Phat Buddha Elite Tattoos

Came here for a friend’s cartilage piercing and to get my own messed cartilage piercing (from over a year ago from a different place) checked out. Marlin was responsible for both of us, and was very kind and professional. He patiently answered all our questions and was very friendly! All packaging was opened in front of us and special care was taken to ensure cleanliness. We were happy with our services.

If I could give zero stars I would.
Overpriced.
If you go in groups to get the same tattoo done, they use the same needle.
So keep a watchful eye, the guy used two needles for four people.
That’s so unsanitary.
Wish I had proof so I could report his ass.
I didn’t notice until months after when my dumb friend told me (she did the tatt with me), my friend thought I knew.
Don’t go to this place

Artist Ben Chen tattooed a bull on my ribs and an angel on my back and did an excellent job. Ben, if we were in prison together I would protect you in the shower. The staff was courteous, approachable, and flexible with appointment times. Very reasonably priced.

I waited until my tattoo healed before writing a review. Now that it’s fully healed, I am incredibly satisfied with the work that Rob did! I’ve gotten tons and tons of compliments (three roses on my forearm), and I never hesitate to tell people where I got it done.
Initially, the roses were meant to go around some lettering I had gotten done years ago, but I asked Rob what he thought of just covering it up. At first, he was skeptical, but once he started working on the outline, the cover up ended up being the best possible option. Rob did such a great job that people can’t even tell it’s a cover up!
Service was fantastic, and the wait times were short. I booked the appointment on a Sunday, got my first session done two Fridays after, and the second session was scheduled a week and a half later. I was feeling kind of sick during my second session, and Rob went and got me a hot chocolate — talk about going above and beyond for your clients!
Overall, I was extremely satisfied with the service, and of course with the tattoo. I would absolutely come back, especially now that I want a full sleeve!

It’s been over a month or two since I had my cartilage re-​pierced and my tragus pierced here. I have no infections and my piercings healed wonderfully within the expected time (2 – 3 weeks). The man who will work with you is Marvin and he’s very kind, gentle, and professional. The tools used are sterilized and Marvin typically makes sure you’re aware of that by showing you the expiration dates. The pain was definitely more than tolerable. After the needle was taken out and the jewelry was placed inside, it honestly felt like nothing. I’d recommend making an appointment. I also brought my friend here to get her first tattoo and she’s very happy with her visit here.

I just got my very first tattoo done by Justin and he was fantastic – he was kind, funny, nonjudgemental, and totally put me and my friend at ease right away. I asked if I should tip him (in retrospect, I should have, because you can’t deposit good reviews on Unilocal to the bank – but Justin if you’re reading this I hope this brings you more clients) and he just told me to give him a review and here I am doing so. Phat Buddha is a great place to get tattoos, period! Come here if you wanna have a great experience!

My husband and I had gotten 4 tattoos from Marvin, 2 new and 2 cover ups. He’s definitely one of the most talented tattoo artists I’ve met. Very happy with his works! When an artist free-​hands his work, you know he/​she is good! Highly recommended. We’ll be back for more! Phat Buddha rules!

I came here to get my tragus pierced after hearing that my friend got her belly button pierced here some time back.
Walking in, I was immediately greeted by the staff. There were others there already and everyone sounded and seemed extremely polite.
I was given time to read the waiver and sign it while my piercer went to the back to set-​up everything for me. The person that pierced me was Marvin, and he was definitely very professional with how he worked. I also got a chance to see the needle and the piercing before we got started and he even pointed out manufacturing dates and expiry dates when showing me the two (both were still packaged and were open during my piercing process.)
The whole process didn’t take very long and was not as painful as it would appear. He took me through every step and was sure to give me advice on how to make it a lot more bearable. I couldn’t really feel the clamp very much, and the needle pierced my cartilage rather quickly so the pain went away almost immediately.
I paid $ 30 for my piercing, and $ 15 for a bottle of H2Ocean to clean it with (you can make your own– but i’m not one for tedious work). My total came to $ 45 and I was left extremely satisfied.
Will definitely come back for future piercings, maybe a tattoo down the road! :)

