San Marcos Tattoo Emporium — Local services in San Marcos

I have been going here for years, and I always have a great experience. Dave's shop is simply incredible - the tattoo artists are friendly and really work with you on your design. Dave himself is the best piercer around and the selection of jewelry is top notch: lots of straightforward options for new piercings: studs, hoops, bars in multiple metal colors, and a few with a little sparkle (I have matching in each tragus and they look great!). The jewelry for existing piercings includes a huge range of plugs, from simple bold to intricate. The barbells and huggies have really gorgeous options in multiple metals and some beautiful semi-precious stones.

Overall it's just perfect: friendly, fun, and everyone there is super knowledgeable. Dave makes everyone feel comfortable and not nervous. He was fantastic when my 10 year old got her ears pierced - very calm and straightforward, and that immediately helped ease any anxiety she had.

And FWIW, the lobby is a museum-quality collection of art, curios, and all manner of things from the sci-fi film canon. It's like an Easter egg hunt - you realize the shiny brass key is from the Fifth Element, there's an Alien facehugger on top of a display cabinet, and those paper documents on the wall are actually Harry Potter scripts signed by the three main actors! It's incredible just to take in all of it. You can see there is a lot of passion and love put into the shop; that just makes the whole experience...

Absolutely love this place. The atmosphere and people who work here are super welcoming and great to interact with when it comes to the ideas people bring in. They were super clean and organized when it came to my deposit and scheduling my appointments. I've personally had Phrank do both of my tattoos and I can't get over how he just took my ideas and exaggerated them to a level I didn't think would be possible. They're amazing! The first tattoo he explained the whole process step by step and reassured me over everything that he would be doing and was able to finish the tattoo in 30 minutes. The second one was a longer process, about 4 1/2 hours, and while it hurt, he constantly was checking up on me and making sure that I was comfortable with everything. He was flexible with my busy schedule and was just as eager to start as I was. Being the type of person I am, I loved just giving him the ideas I had and seeing what he created with both images and I was not disappointed in what he came up with. If you're going to get a tattoo for the first time or just getting some more ink, definitely go with Phrank! Great guy, super creative mind and always strives to reach, if not go beyond, the possibilities that you're...

Admittedly, I have never been inside a tattoo/piercing shop before but I knew that I wanted to take my daughter to a professional to get her ears pierced (instead of having a minimally trained person with a piercing gun to do the job). I read several great reviews of San Marcos Tattoo Emporium and decided to take my daughter there. I was so pleased with the entire experience! Kaley was the piercer and she was so friendly and professional, clearly explaining every step of the process to help keep my daughter from being nervous. She was so sweet! I really like that they ask customers to come back for a check up in a couple of weeks - that shows how much they really care about the customer and the quality of their work.

Pros - 1) they do pierce children’s ears (but the child has to be able to ask for the procedure themselves); 2) SUPER clean!; 3) friendly, caring, welcoming, professional staff; 4) excellent, quality work; 5) walk-ins welcome

Cons - nothing really, except that there are a few things in the lobby that you might not want a child to see (curse words, some nudity in artwork), but that really didn’t bother me because it is a typically adult place...