Aruj Salon and Spa

I was referred to Aruj Salon and Danny, the owner by a friend, and boy am I happy about that.
I hadn’t had my hair cut by a professional salon in many years, and forgot how pampered I get when at a nicer business. Danny gave me the best haircuts that I have had in years!
I don’t live in Miami, but was there for a couple of months on business. I am bummed I won’t be getting my haircut by Danny any more, but I highly recommend his services.

I went in without an appointment for a quick eyebrow wax. Luckily they were able to take care of me right away. Unfortunately the person doing the wax burned my skin on my left eye and spilled wax on my HAIR!!!
She was quite nice and kept apologizing, but the damage was done. I could not care less how organic the freaking wax is if you spill it on my HAIR! «it’ll come off right away» is NOT the way to apologize.
I do not plan on returning to this salon… ever.

I have been going to this salon for a few years now for pedicures. Until today, I have had good experiences. Apparently the salon has changed hands and is now called «The Grove.» I didn’t realize this when booking an appointment. I definitely cannot recommend this place for nail service. The overall customer service was sorely lacking. I would also be reluctant to try it for any other spa services based on my experience.
I arrived a few minutes before my appointment time and was not called for my appointment until 15 minutes after my scheduled time. No mention was made of the late start. Not a big deal on its own, but definitely part of my overall dissatisfaction.
The pedicure started out ok, but as it progressed, I became more and more annoyed that I was paying $ 40 for a service that would have been done better for $ 25 (or less!) at a nail salon. The esthetician left the door to the nail spa area open for the entire duration of the treatment. There was constant noise from the adjacent hair salon: blow drying, loud talking, stylists taking cell phone calls. When the salon was under old management, the door was closed and they played music to drown out this noise.
The pedicure itself was also lacking. The esthetician only massaged one of my feet, and this mono-​foot massage lasted about 3 minutes. I was too embarrassed to ask why. I don’t know if she forgot the ofber foot or thought she didn’t have time. She left the room multiple times during the treatment for 5+ minutes at a time. She left the hot towels on my legs for so long that they were actually cold when she came back in th room. (In the past, the esthetician gave me hand massages or stayed in the room to prepare for subsequent parts of the pedicure.) My feet were left nowhere near smooth. She didn’t apply any lotion. And the nail polish job looks like what I could have done myself.
When it came time to pay, the cashier asked if I would like to leave a tip. I said, «No, I wouldn’t.» She gave me a strange look, but it did not seem to occur to her to ask if everything was all right.
Summary: you can get a better pedicure for half the price somewhere else. If you are looking for any sort of spa experience, this definitely is NOT the place to go.

The five stars go to Danny Aruj!!! I will not let anybody else touch my hair, he knows exactly what to do and how to do it. What I love about him is his sweet manners and that you can feel free telling him how you would like you hair done and work together towards exactly what you’re looking for. I have recommended him to many of my friends and they all LOVE him!!!
Thank you Danny for taking car of our hair!!!

This place used to be awesome — Sarah always did a great job on my hair and was relatively cheap. I’ve had a pedicure and a massage at Aruj as well and can say it stands up to the services at Bliss. HOWEVER, recently all of the good stylists moved to a different salon in the Gables. I’ve followed Sarah there, but do not like the new owner or the products (Kerastase) so don’t plan on doing much other than getting my hair cut when I need it. I know that Sarah, Tara and at least one other stylist from Aruj have moved on, and I don’t blame them — the place is in need of a visit from Tabitha! Too bad, it’s a great location. Aruj is still a full AVEDA salon, though, so if you need any products or something else besides a hair cut, I’d recommend it. I know I’ll be visiting for my AVEDA hair products; Kerastase totally dried out my hair and made it brittle! I’ve always had blessedly manageable, shiny and soft hair, no matter what product I use… until now.
FYI: I priced it as «moderate», but this is relative to other AVEDA salons I’ve gone to. Expect to pay $ 60 – 100 for a cut and the same for color.

