I had an awesome experience here. Being in a different country, I was a little apprehensive about…read moreapproaching a tattoo shop. When doing a little Yelp recon, I found this shop and another nearby. This one had photos and no reviews. The other had one review and no photos yet. I decided to go with this one as the photos spoke to me more and gave me more information than that one review at the other place (that admitted they were a friend! No wait, drinking buddy, actually! Woops.)
We walked into an alley way with some shops, and into an open door that revealed a plain hallway. We spotted another door with a Rising Phoenix sign, and opened it to find a staircase leading up. We heard music, and I saw a bit of tattoo-shop personality that felt familiar. The studio is not huge - maybe one of the smallest shops I've been to, but definitely not cramped. It's one big open room in the main part, and one end has two tattoo stations. It's not really a separate room for the tattoo chairs, but it looks like it's separated a little with some small bit of wall on either side, as if they opened up part of it with construction to make a huge doorway.
The decoration is totally on point with what I love about tattoo shops. It's got a LOT of personality, as I mentioned, and they have a ton of antique, vintage items around. Skulls, photos, pretty frames, pics of tattoos, tattoo books, tattoo magazines, rad chairs, an oriental rug on the floor... They even have a shop dog. A little dachshund whose name is Rigby, if I remember correctly.. and he's so adorable and friendly.
We walked up and talked to Nick behind the desk. She was SO friendly. I told her what we were looking for, and she called over Holly (I think and hope that I've got her name right!) who was visiting from another shop further North. Holly quoted me 70 pounds for approximately an hour of work. This exchanged roughly to $120 and I thought that was fair, being that Atlanta tattoo shops (where I'm from, in the US!) tend to be approximately $100-$150 per hour.
I agreed, and asked if they had availability the next day. They sure did, and open bright and early at 10am! Wow, that's early for a tattoo, but I said SURE! I don't think many, if any, tattoo shops in Atlanta open before noon, but I might be wrong. They collected our 10 pound (approx $15) deposit, which was also surprisingly inexpensive to me, for a deposit - either trusting that we'd be back, or figuring if these tourists ended up chickening out, it must not have been a huge deal. :) She was able to put my email address and USA phone number in their appointment reminder program, because I got an email and a text confirmation - which was rad. The text even came from a USA number.
Next morning, I got an OJ and some baked fruit snacks to put a little sugar in me (usually recommended so you don't get nauseous or pass out.) Nick offered me coffee or tea, and I accepted coffee since I hadn't had any yet that day. She brought it out to me in a beautiful fancy tea cup with saucer. I love how the British do things. :)
Holly (jeez, I really hope I'm not remember her name wrong!) brought us back to a separate room. I was glad I didn't have to sit in the first chairs I saw, just because I need to be able to focus my thoughts through the pain, and people walking in and out might have distracted me. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe it would have been a good distraction, haha. Not sure.
She was all set up for me, because I was sipping my fancy coffee for a bit in the fancy retro chairs in the main waiting area. The room she was using is a bit small, but it was able to fit two additional people who were there with me! We listened to music, and I zoned out staring at a rose and their logo :)
It took about an hour like she said, and that included her going over a few spots to make sure they were even and amazing-looking, and in the end, I'm very happy with her work and the customer service at Rising Phoenix. I did a little research and apparently it's not as common in England to tip tattoo artists (and other service individuals) but before we left, we tipped anyway to show our appreciation.
I'd definitely recommend Rising Phoenix for any service - tattoo, piercing - or questions, even. Cheers!
