CHOCOLATE BEAUTY BAR — Local services in Bellevue

Not friendly for people that speak Russian.

Wow! I didn't even make it in the front door. I called the front desk and asked if any of the stylists spoke Russian. The unprofessional girl that answered the phone replied one word in an irritating tone. Yeah. I was thinking, "This salon is in Bellevue, not some getto". But I figured ok, I'll roll with it. So, after a pause of waiting for her to tell me who and seeing that the one word answer was all that I was getting, I asked who the stylists were that spoke Russian. The boorish girl on the phone got more irritated and in a demanding voice asked, Why? I explained that my wife doesn't speak English very well and it would be easier for them to communicate as my wife has grown her hair out about 3 feet and doesn't want it ruined. Although if this boorish girl had any knowledge of Western Washington she would understand that there are many Russian speaking people living in the area. But I digress. I then asked if one was from Ukraine. I figured that at least this immature girl had heard of the Russian - Ukrainian conflict that's been waging for the past half decade and my question would make sense. But sadly, I asked for too much. Instead of an answer of which of the two it was, I received another irritated Yeah. As I'm a quick study, I had learned from my first question that an irritated "Yeah" would be all that I would be graced with so I then asked the obvious follow up question of which of the two was from Ukraine. To my amazement I finally found out! Yahoo! As I wanted to end the pain as quick as possible, I politely said thank you and hung up the phone quickly.

I can't understand what business sense it makes to hire front desk individuals, who are a customer's first contact with a business, that behave in such a manner. Especially when the Russian speaking community is close knit. Don't they understand that my wife will tell this story to her Russian speaking friends? And so on. And so on. Doesn't make sense to me.

Now that I think about it, I have to laugh because I've received better service from the Asian women that don't speak English very well at Supercuts. Well, before I started going to Weldon Barber in Seattle. Which is professional. Ha ha. Supercuts gives better service than Salon Tewl. That's funny.

Either way, I would not recommend this place to any Russian speaking individuals who take their...

I booked an appointment to have my hair curled for my engagement photos. I could not have been more clear on the phone, I have very fine hair that doesn't like to hold a curl. I can curl it but need to junk it up with product to hold. Instead of doing it myself  I thought I'd pamper myself and have it done professionally. On the phone I specifically said that it does not like to hold a curl and confirmed that their professionals would have product and techniques to make it stay. They assured me, yes, they can absolutely do this. I show for my appointment at 9:00, mentioned again before getting started that it's stubborn to curl. This was once again acknowledged by the stylist. After all, they're the professionals. If I can make it curl and hold for at least 5 hours surely they can make it last all day. Wrong. I left the salon just before 10, went back to our hotel and my hair had fallen out nearly completely in less than an hour. I phoned at 10:30 (photos taken taken at 10:30) and said it was less than an hour and asked for a partial refund because their services didn't hold up despite confirming twice that extra care should be taken. I was transferred to management who said they could get me in again to re-curl but until 2:30. I have friends back home who are experienced hair stylists and they were all shocked as styling, with just curls, is such a basic skill. With a salon armed with nice tools and expensive product there is no reason it shouldn't hold. I was VERY careful to not touch it. I don't have the time to go drive all the way back to the salon anyway (I booked it when I did for a reason) but especially to potentially have this happen again. If it didn't work the first time I have little to no faith it'll work the 2nd time. As professionals you shouldn't need a second chance to throw some curls in hair  ESPECIALLY when advised in advance it can be stubborn. They said they have a strict no refund policy . I find it a big red flag when companies stand behind a policy more than their services. I paid $90 for a style to fall out in less than an hour. Again I reiterated that I understand Hanna still spent time with me  so I'm not asking for a full refund. Just partial. The "strict no refund policy" was reiterated and after some negotiating they agreed to at least refund the tip. The only reason I'm not giving it a total bust of a review is because the...

Service : Haircut and balayage,

My first and most likely last time at Salon Tewl.

I specifically wanted to make an appointment with a color specialist but she was too busy so she assured in a first consultation that someone that she recommended would have already the information of what I had in mind, as well as the inspiration photo. I then met Jeselle, who is charming, tried her best, but maybe she was tired since I was her last client for the day (perhaps she just wanted to go home?) and even when it was obvious the result was nothing like what I asked for, she complimented it as well the other stylists did. Saying it looks great doesn't make it better for me, that's why I took the reference picture in the first place. When Jeselle saw that I wasn't satisfied with the result she was super kind and told me that I had paid good money for my hair (320 + tip), that she wanted me to be happy with it. It all sounded great, but the next time I went back to address the many issues with my hair, she only offered a toner which I accepted and made the result bearable, but still nothing like the picture or what I asked for in the first place

The next time I texted her about the issues with my hair (the shade or the thickness of the color effects) she dismissively told me that she was busy and she offered a consultation to quote me for any more changes. So much for the empathy and customer service attitude of "you paid good money for the service, I want you to be happy with it "

I'm not happy with how chunky the effects are, with the yellow shade, with how far up is the balayage. I told Jeselle all this and she only disregarded it over and over again, making the least possible effort to fix it and just wanting to move on with the business and the fantasy of doing something nice to people's hair.

Also, I think it's a bit rude even with Covid to make people wait outside in the cold weather, it wouldn't hurt to put a bench somewhere and a heater or at least do something that shows that they care about you and your business, instead of having you wait outside, with them in the front desk chatting until they decide to answer your call letting them know that you have arrived to your appointment.

370 dollars to get some random thing done to your hair, chat and lip service....