Royal Flesh Tattoo and Piercing — Attraction in Lake View Township

Worst tattoo experience I've ever had. I waned to get a relatively simple tattoo of a jellyfish, so I've decided to go to Royal flash to get it done. I've had a pretty good experience there before. I walked in and asked if anybody was available to work on it. An artist named Rick said that he had a design of a jellyfish that would work for me. I looked at the design. It was small and simple, just what I was looking for. The tattoo turned out okay, but a few hours after I got it done I've noticed a lot of blow outs. Since it was already pretty late, I contacted Rick the next morning. I told him that I didn't feel that it looked right ( I have 12 tattoos, and none of them looked like that). He said that it was still very fresh, and that it was still too early to tell if something was wrong with it. A few days later I contacted him again and asked if I could come into the shop so he could take a look. He agreed. When I came in and showed him a tattoo he said that the tattoo looked fine, and that the blowouts looked like glue residue. Another artist in the shop said that all of my tattoos looked like that, which is bs. Rick also said that it is a difficult spot to tattoo and that this could have happened. Well, I would appreciate if he said that before agreeing to tattoo. I left the shop. Rick told me to contact him in a few weeks. During that time I spoke to at least 7 other artists. All of them said that it was not done properly. They said that the artist went WAY to deep and those blow outs cannot be controlled. Several weeks later, when I realized that the blowouts are not going away, I contacted Rick again and asked for a refund. He told me to come in the shop to take a look at the tattoo again. When I did, he said that he still thinks it's a good tattoo because "it still looked like a jellyfish". He once again said that it's a difficult spot to tattoo, and that the needle he used was way to thin for that spot. Again, he didn't tell me any of that before tattooing. He also said that anyone who said it's a bad tattoo lied straight to my face(quote). He said that he wanted to fix it. He said he was going to text me his ideas. The first time he did I said that I really didn't like it because all he did was basically making the lines thicker without even covering up all of the blowouts. A week later or so he sent me a different "idea" of his where he did exactly the same thing. That's when I decided to just find another artist and not wast my time. To me it was clear that he didn't even try to come up with something that would probably fix the mess. The guy has to learn to take ownership of...

I used to love this shop. I use past tense for a reason (this review is long, but just read the whole thing). I recently visited the shop to browse for jewelry and get my nose pierced. The environment had changed DRASTICALLY! When I entered the shop there was a man sitting in a tattoo chair with his dirty tennis shoes on one of the tattoo benches. This might not mean much to some, but cleanliness in a tattoo shop should be everyone's TOP priority, and dirty shoes on a surface where someone will be tattooed is DISGUSTING. Yes you can clean the bench, but this man obviously did not care about the filth he was potentially exposing his customers too. He did not say anything to me. On the surface I might not look like I am a "typical person" to get a tattoo, BUT I have 12 piercings and 9 tattoos. After a few minutes I was finally greeted, only get get my question interrupted by a personal phone call that the man took. I asked about Lissette, my usual piercer, and was told she was not working that day. So, I showed the new piercer pictures of what I was wanting. However, she suggested something totally different. She was trying to up-sell me. In my opinion, my piercings and tattoo's are works of art and a reflection of who I am. I am all for suggestions, but trying to change what I want for my body is just flat out unprofessional. It was clear that the mind set of the shop had shifted from an artistic view to being money hungry. I finally put my foot down and just said clearly what I wanted and did not want. I will give the new piercer some credit in terms of prepping me for the pain. When she was finished she could not get the backing on correctly, so the stud was not flush against my skin. She told me to come back in a few weeks and she would change the stud. I walked around the rest of the day with the stud sticking out of my nose and dried blood around the piercing. At a later day I found out that Lissette was employed elsewhere due to the very issues I mentioned above (cleanliness and being money hungry). I will be going to Lissette to fix the piercing. I also found out that my favorite tattoo artist had moved with Lissette. Quori is an amazing artist! He is first an artist, so his work is unique, detailed, and absolutely amazing. I could go on forever about his talent and how he works with you to customize your vision. If you are thinking about getting a tattoo or piercing I would NOT go to Royal Flesh! Instead google Lissette Cahue and Quori Senyon, because those are the only two individuals I will...

I've seen the shop before and went in to look around and I have to tell you this is a super clean shop that is also well decorated with original artworks, clothing, etc... they even have a DJing section setup for live music it seems. They throw art showings there from time to time - that is how I came to learn about the shop.

Anyhow though weeks ago I had talked with Joe (Joey the Sauce) about the kind of tattoo (style) I wanted to get, the general concept, etc... he took a stencil of my chest and arm area and a couple of weeks later had the art for me and even sent me a preview of it to my phone. Great guy... I liked how open and transparent he was about the work he wanted to do.

So yesterday I received my first tattoo from Royal Flesh and couldn't be more proud to be part of the shop... the place is clean, well decorated, music playing, and the staff... the staff are amazing... everyone (clients included) talking casually with one another, artists coming by to check on other people's art and chat in general. This is a shop where you are seriously made welcome... and made to feel like you are just 'one of the guys' at the shop... best experience I've ever had at a tattoo shop.

Management is top-notch as well... not afraid to be completely honest with clients about the kind of art they want to get, how much it will cost, etc... while I was in the chair I overheard a conversation with a couple and it sounded like the guy was new to tattoos... the manager walked him through the whole process, talked about the art that the guy wanted, how much it would entail, cost, and even a time to get it done.

Basically, in a nutshell, Royal Flesh is what all the other shops aren't... best experience and I definitely found my go-to shop (and artist) for...