Tl;dr posted on bottom
Let me start by saying this is the most highly recommended place in the east village. I recently moved here and, as I always do, I walked around to get to know my surroundings. Upon noticing the barbershop I asked a few passersby what their opinion on the place was. All positive.
I noticed the place was a little filled up and decided to go to the local Vons, again asking about the shop. Again, all positive with recommendations for a man named Angelo.
I returned and Angelo was on his break but there was a barber there named Bobby who had a chair available. So I sat.
I asked for a simple fade and made the man aware of certain oddities in the shape of my skull and continued to have a lovely conversation. I paid $30 including tip and left the shop. When I returned home I learned Bobby's skills in the art of conversation far surpass his skills with clippers and scissors.
I came home to realize that part of my hair was sticking up in the back (after I told him about that specific problem area) and that the front left area, along with the side portion of the right side of my head were not even with the rest of my head creating a kind of quasi-pompodore/layered look. Worst of all is that he messed with my widows peak after I told him not to. Not. Cool.
I admit I should have noticed all of this in the shop, but every man knows that sometimes a cut from a new barber takes time to adjust and grow. So I gave it a day (a day my coworkers took to absolutely shred this shit cut) and then I went back on Friday and sat patiently and made converaation and cracked a few off-color jokes and waited my turn like everyone else.
When the chair was available I went to talk to Bobby and he promptly informed me that he was all wrapped up for the day. I told him my concerns and he told me, "When it's 7 o'clock then fuck you, and fuck anyone tryin' to tell me anything!" Woah! What!?
I chalked the outburst up to a long, hard days work. No big deal. He told me if I still had a problem then I should come back at 7am. I'm naturally an early riser, so sure, 7am it is.
I went back and this guy begins to tell me that my problem isn't the clearly uneven cut, the problem was that I don't comb my hair properly. I argued that a good haircut doesn't require combing, and hair gel, and nails, and duct tape. A good cut just is a good cut. Little to no maintenance required. But no matter, I'm a man of reason, so I asked him to show me how I should be combing my hair so that the little sprout in the back stays down and the uneven leveling is tamed. So he picked up a comb and made an attempt to bring the sprout and make the levels look even. Needles to say he failed. I looked him in the eye (Bobby only has one) and asked him if he can say in good conscience that this is a good hair cut. He said yes and continued to ask me if I rest on my hair at night? Really? Do I put my head down when I sleep? Yes, Bobby, yes I do. Realizing the man is unreasonable and doesn't have the ability to admit mistakes I walked out of the shop.
The worst part of this story was that every other barber in the shop just stood there while one of their coworkers berated someone and threw every excuse in the book at them for something that really isn't their fault. I didn't cut my hair like this, did I? And if the cut needs excessive maintenance (combing, gel, wave cap) then the barber isn't worth his fee.
Im sure that Angelo and the barbers are excellent just based on the word on the street. Maybe try them.
Im staying away from this shop for two reasons. 1) Customers should never have "fuck you" yelled at them. Even if it is quitting time and you had a bad day. 2) Barbers are fine with their shop being represented by a clearly incompetent individual and they'll support his work.
Tl;dr
Walked in. Got a shit cut. Went back to ask the barber who did the cut if he could fix his mistake. He literally told me to fuck off. But..thats just one guy and the shop is highly recommended. Give it a try. But my experience was really, really shitty read more