ROYAL NAILS & SPA — Local services in Apex

I would not recommend this place to anyone I know. I am new to the area and wanted to get my nails done for a vacation. I googled the area and found this place had 4.8 stars. When I arrived, the first thing you see is the books to pick out your color. I was confused as no one greeted me. The front desk person was doing something and I think after he realized I was confused told me to put my number in a tablet. He asked what I am looking to get. I told him pedicure and gel x. I first got my pedicure. Typical, I got the basic pedicure and no complaints. When I was done with my pedicure, the lady took me to the person who would do the gel x. When I sat down the person was filing her own nails. She continued to do it as I sat there. Laughing. Honestly, I should have just left at that moment. After about a minute or 2, she cleaned up and put the same file on the cart that is used on clients. On the table she had nail instruments (important later on). So I told her gel x and got the nails out. She asked for my hands and immediately asked how about ring and how long I have been married. She then tells me my ring is too big for someone who hasn’t been married long-unprofessional. I chose to ignore the comment. She starts sizing my nails for the gel x. As she is sizing my nails, she kept dropping them, she would put them in piles and then when it came down to putting the gel on them she kept forgetting which belonged to which nail. She did that multiple times. I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, and thought she is just clumsy or is more of a type b worker. It got to the point where I wanted to tell her how to lay out the nails to avoid forgetting. When she was gluing them down I told her one of them is crooked. She ignored me. Once all of them are glued, I told her it was sticking to my skin. She says it’s because my nails are too short and ignored it. I have never had this issue but I persisted and told her to grab a filing tool and help un glue my skin. She finally listened and it helped. Trimming the sides of my nails, I realized she grabbed a nail instrument from the pile that was already unopened potentially used and used it on me ! I never saw her take it out of the sterile bag. When applying color, she had me keep my nails in the uv light basically until she needed. I told her the light turned off, I can take them out. She said no, to keep them in there. I have had gel x before and that wasn’t the process. Now, I’ve had them on for a week now, and when I put my fingers through my hair, it gets caught in the nails. Once again, this is my first time with this issue. I’m use to going 4 weeks and they are...

this place was recommended to me by a coworker who always has the cutest nails so i decided to give them a try. i made an appointment ahead of time. i arrived about 10 minutes after my appointment time started (got slightly lost), but they said it was no problem and i could be seen immediately. it took me a few minutes to decide what style to get and to be honest, i felt a little rushed and overlooked by the man checking in guests. walk-ins were getting seated before me just because they knew what color they wanted before me. they bring me to a bowl for my pedicure, start the water, begin to lay out the tools. right before the tech can get started, the same man from before comes over and tells me we are going to start with my manicure instead. okay, a little strange that i’m being moved after everything was set up for me but i wanted to be a good sport. Danny is the tech that did my nails and he was seriously amazing! if he opened his own shop i would go there 100% of the time. his work and attention to detail is impeccable! my full set of gel x nails took about 45 minutes and he was so professional the entire time. then, it was time to try to get a pedicure again. they sit me in the same seat, fill the bowl again, and i’m relaxing with my wine. 5 minutes became 25 minutes, with no update from the staff as to when i would be seen, even though multiple walk ins were seen nearly ASAP. my water was piping hot when i got to the bowl and by the time i was ready to go, it was barely lukewarm. it was almost like they forgot about me! once 30 minutes passed, i jumped out of my seat and asked to pay for just my nails. this surprised them a little but i don’t have all day to wait for an arbitrary time when i made an appointment to avoid that very thing. they are also the kind of nail salon that charges for EVERY little thing a la carte, so beware. a $65 gel x full set quickly became $85 for adding shape and french tips? when my tips were already that shape in the box but i digress. i had no issue paying and tipping Danny what he deserved but i don’t think ill return any time soon because of the copious amount of unprofessionalism from the rest of the staff. not sure if i didn’t have the exact apex look they want but my money spends the same. there are plenty of other salons that don’t charge as much that would honor your appointment and make you...

Disappointing Experience Despite a Beautiful Space

The best way to sum up my visit: if you’re in a rush and only need a visually passable job, this place may suffice — just don’t look too closely or expect professional service.

A few standout issues made this a particularly frustrating experience. After patiently waiting 40 minutes (which I understood given we didn’t have an appointment), my young daughter and I were assigned to a visibly exhausted and mediocre technician. She spoke to me with an unprofessional tone — more like she was barking at a relative — and gave unclear gestures about when to place my feet in and out of the water. I tried to remain calm and respectful, especially in front of my daughter, but after being met with repeated rough cuticle work that had me flinching and saying “ouch” multiple times, I had to sit up and say plainly that I needed clearer direction. Only then did she soften her posture slightly and mention she was hard of hearing that comes and goes — something I still tried to meet with grace although I found that a bit hard to believe.

During the manicure, she was again overly aggressive with my cuticles. At that point, I cut it short and asked for a clear coat to wrap things up. She admitted she was tired and shared how long her day had been. I empathized but didn’t say what I was thinking — that I too work long hours while parenting and managing a household, and this outing was meant to be a treat, not a stressor.

My 10-year-old daughter had the same classic pedicure and a basic manicure. Her technician wasn’t rude, but the work was sub-par — a sentiment even she, polite and observant as she is, expressed unprompted.

The salon itself is large and visually appealing but clearly geared toward artificial nail services. If that’s the main focus, they should be transparent about it — and not promote classic services they don’t perform well.

I still tipped 20%, not because the service earned it, but because I suspect turnover is high and employees like these won’t be around long. Unfortunately, this won’t be a place...