From their website, I was under the impression that Salon Uffizi was an upscale salon. Nothing…read morecould be further from the truth. I bought a Groupon for a salon mani-pedi with Roberto. Later I tried to call the salon to confirm --- you can't speak to a real person, and I later found out why. They do not have a receptionist. There is a Byzantine system of voicemail and if you don't know the extension you want, you have to listen to the whole long list and then leave a message. I left a general message which no one ever returned.
I showed up a little early for my appointment. My first impression of the salon was a very strong chemical smell. There were several customers seated in the waiting area --- a row of seats ripped out of a movie theater (complete with cupholders)! There was no one at the reception desk. I stood waiting for a few minutes --- I had hoped to book a walk-in shampoo/blowout in addition to my mani/pedi --- but no one came. The salon is set up so that you can't really see the reception desk from the stations. While I was waiting, at least one stylist yelled from the back of the salon for her next customer to come on back. After a few minutes another customer got up, walked over to a station, and said, "You've got somebody waiting up front here."
A stylist emerged, looking very put upon. With her facial expression, tone of voice, and body language, she did absolutely everything she could to let me know it was NOT HER JOB to deal with me and it was weird that I was waiting to be helped. She did everything but roll her eyes. She said, "Ummmm ... can I HELP you?" I said that I had an appointment with Roberto. This confused her. She had to think about it. Then she said, "Ummm, he's not here yet but he should be in a few minutes." And she went back to her station. No greeting, no invitation to have a seat, no offer of water or coffee. She just wanted to get rid of me. And this was a middleaged woman, not a young girl. I have no idea where the attitude came from.
I had driven all the way across town for this appointment, with plans to leave town for several months the next day, so even though ordinarily I would have just walked out at this point, I decided to wait. Roberto had been very nice on the phone. After about 10 minutes he called my cell phone to say his car wasn't starting and he didn't know when he could get in. He apologized and asked if we could rebook the following week, which I couldn't do as I am leaving town. At this point, he should have offered to rebook me with a colleague, but he did not. It's not Roberto's fault that he was having car trouble, and he did apologize profusely, but he should have offered to rebook me with a colleague especially after I told him I was leaving town the next day and had specifically made this appointment so I'd have a nice mani/pedi before traveling.
I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I drove back across town to Art Nails and Spa, my neighborhood Vietnamese nail salon, where I was greeted cheerfully, seated immediately and offered a drink, got a fabulous salon pedi and gel manicure for less than half of what it would have cost at Salon Uffizi, and which came with a lengthy foot, calf, shoulder, arm, hand, and neck massage. I have learned my lesson and I will NEVER go back to Salon Uffizi.