, but if you want to post you have to. I booked at appointment for my 4 year old here (first eye exam) because of how close it was to our home. We arrived a few minutes early because we were advised to when booking so we could fill out paperwork. We were not even acknowledged for 10 to 15 minutes and there were only two other patients in the place and there was plenty of staff. However, they ignored us as they gossiped about other staff I am assuming. We were finally taken to the back part where they have you follow the lights and take your preassures. The lady was quite annoyed that my 4 year old kept pulling his head off the bar and couldnt reach the chin part bc he was to small. We then were put in another room to wait for the doctor. My son sat in the chair pretty excited about getting his eyes checked bc he was promised a suprise when we left. Well the Doctor came in, did not introduce himself but grabbed my sons ankles and threw them down off the chair. (he was sitting with knees to his chest). He then started put up the typcial picture on the wall of different rows of different sizes letters and numbers. (where usually most doctors use pictures for the most part, and most doctors start with big letters first and only a few) he tells my 4 year old to read the 4th line down and all the way across. He wasnt quite getting it and the Doctor just kept saying. "come on kid you should know this." I tried to help by pointing to each one and sure enough he did know them. My son pulled his knees up again and the Doctor grabbed his ankles again with force and pushed them down hard again. He did this about 3 or 4 times before I stormed out. Then we moved onto the blot book and was asking him the numbers shown. again saying. "come on kid look and focus" in a very rude and irriated voice. Well I got up again and tried to help. It was the number 84!!! Who shows a 4 year old the number 84? My sons knees went up again and the Doctor threw the book across the room and grabbed my son again and raised his voice saying "are you stupid or something kid?!?" With that I went off and stormed out and even called the police! My son had marks on his ankles from his hands grabbing them and was then crying asking what he did so wrong for that man to think he is stupid. Doctor Richardson should NOT be allowed to even have a liscense as far as im concerned! This place should be shut down. It was a horrible experience and if they do not like kids then they should not take them! Do NOT go there if you have kids or love kids! This was seriously disgusting how he behaved! read more