Mellow Bar - Soho — Local services in New York

I was very loyal to this salon for almost a year. Sometimes the manicures would be greats, sometimes good, sometimes so so, sometimes you have to wait for 15 min and sometimes there’s on time etc. but no one is perfect and honestly the location is so close to my home that I decided not to complicate my life with another salon that’s further away. Unfortunately, last week’s incident left me speechless. During my manicure I saw the technician was being very harsh and in the rush. I asked her politely to be a bit gentler cause she was causing me pain, plus I made very clear to her that I’m pregnant so extra care couldn’t harm :) to my surprise she yelled at me that she can’t understand me (a language barrier is present unfortunately). I was in complete shock, but I decided to ignore her thinking she was having a bad day, I put my headphones on and watched the tv show on my phone.

The treatment that usually lasts one hour minimum was done in less than 30 min. I went to pay (still ignoring lady’s bad mood), and obviously I didn’t wanna tip much because this is not a restaurant, they are payed, and in my opinion tipping is a sign of content and happiness with the service. I believe I left her 10 dollars extra and left. Also she was standing near the lady who was charging me and had this weird attitude and nervousness about her presence. I chitchatted politely with the cashier lady about her nails and how beautiful they are, and then I left.

To my surprise I got an email the next day, saying that I am no more welcome to the saloon because of my aggressive language and behavior. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I responded to the email asking them what aggressive behavior/language are they talking about, they responded again but avoided my question and just said they have cameras they have to check. I replied again, repeating my question and insisting that they are precise in their accusations and specify what exactly did I do but unfortunately received no email back.

Anyways, I’m unbelievably sad and surprised that this is how a client is treated and especially a pregnant woman. As many of the comments here say, relationship with a client is not the best, depends greatly on a technician so if you want to enjoy during your manicure just pick a...

I realllly loved this salon for a meticulous, well-done pedicure in a clean, beautiful space. However… it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to schedule/book. It’s appalling. I know that this location was their newer location, however, I went a few times when they were a couple days old, and I had a better experience with booking versus after they staffed up in this location. I used their online booking system, added myself to the waitlist that always seemed to appear - no matter the day/time - and never would hear back. A few times I tried to book for a certain date and added myself to the waitlist a handful of times & even texted their number & never heard back aside from one response telling me how busy they were… without advising me on next availabilities

I was very loyal to this salon, but, this left me to seek out somewhere better - that has this level of service, but also customer service & reliability.

They need to hire more managers/booking assistants to address this issue of being understaffed and too high in demand - or, if that’s not the case, they need to simply be mindful of loyal customers and prioritize client retention as a business, as that’s one of the important factors in scaling and growing a successful business.

Seems like they seem to only prioritize the expensive services like Japanese gel nails and the like, because that nail art design menu certainly gets updated on the regular while my “appointment waitlist requests”...

I arrived a few minutes late due to the train being delayed, but still within the the 10 min window. I apologized and they said no worries they were just about to send an email to cancel. I asked if they had an ATM so I could pay cash - they told me the ATM was across the street. I bounced quickly across the street and came back. The same person at the front desk told me they could no longer see me because I was past the 10 minutes. I was like, um you told me it was ok to go across the street to get cash. The lady at the front desk said sorry we cannot accommodate you. I replied saying I booked 2 back to back appointments at separate times - are you canceling both of them when they start at separate times? The lady at the front made a fuss and then asked the nail tech if she could do my simple (real nails) manicure in under 28 minutes, LOL. Like, it takes 15 mins to do a mani. I offered to cancel my pedi since I didn't want to waste time in this place.

The nail tech shaped my natural nails into squoval shape when I asked for oval shaped nails. When it came time for getting change for the cash I went to get it was "we don't have anything smaller than a $5". Really? For a business that is offering a discount when you pay in cash? I gave the change from my service as tip - maybe they won't play silly games next time. Will not be...