Rika Nail Salon — Local services in New York

Where do I begin.. I’m a local in park slope and I’ve never felt the need to leave a review before in my life until today . I have been a client here many times before. I was even there before my Europe trip this summer in July. I walked in yesterday , I sat down and had a lady start putting the acetone on my nails with silver foil.I always like to confirm the prices and idk for some reason I had a weird feeling from the moment I walked in ? (Never happened before) the woman applying the acetone and foil said “$60 for toes and $52 for hands” I understand that things are expensive and it’s a tough economy atm. But when I was there in July the prices were drastically different!! I then said “okay, no problem that’s $112 right? She said” no it’s $122”So I said u know what no problem I’ll let u know since she’s starting with my feet maybe I’ll just do gel toes and regular polish on hands. She said “if u do that I’ll have to charge you $10 for removal of gel… I was shocked but okay? I was really weak already from being sick the night before and I figured you know what whatever . I wanted to be polite at all costs as I understand pricing can be crazy now days and I’ve been to nail salons all over the world. I didn’t want to be annoying and I’m usually a suck it up kind of person. I go to get my toes started while my nails are with the gloves and acetone. The girl who was with me from start to finish got nails hands and waxing her name was Miki I believe she was wearing a name tag. She was rushing so much I can’t even begin to explain. I appreciate quick when it comes to nails because us lady’s can DREAD long nail appointments at times but this wasn’t quick and thorough it was just rushing at this point as if they paid her commission I’m really not sure why the rush rush. My nails started to burn from the acetone and I took off the gloves because my gel polish was mushy enough to be removed so I didn’t say anything but a few minutes later she said oh u took it off? I said yah my hands started to burn I’m very sensitive . She then passed me a silver stick and said”here you can start removing them then!” And she said it so casually too? As if that’s normal? I should’ve walked out right then and there !! I felt so taken advantage of and disrespected. She also was kind of rude and refused to help me located the color I was looking for and you can tell she didn’t care at all. She just wanted to finish the job. We then go to do my hands and she’s rushing I felt so overwhelmed my anxiety started to peek… this isn’t even the worst part. Let me tell you something .. they always offer coffee tea or water , plus a massage at the end of your nails which only lasts about a minute or less but you’d expect all of this to happen with the price you’re paying plus I’ve been here before and it was always this way and everyone in the salon (it’s always packed) INCLUDING the women NEXT TO ME had this all happening to her and my experience just a few inches away was insanely different! She then says “okay finished” I go to do my brow waxing. I asked her to be gentle, she wasn’t. I’ve had it up to here at this point but I don’t want to be “Anoying or “rude “ or honestly even kill my day.. I go to pay.. and I am so polite and kind up until then. Unhappy with my service… she asks me how I’d like to pay, cash or card? I said both please. She said I can’t do that but if you pay cash I’ll give you 5% off I assume because they don’t report this or document this cash flow money I don’t respect this at all even for a discount. But at this point I’m thinking wow they’re charging me an insane amount for this sub-par service etc. whatever . She charges me and I go to give her a $7 tip. They then ask me to look at the receipt which had gratuity options at the bottom much like a restaurant does 18,20,22% They asked me if I can pay $22 dollars for a tip! I said thats it. and decided I’m speaking up. I said very politely, “I’m sorry but I am not comfortable with that”paid her $9 for a tip, said have a good day, and left unsure wether to cry...

In my opinion, these people are crooks. I went in with an appointment for a mani pedi for me and a polish change for my daughter. I told them I wanted French on my nails and my daughter wanted French. They told me that French can only be done with gel nail polish. I turned around to leave and they said they could do it. I showed them my nails and they said fine. Once I sat down to do my pedi there was an issue with doing French on my 7 year old’s nails. I called another salon nearby to see if we could get a regular French manicure on our nails and they said yes. All of a sudden they could do mine and my daughter’s nails again. When it came time to paint my nails they told me again they couldn’t do it because my nails were too long. I told them that they saw my nails when I walked in. I reminded them of the phone call I made to the other nail salon. They waited until after they completed some services to tell me they can’t do my nails, then tried to charge me for a manicure because he stuck my hand in some water. She charged me $15 for my 7 y/o to get a color change. Then charged another $15 because they did French. Then charged $39 for my pedicure. The only thing they did was my pedicure. My daughter’s nails were ruined before we even left because we had to leave abruptly when they were trying to scam me out of more money. If you use regular nail polish and want a French tip, this is not the place to go. They lied to me and waited until they partially completed a service to say they can’t do the rest and charge me for it.

I came in with my nails filed and clean. He pushed back my cuticles and stick my hand in the water. Then after that told me he couldn’t do French and asked me to pay… your response is piss poor. I went to the other salon and they were able to do my nails with no problem. I will never patronize your business ever again. You all lied to finesse me out of my money when I was going to another place. I don’t use gel nail polish. I have never had an issue using regular nail polish. If you all cannot do nails using regular nail polish, please stop holding yourself out as a nail salon. Your response is horrible and lacks accountability for swindling me...

ok so i really wanted to love this place bc it's so close to me but, it's been exactly 2 weeks and my nails have broken and chipped like crazy...normally at my other spot in Williamsburg I get gel mani/pedis every 3-3.5 weeks & it's just grown out by the end but not chipped at all...I wanted to try somewhere new...the first time I came I was there for 3 hours for a gel mani/pedi which was already weird, but the technician didn't know I had a mani booked so they took 2 hours on my toes (idk why???) before realizing they had to do my hands as well...when I left the chrome gel was not done properly, for some reason a transluscent white base was used (normally for silver chrome it's opaque black) and the chrome powder didn't look like chrome, it looked like glitter. I had to come back to get everything fixed the next day. They were cool about it though and it looked good after.

After 1 week the gel polish started lifting in a couple spots but i ignored it bc I did not have time to go again. Now it's 2 weeks in and I have to go get my nails done again...mind you this place is not on the cheap end -- they charge the same as the other much fancier spot I go to where my nails always last for almost a month with no problem.

Anyways I'm just annoyed and disappointed bc part of why I'm ok with paying this amount for nails (no extensions, no designs, literally just GEL) is bc it typically lasts quite a while. Feels like I wasted almost $200 and like 5 hours of my life. Wish I'd had a better experience here but back to my...