I'll keep this short.
I'm not sure how this nail "spa" (sweatshop) earned its 4 star ratings. To say I was underwhelmed is putting it nicely. To say I'm disappointed and even a bit angry having to spend my hard earned money on shoddy, subpar work AND literally have insult added to injury would be more precise.
Just a heads up to the nail technicians at this salon: the world isn't that small and Vietnamese is not a dead language. Despite appearances, some of your customers actually know exactly what you say when you're speaking your language. Shame on you.
I wanted something simple: acrylic overlay with gel on top. She built up so much acrylic and gel that my naturally slim nails look masculine. That's not even the worst part.
We made an appointment for 3:45. We arrived at 3:30 and were told to come back at 4. So we left, and came back at 4 and still had to wait. 15 minutes later the admittedly better manicurist started working on my friends nails. I was treating her to a full set for her birthday, and the prices on the "spa's" website seemed reasonable.
It took a full 45 minutes wait for someone to get started on me. She approached me cautiously, asking if I had time to wait for the technician working on my friend to finish; this should've been a red flag. Reassured by the raving yelp reviews, I told her I didn't want to keep waiting, so she started.
She asked me what colour I wanted. I told her and she abruptly responded "it's empty," without offering an alternative. So I once more picked up the gel colour tray and proceeded to try to find a similar colour.
She asked me three times if I wanted glued on tips. I told her "no thank you" three times and advised that I wanted them short. She decided to use the acrylic to build my nails longer. She then filed my nails at a 45 degree angle. I reminded her I wanted them short and asked her to please even out my nails... They looked messy.
And hour and a half later, my nails look like shit. Why did it take her an hour and a half to do my nails, you ask? Cause she answered the phone three times and randomly pulled out her appointment book about 4 times (I'd made a game of counting.) She also got up from her station twice to talk to walk-ins, which was fun.
At the end of it all, she tried to charge me $44 and my girlfriend (who got tips, and a pink and white acrylic full set) $40. Why was my shitty acrylic overlay with gel colour more expensive than her French full set manicure with tips? She said I got tips. At that point I began to wonder if I had wandered into the twilight zone.
First of all my friends nails should've been $30 according to the price on their website, and mine $30 at most... Suddenly, she says "ok ok I take off $4, $40 for you and $44 for your friend." Bitch! You just switched the charge are you kidding me? Also, you're arbitrary pricing is not the same as your website.. Where are you getting these numbers from?
She ended up charging me $75 (I was picking up the tab,) and I tipped the lady who worked on my friend's nails $5.
As I paid her she mumbled a very derogatory swear word at me in vietnamese. Yeah, swear at me because you suck at your job and you're a cheat.
This place deserves to be out of business. Literally the WORST NAIL SALON in solana beach. read more