New Zion Nail & Spa — Local services in Jersey City

RUDE AND RACIST NAIL SALON. There are many 1 star YELP reviews. The overall yelp review rating is only 2.9 stars as of today, December 22, 2024. Please read those reviews and there are a couple regarding racism against black people. I am Asian and the Asian employees there are racist against their own ethnicities. I believe the manager is Jackie, the Asian man with glasses. He would happily greet white and hispanic people and say goodbye to them when leaving the salon. Not once did he or the other Asian woman with glasses working there greet me whenever I step into the salon and they are always at the front of the salon doing manicures so they definitely see me walk in. They pretend I'm not there. However, this didn't deter me from coming back to the salon because I really like this one particular nail technician. (I will not disclose her name here to protect her identity and her job) so I will name her "sweet lady" in this review. Read on to find out why.

I have been coming here a few times now and I typically make appointments with the sweet lady. However, I decided to walk in earlier this afternoon without an appointment as I saw that it was pretty empty in the salon, and I needed a gel manicure right in time for the holidays. As usual, nobody there greeted me except for the sweet lady who told me to have a seat. She was busy with another client so she was unable to do my nails at the moment so she called another technician, Sandra, to help me. I have been waiting for a bit and Sandra never came over to me. (Sandra previously did my gel manicure only once last month right before Thanksgiving, and she was rude and made unnecessary comments about my nails. She was very unprofessional and there was tension between us throughout the entire service. I disregarded her negative attitude since it was the day before Thanksgiving and the salon was very busy that day and understaffed so I can be a bit empathetic and understand how the employees were stressed despite Sandra's rudeness).

I saw Sandra come out of the bathroom and chatting with another client today and did not acknowledge me. The sweet lady came over to me and apologized and told me that nobody wanted to do my nails so she will do it since she just wrapped up with a client. Sweet lady also said and I quote "nobody here likes you. I don't know why. That's not nice of them and they just kept you waiting." I understand if Sandra didn't want to do my nails due to the not so pleasant experience last month. However, I was completely confused if the other employees felt negatively towards me since I have not had any conversations or services done with the other nail technicians there. I asked the sweet lady "Everyone here doesn't like me or is it just Sandra?" The sweet lady replied "Everyone. I don't know why but it's not right and they just left you waiting." I looked around to see who "everyone" is and the only employees working there were Jackie, the Asian woman with medium shoulder length hair with black framed glasses, Sandra, and other ladies in the back. I think the ladies in the back only do pedicures since I have never seen them up front for manicures and I've only been going to Zion for gel manicures. So this "everyone" really is just Jackie, the Asian woman whom I never spoke to before but she has seen me since she's always at the front doing manicures, and Sandra. I felt so uncomfortable after knowing this information as the sweet lady was filing my nails. I wavered between just letting it go and finish getting my nails done or get up and leave. It took me just a short moment for me to realize that the salon doesn't deserve my business, and I really appreciated the sweet lady for her good nature and honesty. I said excuse me, got up, and left her a nice tip for just filing my nails. She insisted on completing the service but I did not want the salon to get any more business from me. I got my nails done by Color City Nails on Jersey Ave and am very happy with the service. Will be taking my business there...

I called them before I went and I told them I was 5 mins away, and if they took walk-in or if any waiting required. The owner said no waiting, there’s seat available. When I reached, she told me 10 mins wait…

Then I didn’t see any pricing, so I asked for pricing and she handed me a brochure advertising $30 for regular pedi. I told her I had gel polish on, and I asked her how much is the total before I started the service and she replied $30. But when I finished and about to pay, they told me $35 because they charging $5 soak off. Now, if I actually had the soak off and the gel polish was removed properly, I had no problem paying it. However, the entire Pedi experience was so discomfort and painful. First, the pedi chair is old and uncomfortable, I could not move the chair back and the whole time I had to crunch, then the staff used a rough file to file off the gel polish, and she did not season the file so the sharp edge basically cut my skin when the file went on my skin around the toe nail, I had mentioned to her couple times and she started speaking Spanish to the lady next to her which was quite rude. I didn’t understand what she said but based on the body language and the situation, she seemed annoyed by me. Then I told her that I have sensitive skin so just be gentle and I know it’s not her problem. Now after I told her I have sensitive skin, I assume she would be more gentle. Nope, she push my cuticle so hard and nipped me couple times. It was painful and I didn’t want to make a scene but honestly I could not hold it anymore so I had to say something to her politely and I ended up told her to not to continue the cuticle cleaning. They had other customers there so I’m in no position to ruin anyone’s business. Then she scrubbed my feet bottom for like 5 seconds and asked if I need her to remove dead skin, I said yes because that should be part of the foot scrubbing service as regular pedi, but she told me it’s $15 extra to do it, I said $15 is callus removal, I don’t have callus so why extra $15? She didn’t answer me and continue to finish her 5 seconds foot scrubbing. Not even 30 seconds foot massage as well. I told her I don’t need polish because i am pregnant and just need buff and shine, she said that’s $5 extra. I honestly was done at the point. The entire service was about 15 mins, shortest pedi I’ve ever had and the most unpleasant. So at the end, I refused to pay the $5 extra for soak off. I still tip the staff $5 at the end but I honestly did not even...

I’m a long time customer for this nail salon. It’s a great neighborhood place. Most of the staff are very friendly and provides good services except for one lady.

I would have given 5 stars but had to take off 1 because of this lady who works there. She is in charge of pedicure and always blasts AC even when other customers and I who had to sit right under the AC ventilation asking if the AC could be turned up the temperature a bit or just shut down (when it’s only 70F outside and honestly it’s not that hot indoor). She just ignored us and told us to go sit somewhere else. I was having a cold and had to sit under blasting AC for 40 mins which made me sicker after going home. She wasn’t serving me. She seems to be bossy because I complained to the lady who assisted me but they were all afraid to tell her to turn off the AC. This happened on many occasions not just 1 time. A couple times it’s more than 1 customer mentioned to her but she just ignored and said she felt hot, but her seat is far away from the AC. Why doesn’t she sit right under AC if she is the only one who feels hot? Or she can have a fan right next to her, so not everyone is suffering from frozen to death just because she feels hot.

I’m super annoyed but obviously they can’t do anything about her. I don’t want to switch nail salon because of her because other people are actually nice people. So if you are going there, remember to bring a jacket with you coz this lady will freeze you to death. And I hope management team can see this post and talk to her about what...