Burnside Village — Attraction in Adelaide

I visited Burnside Nails and Spa today. I have been frequenting this nail salon for many years every 2-3 weeks. Over the last few months I have taken a break because I could not afford to get them done, so I saved the money to get special christmas nails. I thought it was the best nail salon in Adelaide and often recommended it to other ladies in need but after my horrendously bad experience there today I will NEVER go back and encourage others to steer clear also!! First of all, along with everyone else, my schedule is jam-packed until Christmas Day and when I booked my appointment with my regular girl I made sure to call to double confirm my appointment as I had to be somewhere straight after. I arrived promptly on time to be told they had double booked and I’d have to wait 30mins at least, I told the owner I had to be somewhere at a certain time then i was told to wait a couple minutes which ended up being 25minutes and she started my nails. From the very beginning of my appointment the nail technician made me feel very uncomfortable and it was clear to me that she did not want to do my nails (I often request designs and pay extra for them). I showed her some pictures of what I wanted and the owner said it would cost $115 which i was happy to pay granted that i got what I wanted. I described what I wanted very clearly but she wasn’t interested and painted them white instead of pink and when I questioned her about it she stated that it’ll look okay because of the nail art she was doing on top. That is irrelevant, I was paying good money for what I asked for and should get what I paid for. She then proceeded to accuse ME of being rude and always complaining which is not the case and told me if I’m going to be like this she won’t do my nails again. I informed her that I would never come back and that she had been rude to me the last visit (where I didn’t say anything at the time) and today. She upset me so much that it literally brought me to tears!! They didn’t even finish my manicure (because I had to get out of there before I broke down completely) and the owner STILL charged me $115!!! I told him with tears in my eyes that I shouldn’t be leaving here crying and being made to feel so bad for wanting what I OVERPAID for and not getting it because his staff don’t know the difference between white and pink and his response was “yea”. I could not believe it. Very unprofessional and the absolute WORST customer service I have ever experienced!! It’s mind-blowing that a prime establishment like Burnside Village with its impeccable reputation would allow a business like this to operate under their umbrella. I am beyond disappointed...

The Good: Use of natural lighting. Fabric couches for men waiting for their wives. Sufficient rest rooms. Parking system that shows you where free spaces are.

The Ugly: All style, no substance. It’s like someone thought, “Let’s build a shiny new complex that screams modern luxury,” and then stocked it with day-old sandwiches and mystery meat pies. Limited seating options means there is nowhere to sit unless you enjoy awkwardly balancing a wilted wrap while standing next to a bin. People in this suburb are not accustomed to waiting. And when it comes to choice, you’ve got three options: soggy sandwiches, reheated pies, or cheap mostly Asian food that feels wildly out of place in one of the wealthiest corners of the eastern suburbs.

The food offerings? Budget-level takeaway at best—more fitting for a petrol station food court than a spot frequented by people who spend thousands a term just so their sons can get a Hogwarts-style lunch at St Peter’s College.

And if that’s not enough to whet your appetite, brace yourself for the open-air fish and chicken stalls. Nothing says “bon appétit” like the putrid scent of raw meat wafting through the seating area—because apparently, what this place was really missing was the ambiance of a third-world wet market. At what point are we going to make designers responsible for this rubbish?

To top it all off, the new structure is hideous—like a factory for aircraft spare parts dropped into the middle of a designer suburb. So ugly, that a bland concrete wall fit for an automotive factory is then 'sprayed' with likely Adelaide's cheapest mural, even the back corners of Hindley Street look better. Not that residents of Burnside, some which have been here for generations, had any choice in this primitive low-self-esteem brutal architecture they now all have drive past on the way to the Adelaide Club. What this place desperately needs, apart from demolition, is an actual Italian restaurant serving freshly cooked meals, real seating, and the faintest idea of what its clientele might actually want to eat.

I doubt any locals actually visit this place as no European luxury car would fit in the tiny car...

Not really sure why they've even opened the new section to be honest. There's about 7 new stores actually open, and the rest are still being built. Constant construction work noises, including sawing, hammering and power tools make the experience of walking the desolate sad white halls oh so pleasant. And what stores they do have are tiny and lacklustre. The "Flagship Mecca store" appears smaller than Marion and the new JB HiFi is one of the smallest I've ever seen with barely any range at all. The new area was advertised as being all open and ready to go, and yet today we were greeted with barely anything even being complete with smoking tradies at every entrance, no security to be seen anywhere. Management advertised the glass panels as being imported from France and each panel being one of a kind, yet from what I can tell they all look exactly the same. The carpark is a joke. The old carpark was terrible, cramped, and a nightmare to move around in, and they've somehow managed to make it worse with the expansion, which is honestly impressive. There's a seating area with spaced out bland looking couches and 3 plants. It looks sad and depressing. I understand that it's not finished yet, and that's fine, but it was advertised as being finished and I honestly can't understand what Management were thinking opening it in this current state. I work in close conjuction with shopping centre management at another location and it baffles me how many violations there are here. Loud power tool works should not be happening in broad daylight during lunch. Truly a sad display, and for a centre that's meant to be Adelaide's answer to Chadstone in Victoria, it barely even holds up...