Anita’s Bridal Boutique — Local services in Los Angeles

Writing this review so that other brides are aware. I was told that my dress arrived the previous week. I was coming from out of town, and we had to call out of work on a weekday and drove 3.5 hours to pick I up. I arrived for my appointments on time at 10am. The girl told me she was going to go pull my dress from the back. About 30 minutes pass, and she is still back there….the man that works there came out and said the warehouse forgot to send it and that it would need another hour to arrive. We left and came back. They told us it needed another hour and a half. We were frustrated. Because we came all this way, stuck in traffic…anyways. AT THIS TIME, I saw the sample of my dress on the rack, partially pulled it out and showed my fiance (important for later). I said “this is what my dress looks like.” And we left again.

At about 1pm (3 hours after the original appointment), I was able to try on a dress. They didn’t open it from the bag in front of me. I did not seeee a bag. She brought it and hung it in the room. She told me she was able to order a size down from what I wanted (because they only had 1 size up available when we initially ordered). But this was the first time it was communicated to me that they ordered a different size. I first thought it was the lighting in the room, but I noticed it was almost a gray off-white. I go to try it on, and the entire back is torn straight down by the zipper. I told her the dress is torn, and she said “oh no, we can alter it to be fixed, don’t worry.” I noticed the bra padding was hanging off. She said “sometimes they ship it like that.” It also…smelled of body odor.

Despite the red flags, I put the dress on and she pins me in. I walk out where the lighting is better and there was MAKEUP on the skirt. I told her that there’s makeup on this and asked her if this is a used dress. She said it was brand new and that she took it out of the bag herself.

I point out black marks on the train and she told me “it’s the lighting” and that it reflects on it. I asked my fiance to look closer for me and he confirmed it’s dirty. I pick up the bottom and the whole bottom of the dress is dirty.

I asked her again if it was a used dress, to which she (and the other worker nearby) said it was brand new.

I told her it’s dirty, it’s torn, the bra padding is falling off, there’s makeup on it, and that it is shady that they were able to order the size I wanted after all but NEVER communicate it to me until they pulled this dress out. I told them I paid for a new dress and I will only leave with a new dress. I told them I need to speak to the manager because it was a bit ridiculous the amount that I pointed out and they just kept gaslighting me.

She said she will go talk to the manager and be back shortly.

At this time, I go to see if the sample is still hanging in the same spot in the show room and it is GONE. What are the chances?

I point this out to them. when she came back, she told me that the manager told her to give me another customers dress which was brand new, close to my size and they will reorder hers.

They brought this dress out of the bag and the color difference was CRAZY. The first one was so dirty and it really showed when I saw a new one.

Anyways. They pinned me into the new one, had it altered. I tried the dress on again at 5:30. I had to send it back to fix the alterations because they only sewed down half the sleeve. The alterations…I’ll post pictures. Not good at all. Not professional at all.

I still took the dress because I have a woman in my town who does alterations very well who can fix what they messed up and at this point I was over it because it’s been almost 12 hours since I left home.

This was also not my first bad experience with them. But I was short on time and I had no other choice but to go back there because they were the closest store who sold the dress I wanted….at a whopping 3.5 hour drive.

Edit: I must add that they altered it too small. I can barely breathe wearing it. And when I told them that, she gaslit me AGAIN. And told me...