Horrible experience! I decided to have a high end salon trim my hair the week of my wedding so that I would look my best for guests and pictures on the special day. I chose ARUJ in Coconut Grove, FL and couldn’t be more upset by the haircut provided by Danny. My haircut at the time was only a week old, so an easy trim to tighten up was all that was needed. Instead, I left the salon with more than ²⁄₃ of my already short hair cut off. Additionally, the fade was impressively poor with clearly visible lines and a near bald patch following an accidental stroke. Danny was completely unprepared and seemingly incapable of cutting men’s hair. The majority of the hour long trim was spent trying to locate clipper guards until ill-​fitting guards were finally used.
Thankfully, a stylist at the salon heard about my issue and assisted me in making my hair cut look like I didn’t cut it myself in the dark. She was especially courteous and understanding and was clearly shocked by the poor job done by Danny two days earlier. Albeit short with a still noticeable patch on the top left side of my head, she did a tremendous job attempting to fix Danny’s mistake.

the $ 85 Aveda massage was amazing. Sooooo relaxing. I love all the yummy herbal smells of the products.

«This is my first day doing skin,» is probably one of the scariest things to hear as someone is about to apply wax to your eyebrows. Still, I fought my natural survival instincts and urge to sit up and politely ask for a different aesthetician. Instead, I did the next best thing, and told her to simply follow her predecessor’s work and not worry about anything else. Abby obliged and she was chatty, sunny, enthusiastic.
Still, my heart was beating a bit faster as I imagined the worst: lop-​sided brows, über-​thin arches, a mistake on one side that would leave me looking like a leaning Frida Kahlo and feeling like a cyclops. Soon enough the procedure was over, and I was handed a mirror. The brows were even and clean. Abby, had done a great job, listening to the simple instruction and executing well.
I breathed a deep sigh of relief and then mentally jotted down a note to return to Aruj and ask for Abby.

BEST pedicure I’ve ever had. Comfy blanket, soothing music, warm tea– it’s heaven! The quiet room for just manicures and pedicure is an oasis.
Obviously, all these perks come with a price– but it is well worth it once in a while!

I love this place! Tara is amazing and does hair like a rockstar. She did this amazing updo for my wedding and the creativity in the styling was pure amazing. I will be a loyal customer for a very long time.

Have been coming here for 4 years, and my feet have never been happier. Anna is a goddess when it comes to pampering your tired toes after a week of work, and marathon training.
From the wonderfully serene, completely seperated from the salon pedicure room, where you sit in a leather spa chair and they cloak a warm quilt over you and a hot towel on your feet in between soakings, and the firm but gentle massage on your feet and calves, it is like being at a spa just for your feet!
She also does an amazing job on eyebrows.
i love this place cause i used to come off and on and they never forgot me, (i mean 6 months at a time. it is in the Grove and I live in Kendall, sometimes it’s just too out of the way)
but for that special treat, Aruj and Ana, all the way.

Got a slammin’ pedicure here. My tootsies were in the worst shape of their lives, what with the moving, dropping big boxes on them, having no time to breath much less groom, taking dance clases barefoot, etc.
Not only did my nice pedicurist (Carla? I’m sorry, it begins with a «C» and she was great) not complain, but she soothed and massaged my extreme extremeties with Aveda products (even the nail polish remover smelled good) and applied the polish perfectly. She also gave my toenails the best shape they’d ever had. She’s an artist! And I swear I’ll remember her name and edit this review!
I have a quibble with calling Aruj a «spa», though: it’s really a hair salon with a tiny room attached for mani-​pedis and another small area in the back for facials and other spa services. And it’s noisy. When i was there, i grew increasingly annoyed at the loudness emanating from the hair salon. There’s a very friendly guy there who apparently LOVES to laugh. Now, that’s not usually a bad thing, and laughter is a nice sound. But when it’s constant, it’s beyond annoying. I mean, this guy laughed like it was a tic or something. Like: «So I bought some milk hahahahahahahahahaHAHA!» or «I really like Obamahahahahahahahahahahahahah» etc. etc. I even thought of sidling up to him and whispering a super-​sad story in his ear, but then I thought he’s just figure I needed cheering up hahahahahahahahaha!!! HAHAHAHA!“
Yes I’m crabby. Why do you think they call me QUEEN crabbypants? It’s not «lady Crabbypants» or «duchess Crabbypants». It’s QUEEN, dammit! So respect that fact.
Nonetheless, I’ll go back to Aruj, either with earplugs or my i-​pod, cued to my «depression guaranteed» playlist. That should help.