Starting off a little negative… but I promise this review will get better! The first time I went to Phat Buddha was when my boyfriend got a tattoo done at their older location at Pacific Mall (kiosk on the side of the building). The owner helped my boyfriend design the stencil until he liked it and was ready to get it done. After that, he was passed on to another artist. When my boyfriend was getting his tattoo done, he kept saying it hurt (which I already figured it would and thought he just needed to stop complaining) but this was because the artist kept on going over the same area over and over again, but was going no where with the tattoo… It got to the point where there was lots of blood and the guy had to keep stopping to wipe off the blood. This tattoo in total took over an hour for simply 6 letters… Looking at the tat now, his tattoo does not look great at all… he basically wasted money for something he can’t even get re-​touched. He has to get it done all over again.
(This is where all the positive stories come in)
My boyfriend and I wanted to get a tattoo done in memory of special people in our lives. When we thought of coming to Phat Buddha, I was very hesitant because of his experience the last time we went there. But we still decided to go and inquire because of the positive reviews we’ve heard about Phat Buddha from other people. Going in for my first tattoo, I was very nervous and didn’t know what to expect even though I had my boyfriend with me. We consulted with Justin and he helped us design our tattoos, he even offered to redo my boyfriend’s old tattoo for him as well, but we decided we could do that another time since we wanted to focus on just the tattoos we wanted to get that day. Justin was outgoing and friendly… didn’t make me nervous at all about my first tattoo. He even reassured me when he mentioned exactly what he was going to do (ie. the use of different needles).
My boyfriend got his tattoo first. My boyfriend didn’t like the placing of the stencil the first time Justin put it, so he re-​did it with no hesitation. The end product turned out really good! It took about 15 – 20 minutes for it to be done (HUGE difference than the other guy last time we went). When it came to my turn, I was comfortable and it took about 10 minutes to finish. I love the end product to it and was so excited to show all my friends how amazing it looked.
The place looked really clean to me. The only downfall is that it’s really small since it’s a kiosk. Since I was lying down on the chair, we kind of blocked the way from the back to the front so people had to wait until we were done.
Pricing was really good since we got to negotiate a cheaper price than what Justin originally mentioned. Paid $ 300 for both tattoos… mine was $ 100 and his was $ 200.
If we go back to get another tattoo done (which I’m pretty sure we will), I won’t have any hesitation asking for Justin again. It made me have hope for this place after our first encounter at Phat Buddha with that guy (don’t even know his name…).

This is still my favourite tattoo place to this date, nothing has changed since my first review. This place is amazing! If you think pacific mall is a sketchy place to get tattooed… bye. Haha, this place is great! Everything is super clean and they sterilize everything very well. The first time I came here was for my 3^rd tattoo, and now I’m way past that and they were all done here. I’m telling you, customer service is how they’ll get loyal customers!
I’ve been tattooed by justin over 15 times, and he is GREAT at stenciling and he has a very steady hand when it comes to quotes, pictures and just any picture you can find or bring in to him. On top of that, he’s really funny and probably the nicest tattoo artist ever– he’ll distract you from the pain of your tattoo by talking to you, and honestly, that eases you so much. Trust. I’ve also been tattooed twice by marvin, the head artist once after being on his waitlist for a while. He is AMAZING– his art is out of this world, this guy’s creativity is just off the wall. I can literally sit and say ‘hey, draw this on me’ and he’ll come up with a 100x better idea than I had in my head. Also, I’ve been pierced by marlin and he takes super care as he pierces you, he cleans everything very well so you know it’s safe and you won’t get infected because of their tools.
I’m telling you… the phat buddha team here is amazing, they are great people with fantastic personalities and once you get something here, you won’t want to go anywhere else. There are so many good vibes in this one store.
Highly recommend it 100%, I’ve brought several of my friends here to get tattooed because they get amazing tattoos for a reasonable price. They always charge according to the tattoo, unlike some places that will charge according to how the artist feels that day. Hello… I’m a university student, not a drug dealer. Thanks phat buddha for the great prices and amazing tattoos! You guys are considered my fam away from my home!