I really wanted to love Mike's. And after my first haircut I thought I found my "new place" but after my last appointment, I am forced to look for another barber.
This is my first ever Yelp review despite being a member for 6+ years. I am just so shocked by what happened with my appointment that I feel that I have no choice but to voice my opinion.
I moved to College Station from Costa Mesa CA and really needed to find a good barbershop. In Cali I was a long time customer of the famous Hawleywoods and was admittedly a little spoiled by the quality of cut I could get there. After reading the reviews about Mike's I thought I had found a place that could offer something similar.
Now, I can tell that the barbers have great skills and are popular. I do not doubt that if you go here for a cut you will get a decent one. The online feature and phone apps are nice too. The issue for me is the general lack of professionalism and a little bit of a "doctors" office atmosphere. This has nothing to do with my review score but I think tearing down the wall in the "waiting" room and giving the place a more open and traditional "barber shop" feel would be nice.
The reason for my low review is almost completely because of the poor professionalism I received at my last cut. I will not name any names as I do not want to cause grief and I do not think the individuals are poor barbers, they just need to improve communication.
Now onto my experience:
I made an appointment with a specific barber, the same barber that I had seen before. To me this is very important, I need to have rapport and experience with my barber so that they can be familiar with my hair and I can suggest minor adjustments to meet my needs. I arrived for my appointment 20 minutes early, not expecting to be seen sooner but just because I am usually early to everything. Around the time of my appointment instead of the barber that I set my appointment with, a different barber asked for me to follow them to the back. The barber I was supposed to see was there with a different client. Instead of an explanation or proposal, the new barber began to go through the motions of preparing to cut my hair.
I stated that I had a different barber previously and asked if there was a change and as a response my old barber barely instructed the new barber on what to do with my hair. This confused me greatly and left me second guessing on who I made my appointment with. Instead of getting the haircut I thought I was going to get I just asked for my sides to be cleaned up and the top left alone. I was too confused and weary to ask for more as I did not know the new barber and felt disrespected for not receiving any explanation for the change.
The new barber was proficient, and I paid full price, but I will not be returning because I feel somewhat mistreated and can not trust to have a consistent experience with this barber shop.
A simple explanation would have been helpful. I was not late for my appointment so I know it was not because of that. I can only surmise that the change was because my original barber was running behind. I would have appreciated that as an explanation and given the OPTION to wait or see a different barber rather than automatically assigned someone new. read more