Dolce Spa — Local services in New York

Most upsetting, most unpleasant, most disturbing experience ever. I brought my daughter to get gel nails for her birthday. She wanted a specific design (just a star on two fingers-simple enough for any professionals). We showed the design on the phone before we started, and the nailist said she could do it.

When she got to the point when she had to do the design, she turned to another nailist to ask for help because she couldn't do that design. It turns out that no one in the spa could draw one simple star. They didn't have the right tool or the right skillset. Then, the owner's husband came in, and he hysterically shouted to us, pointing to the door, "out! out" !!

One of the regular customers happened to be there, he stepped in, and told the owner's husband how RUDE everyone had been to us, and we did nothing wrong , we just came in for a service but they couldn't deliver what they promised they could. This regular customer tried to talk to the owner's husband to simply provide a proper service, and also said that after observing how they treated customers, they would risk losing his business too. And yet, the owner's husband was indifferent, and even had a grin on his face. The regular customer even yelled at him and said, "it's not funny!!!".

Looooong unpleasant story short, after spending 2 hours at the salon, we ended up leaving without the design my daughter wanted. She was emotionally disturbed. She was shaking when we left the spa. Her supposedly happy birthday turned out to be a terrible day.

I'm trying to be reasonable here. A simple star may be more challenging to draw than I expected. However, if they can't do the design, just say so at the beginning! We would have happily gone somewhere else. But the nailist said she could do it. And after revealing that she couldn't actually do the design she promised she could, they tried to kick us out??? Am I missing something here?? That is NOT how you run any business. I am beyond furious, not because they couldn't do the design, but because they ruined my daughter's birthday. ーーー There is no section to respond to the business's response, so I'm adding this. Your husband absolutely DID NOT apologize a single time. Without even understanding the whole picture, he immediately said "out ! out!" to us. We didn't threaten anybody. Your husband threatened us. He and the other nailist started yelling at me before me. I was keeping calm until they started yelling. Don't twist your story. You weren't even there. You can ask your regular customer who was there, and he was kind enough to support me and my daughter. He seems to be a frequent customer, so please do speak with him. He is the witness. You were not even there, and what you wrote in response is so disheartning, and untrue. I did not say "no" to the offers. You simply could not provide a simple job we asked for. Is it wrong to say no to what you couldn't provide? You are running a business, no? And I did pay for the material cost. Don't lie in a public place like this. I even tipped the massage guy. Please watch what you say without even knowing...

We went into this place for a pedicure for callouses. We explicitly told Maria (the technician) the pedicure we wanted after being handed the menu of services. She said that special callous removal would be an added $15 and 45 minutes long, so we decided on the $50 dollar option for 35 minutes, which we were led to believe included some kind of callous removal service ("buffing", I believe). Afterward, we went up to pay, and the manager gave us a receipt for $65, so we did not have enough to give adequate tip. The pedicure was only 30 minutes long, and yet they charged us for the price of a 45 minute one. We did not even get nail polish, which is supposedly included in the $50 option we thought we were getting. In fact, above the register is the full list of services the salon offers, which includes callous removal for $15 – this service is NOT listed on the smaller list of pedicure services we were given, however. The issue was not so much the dishonesty over the true cost of the callous removal service but the omission of the extra charge which was not on the menu we were given and was not made explicit until it was time to pay the bill. When we came back to dispute the charge, we were rudely asked to leave and we will certainly not be...

Under new ownership after the pandemic and place has only gone down. Super overpriced would be ok for the neighborhood if quality was even at least decent but it’s poor at any price point with old polish, sloppy work and nails the break that pop off, chip almost immediately. There’s language barriers difficult to navigate especially when being charged more at end of service. Had a gift certificate from pandemic with no expiration date that wasn’t accepted. After confusion and discussion even asking who gifted it to me to then be told no it’s new owners. No discount or anything else offered. Place sucks will NOT use place ever again nor do i recommend at all whatsoever.

Edit: Who said I was a man? Last I was in a few months ago. I passed by recently to maybe give another try but after seeing reviews I was finally compelled to write mine. Been in neighborhood longer then new owners! Besides - word of wise to customers: never trust a place that doesn’t have its service prices listed plainly on their website! Their response proves my point…

Fyi: which is unfortunate because I would LOVE for this place to be awesome I would use all the time if that was the case...