A to Z Pediatrics

Dr. Golbraykh is a great doctor. She very friendly, professional and most importantly she is very responsive to any phones calls I have regarding my daughter’s health. She is really knowledgeable and helpful all the times. I couldn’t be more happier with her, highly recommend.

Horrible experience! The receptionist was very unprofessional and mean. She seemed annoyed when I asked a question to the point where I left the office without seeing the doctor because of her. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone. (I generally don’t write reviews but I felt the need to do it this time because it’s concerning my daughter’s well being).

I brought my 4 and 6 year olds to see the doctor. She was very friendly and answered all of my questions, she also took her time and I never felt rushed which is something rare these days. The office staff was professional and friendly.
Since my last visit I called after hours 2 times and I received a call back from the doctor within 1 hour both times which is very different from my previous doctor. So far I am very pleased with Dr. Golbraykh as my pediatrician.

I’ll start by disclosing that am the mother of the child who was described in the review posted by Sam S.
A note to Gene: while we appreciate your attention to this matter, your response to Sam is not only snarky and unprofessional, but downright offensive in so many ways. You are clearly misinformed of the facts and have a distorted perception of what really happened here and what goes on in this practice. On top of that, you were never present during any of our appointments, so not sure what basis you have to claim that Sam’s review is false and misleading.
I’d like to provide more context to some of the issues that were raised.
Immunizations and General Record Keeping — There were a few occasions where things were not properly recorded by your staff… on our records and vice versa. Our son’s health record was missing entries for his height/​weight and 2 of his immunizations were not recorded at all, so we had to add notes to the card to keep track of which immunizations those were. On top of that, vaccines that were administered to our son were not recorded on your end. When Dr. Goldbraykh tried to give him a dose of a vaccine that was already given to him, I stopped her and mentioned that he had already gotten a dose during our last visit. She checked my son’s file and had absolutely no record of giving him this vaccine. I remembered clearly that this was given to him, but also checked our immunization card to confirm… and there it was, written in by one of your staff members. Dr. G had even asked me to email a photo of the card just to make sure (I have the email I sent on April 14^th, if you’d like to see it). If I hadn’t caught that, our son would have been given a double dose of the same vaccine!
Blood Work — Dr. Goldbraykh ordered a blood test for our son’s 9 month visit. When the nurse entered the room, she seemed really uneasy and mentioned that she had no clue why the Dr. would order this test for such a young patient as this is not customary practice. This obviously didn’t put us at ease, but it’s what the doctor ordered and we trusted her, so we didn’t question it (at first)… The nurse tried «fishing» around for a vein, TWICE, once on both arms, but ultimately was unsuccessful. Then, she started talking to the front desk person about it and they both agreed that it was strange that the doctor ordered a blood test during this 9 month visit. Of course this raised red flags and perpetuated the situation, so I had asked to speak with Dr. Goldbraykh. When I finally got to speak with her, she was extremely defensive and rude about it when all I did was ask what the test was for. Which, by the way, I would have never questioned if it weren’t for your own staff who made all those comments. Clearly, there are major communication issues between the doctor and staff here and they just need to get on the same page with things. Needless to say, we left the office that day feeling tense and unsettled.
Appointments — We regularly made appointments via ZocDoc, which was great because they sent automated reminder emails and texts. For this particular instance that was mentioned in Sam’s review, we did receive a confirmation email from ZocDoc as well as the text, but when we arrived during the scheduled time, the office had no record of our appointment at all. They saw us anyway, which we appreciated, but it was then that the front staff made a comment that we should have called them to confirm our appointment making it seem like the mixup was our fault. How nice… when did it become the patient’s responsibility to call and confirm an appointment?
And Gene, what’s the point of you bringing up the fact that our email was sent during Thanksgiving? The point is that we got no response, AT ALL. I didn’t realize that people don’t get sick during the holidays and understand that your staff may have been off celebrating, but any response, even a few days or weeks later, would have been appreciated.
There is absolutely no reason for us to take time out of our busy days to make up false and misleading comments about your practice, but I do feel that it’s important for others to know about our experience. I would have loved to give A to Z Pediatrics a rosy raving review, but then, I’d really be writing something false and misleading.

My sons have been patients of Dr. Golbryakh one since birth and the other for 5 – 6 years now. Dr. Golbryakh is the beat pediatrician I have yet to deal with. She is very thorough and answers all questions I might have. She has always been right on diagnosis and treatment. I love the office it’s very clean with a friendly staff. I never have to wait for an appointment when my sons are sick. Overall I would highly recommend her as a pediatrician.

