TLDR: Don't go for your wedding (in my case), birthday, or ANY special occasion with multiple people. Don't go at all, it's not worth the heap of issues we dealt with.
Jan 3, 2020. It was a BAD experience from the beginning to the end. Tried my best to be a bridechilla, not a bridezilla. Here's the story.
My sister made an advance reservation for me, my bridesmaids and friends (7 total) and told them that it would be a mix of services needed (manicures and pedicures). Since we were coming in from all over the state and even out of state, my sister didn't know the exact details of what we wanted - but wasn't asked for details either during the phone call.
We walk in right on time, and we see a clean, nice salon, but with only 3 staff - one of them occupied. The manager blamed us for not telling them that 2 of us wanted acrylics and that's why they didn't have more staff. We tried to be courteous, but it's not our responsibility to make sure they have enough staff (we used more diplomatic wording). After an hour of waiting, one of my bridesmaids left to the next closest salon. The rest chose to stay, and luckily some more staff were called in.
The gel color I chose was a shear pearly shimmer, and the result I got was stark white with a glitter top coat - completely different from the nail sample! My nail tech insisted that this is what I asked for, to which I calmly disagreed and said that there must have been an misunderstanding. Normally I would just pay and go, but this was the night before my wedding and I really wanted something more classy/natural. I then asked the only tech who spoke clear English (who also did a fantastic job on my bridesmaids ombré! That's why I give 2 stars, at least one tech was a pro) and she helped with the miscommunication.
However, they still charged me a $5 fee to fix their misunderstanding and my nail tech - impatient with the whole thing - literally PUSHED me to my seat. Not to the point of falling, but WAY past the point of a gentle "this way" gesture. I calmly asked her not to push me, to which she dismissed me. I was stunned, but didn't have much choice but continue the service - most other salons would have been closed by then, since it's a sleepy suburb. I tried to just be polite and just get through it. The resulting pink nails with glitter was better, but her application was not very precise or clean. And when it came time to pay, she asked me for a tip! I then asked if I could put it in myself, and she said no. Too embarrassed to say the truth - that I was very unhappy with the service and did not wish to tip - I gave a $5 tip to avoid adding to the tension. I regret not being more honest, especially since my manicure gel and regular pedicure was very expensive.
If you've read up to here, I'm sure you'll see that the staff here need to get their s*** together or hire new people, because their customer service is terrible and only 1 or 2 techs are multiskilled in their craft AND can clearly communicate. Please note that I don't mean to pick on English learners, my husband is also a first gen immigrant, it was the overall "it's your fault" attitude that made what could have been an OK evening into a bad one. read more