Artonus Nail Room — Local services in New York

This place is terrible. I am writing this review for any one else who has a bad experience here and needs validation as I did. I wish I read the one star reviews before choosing this place.

Apart from the terrible service - the lady who did my nails was super rude and angry - 6 out of 10 gel nails FELL OFF, less than one week in. She was also quite rough with my hands, jerking my fingers and pushing cuticles back painfully. I’m heartened to read other one star reviews saying the same thing happened to them. Oh, and as another person mentioned the application was lumpy (just like in their pictures). So much for a high-end nail place.

I was seen by a woman (I think her name was Catherine). My god, what a diva. This person should not be in client facing role. She was unbelievably rude and repeatedly scolded me during my service. “You keep pulling your hands back like that and making those ugly faces”. I was shocked. Who talks like that to their customers???

Basically her problem was that I asked for a slightly different nail shape. To be clear, as a customer, it is my right to be able to ask for this. I have had manicures for the last twenty years and this is the first time I have ever experienced someone audibly sigh and roll their eyes when I ask for a diff shape.

She was defensive and almost affronted when I advocated for myself - “YOU ASKED FOR A SQUARE!!! WHAT YOU REALLY WANT IS AN OVAL!!!” My response - “um, I asked for a ‘soft square’ and if that’s what you call an oval, sure, just give me the shape that I want.”

The person managing the register heard her get upset and came around to us, and opened a book of nail shapes.. I scanned and LOL there’s no ‘oval’ listed. When I raised that she got more angry and defensive.

I said, “maybe you could have done one nail, shown me, we could have agreed on it then moved forward”. Standard practice especially when you want a specific shape.

Her response, practically yelling at me (LOL): “why didn’t you ask me to do that???!!”

I’m sorry, shouldn’t you be leading the service, manicurist? I was trying to relax and let her do her thing. Plus, I was discouraged from talking to her because she had been weird and rude to me from get go. I had asked for her recommendation based on my skin tone, and she said to avoid pink tones. Curious to understand her thinking, and frankly to establish a friendly rapport, I asked her, “why do you think that” I was shocked at her grumpy response “UM. You asked for my opinion. And I gave it to you. Im not sure what else you want me to tell you”. So I was kind of put off right from the beginning, but decided to let it go. Little did I know that she would erupt into a tantrum.

The weirdest part was that the guy at the register then proceeded to stand by our table for THE ENTIRE rest of the session. To mediate the conversation. I can’t tell you how awkward this was. Especially because it was only us three in the (badly ventilated) ring room. It’s like she needed a handler to deal with a lowly customer who dared to speak up.

She actually even threatened to stop midway when I decided to break the tension and say, “hey, what’s going on, why are you so pissed off at me? Is something the matter? Am I not allowed to ask for a different shape?” I felt unsafe and very weird and I said, “do we have a problem here? Are you going to even finish?”

In a very rude way she replied, “ ummmm I’m not actually sure I’m going to continue”

I said, “ well we are halfway in so you might as well finish”

She practically spat back, “ we are not even HALF WAY in”

I should have walked out but I was travelling the next day and needed my nails done.

From this point I was afraid to express my opinion. I kept quiet and let her finish. The guys standing with us kept intervening when a decision had to be made. He spoke to me slowly as if I was unintelligent (presumably because I couldn’t tell the different between an oval and square). He gave me discount but I couldn’t care less. I couldn’t get out of there...

제 손을 탁탁 치면서 램프에 넣으라고 지시하며 쏙오프 하는게 엉망징창 입니다. 손톱이 사포처럼 되었는데 그냥 젤을 발라버리네요. 킴이라고 하고 한국 일본 네일 전문이라고 해서 갔는데… 우선 한국인 일본인도 아니고, 그게 상관 없다 해도 젤네일 다 흐르게 진행해서 손톱 하단 부분만 두껍게 구워졌네요.

게다가 리뷰를 3점 줬더니 공격적으로 지네 예약 리스트에 없다며 고소하겠다는 식으로 협박성 댓글을 달았습니다. 리뷰 수정을 한다는게 삭제를 눌러서 샵에서 단 댓글이 없어졌는데 아마 계속 달겁니다.

I deleted my previous review accidentally when I tried to edit it. I read you want to treat this legally because you consider my review to be not legit, and posting reservation message and venmo transaction does mot all my review to be public. So if you want, I will send you the text message I got for my reservation and venmo transaction screenshots.

You want me to explain what tapping rudely means. I wish to visit you and show it to you. It was not gentle and very aggressive. It was between tapping and thump. I had never experienced that ever before. You mentioned language differences, but I was speaking fluent English. Also, after providing the service for years, you cannot say, “Put your hand inside the lamp”? Or even “put”? Without one trial, you tapped my hand whenever you finished the step. (Also, I noted other staff saying that phrase to other customers without TAPPING in a ride manner.)

Not only your attitude but also the quality of the service was disappointing. Removal of my old Gel Nail was done roughly. I touched my nails before you applied Gel, and the texture of my nails was as rough as SANDPAPER. I have done my nails for years, and I have never experienced that ever before. Also, the application of Gel was uneven, and removing the cuticle was not clean.

I made a reservation based on a good Google review and your description, “specialized in Japanese and Korean-style gel nail service.” When you put that phrase in your description, consider people who experienced Japanese or Korean nail service would come. Unfortunately, I have experienced Japanese and Korean nail services for years. I had certain expectations, and you did not reach them. I paid $87 for solid color service in advance, and I would not pay a penny for the tip if the payment could be made after service.

I initially gave you three stars, and you turned very aggressive and tried to threaten me. Do you think your feedback was professional? I do not think so. So stop calling my review illegitimate unless you want to prove threatening customers for giving bad reviews is how you keep your reputation....

I went here because the reviews were great and they had a deal where you purchase a Signature service and get a free simple design, but was disappointed by my service to say the least. I came in with a certain idea of what I wanted, which was a few different colors of cat eye on different nails instead of one color of cat eye. I was told that this would actually just add another 35 to the appointment, which just canceled out the promotion even though there wasn't extra design or service going into it, just extra colors.

But okay I get that, so I chose one color and the one they brought back was not the same, I wanted a dusty blue and they put silver on my finger but I didn't know until it was too late. I also asked for a specific pattern of cat eye which they didn't do, and my nails look like I put a cheap metallic polish on it instead of a deep cat eye, it was super streaky. They were also about to top coat it after only one layer so I had to ask for another. And then they forced me to follow them and leave two positive reviews in order to redeem the promotion, which was not said on their website. So that's why the reviews were so good at first..

Overall, pretty disappointed as I came out with something far from what I had originally envisioned or even asked for. And the strengthening gel system isn't even that strengthening, it is kinda flimsy. I will say they do pretty good prep and treat cuticles well. But I also asked for a specific shape, sort of squoval, but she completely rounded my nail and then had to straighten the top out, which...