Sad to say it, but the more recent reviews of this place are consistent with how A to Z operates on the norm. We interviewed with Dr. Golbraykh and to say that she was cold and unfriendly is an understatement. We went with her anyway given the convenience and proximity to our apartment. What a huge mistake that turned out to be???
The doctor is defensive upon asking questions as the other Unilocalers described it (sometimes hostile). The front desk operation is a nightmare. They are unorganized with immunizations. That’s right, I said it — IMMUNIZATIONS. This should be a no brainer for any establishment. We had to keep track of our son’s immunizations for them, which should have been an immediate red flag. Our son would have received a double dose of one immunization if we had not said anything during one visit. We showed up at appointments and were told they weren’t scheduled, but they would take us. We were told to call the day before to confirm if that happens next time. Ahem — why don’t I just do your job for you?
On another occasion, we were told to come back one week after a routine check up b/​c our son did not meet the 9 month old age requirement for a shot. We did not know this beforehand otherwise we would have scheduled the appointment after this. So when we returned the following week, we of course were charged a 2^nd copay. We questioned it and the charge was waived.
Also, if your infant needs a blood test, I suggest you go elsewhere. Neither the staff nor the doctor know what they’re doing (see previous Unilocal reviews). The nurse was not comfortable doing it, which makes me sure as heck even more uncomfortable.
They also don’t answer emails at this practice. I’ve sent pictures and questions in the past and not a single follow up. Who manages this zoo and how is this place still operating? There has to be a better option in FoHi. I don’t really care what happens to this place here on out, but I just wanted to inform others on what really goes on here.

Dear Gene,
Thank you for the response. We were called into another room earlier but the doctor did not come in until 10:45am.
It was important for me to let people know about our negative experience because relying on all the positive reviews on zocdoc and Unilocal helped me decide on scheduling a meeting with Dr. Golbraykh in the first place. As I said, the descriptions I read and our personal experience were quite incongrous.

We had a prenatal appointment at 11am and the doctor ran in the office 20 minutes late. When she came into the room to meet with us she didn’t apologize for being late, never smiled, or seemed to care at all that we were there. The only thing she said was, well do you have any questions. She was so unfriendly, I can’t imagine bringing our new born baby there.

Super friendly staff who clearly love children. We’ve been coming here since my LO was 1 week old. He’s now 7 months and I can say with confidence that this is an excellent practice. They’ve been remarkably understanding about mommy brain and Dr. Maya is more knowledgeable than most pediatricians about EBF babies. The wait times can be a little long but that’s because in each room there’s a parent (or worse a new parent like me) with a million and a half questions and concerns about their baby, so who can honestly be mad about waiting?

Dr. Golbrakyh is wonderful. I am so thankful her office is open on Sundays because of my busy work schedule. The office is great for children filled with books and toys they can play with. We didn’t wait long, about 15 – 20 mins. We actually first came in for ear piercings but now she treats my kids. She takes her time to explain treatment. She is really good about taking phone calls after hours as well if you have a question. She is caring and patient, I really recommend her.

Very friendly staff. Booked my babys well visit at Zocdoc, where I found her too. The office was convenient in using public transpo, it was clean and we came at the right time wherein there was no one waiting but us. They also informed me earlier that a patient was coming in sick and asked me if I could come in at a different time so my baby wont catch it, which was really nice. After filling out the forms we were ushered inside, rooms were warm and comfy. The doctor was really attentive to my questions and always asking me if I had any more concerns. I love the way she does her vaccines where its not all in one setting. I’m looking forward to more visits in this office for my babys progress…

We interviewed a bunch of pediatricians before finally picking Dr. Golbraykh. My son is now 9.5 months and we’ve went to see her at least 6 times. He never fusses when she’s checking him. She’s patient and informative and we love that she replies to emails promptly. We’ve had to email her a few times and each time she takes no longer than a day to respond.
Sometimes there’s a wait in the office but she takes her time with us and never makes us feel rushed.

Waited more than a hour in the office, apparently she was double booked with two patients at the exact same time. After weight measurement by the receptionist (not even a nurse), doctor informed me that the blood test for lead poisoning 6 MONTHS ago was not done because the blood was CLOGGED (because of bad equipment). I told her someone from her office called me two weeks after the appointment and told me the results were NORMAL, at which she SHRUGGED and gave no further explanation. Then we tried to redo the blood test, during which she poked the hell out of my baby’s arms w/​o finding any veins, and sent us home. She could have had lead poisoning for HALF A YEAR for all we know, is this the right way to treat a baby? Will never go back there again.