If I could leave a zero rating I would, and that would be generous. My daughter and I flew into LA from Canada and had 6 different appointments with various bridal shops in LA. Anita’s bridal boutique was our 5th appointment and it was a total disaster. The staff were non existent, not helpful and unfriendly. The entire appointment left us pissed off and disrespected. A total of 6 dresses were pulled off the racks and shoved into the one dressing room with my daughter. The curtain was pulled closed and she was told to call when she was dressed. The assistant then went to the front to gossip with the other employees . My daughter was left to struggle to put the dress on herself without any help at all in an overcrowded small changing room. I had to ask her if she needed my help and had to open the curtain and squeeze into that small room with her and 5 other dresses. With one dress on and both of us sweating profusely we called her back for help. She cinched her up and opened the curtain. We then asked her the price and she left again to find out. 5 minutes later she came back to give us the price. When an alteration question was asked she left once again. Leaving us standing there, wondering if she was coming back. We were to afraid to ask anymore questions for fear we would be left standing there for more than the 10 minutes we had already wasted. This employee was not prepared or informed on the dresses at all. I was helping my daughter through this entire experience myself, instead of sitting on the couch taking in the special moments of this important milestone of our lives. The employee offered no advice, ideas or help what so ever. She was more focused on talking ( In Spanish) and laughing with the other staff at the front counter. I had to help my daughter in and out of each dress and take the ones she had just tried on out of the dressing room myself and hang them up. The only positive thing to this was that after each dress was taken out we had slightly more room to move around in that small dressing room. After the 3rd dress I asked the employee if she could stand on the pedestal so we could get the full affect of the bottom of the dress. She replied sure and walked away. I then moved the pedestal to the centre of the room and asked my daughter to stand up on it. The employee did not help her up or down, I had to help her. This bridal shop is unprofessional and left a sour taste in our mouths. The staff were lazy, unfriendly and rude. Never have we ever experienced such bad customer service in our lives. My daughter and I were so disgusted at this whole experience that even if we did find the perfect dress we were not going to purchase it from this business. The owner should be applauded with his/ her staff as they are not assets to the business. Very unprofessional, non- accommodating , unfriendly, disrespectful and non existent. Picking out a wedding dress with your daughter is suppose to be a pleasant, happy, relaxing and emotional experience shared together. Memories for a lifetime. We thank our lucky stars that we had 5 other wedding boutiques to visit on this trip and they all treated us with kindness, respect, were very professional and engaged in helping my daughter. We DO NOT and will NEVER recommend this bridal shop to anyone. Save yourself the headache, time and your money and...

I am NOT the type of person to leave NEGATIVE reviews on people’s businesses but our experience with this bridal store was horrendous and others should be warned! I brought my youngest sister, the bride, to this place for her wedding dress. WORST DECISION EVER! The initial visit went great! Jhocelyn, the girl who helped us was AMAZING! She was given a very generous tip! They had my sister come back in August for her FIRST fitting. She was told this appointment would be for trying on the dress, checking for needed alterations, and deciding how much length (if any) should be taken off. Keep in mind this is her FIRST fitting! However, when she arrived, she was shocked to find that the dress had already been CUT WITHOUT HER APPROVAL. It was significantly shorter than expected, revealing her feet entirely, which was NOT what she had envisioned! They never had her try the dress on with the heels that she was planning to wear on her wedding, yet they somehow decided to shorten the dress before she ever had her first fitting. She asked the guy who was helping her why they cut the dress without her permission. His response was dismissive with reasons that didn’t make sense, essentially implying that a long dress wasn’t necessary and to just wear FLATS! HELLO it’s a her WEDDING! This was not only UNPROFESSIONAL but incredibly presumptive especially considering it was her FIRST FITTING! My sister felt intimidated by JOSE & ALEX! she said they were being rude and dismissive to her and told her to just take the dress! My sister ended up paying the remaining balance and left with her dress all short! She felt dismissed, gaslit, and heartbroken.

They clearly made a huge mistake but instead of taking responsibility, apologizing, and offering restitution or any solutions, they instead acted disgustingly unprofessional, dismissed my sister, and treated her terribly. This was THE dress that she fell in love with for her big day that was cut too short without her permission. Her feet show even without wearing heels. The dress was supposed to be floor-length with heels on!

My sister later went back to the store with her mother in law to see if there was anything they can do. They were met with hostility and were kicked out from the store by the male managers, Jose and Alex. This message is to the OWNER of the store: As a business owner myself I strongly recommend to teach your employees how to handle difficult situations with a costumer especially during such meaningful and sensitive occasions like a WEDDING! No wedding dress alterations person would ever cut a wedding dress without having the bride have her first fitting and definitely not without having her wear heels during the fitting. Somehow, this is a place where they feel they can do that. COSTUMERS are ALWAYS RIGHT! And calling the customer names is completely UNACCEPTABLE! Please remember: customers are the reason that your business exists. I hope they do the right thing and replace her dress as some form of...