92 Nail Salon & Spa

No frills. Clean enough. I imagine that greenhouse, a few doors down, is similar.

I really love this nail salon & have been a client for over 2 years.
The salon is not a dressed up décor kind of place just the basics but its clean and neat and the girls are polite and skilled.
This place is one of the best kept secret on the east side.
The prices are low and services are above many other places I have tried.
The service is great and I have not ever had to wait long when I just walked in. Excellent mani-​pedi waxing is good and the hot stone massage is so relaxing.
5 stars for a great local nail salon and spa.

Unfortunately this was probably the worst mani experience I’ve ever gotten. After walking around my neighborhood to find a decent mani/​pedi place, I saw Greenhouse. They looked great, but I wanted shellac since I was going away for a week and they don’t have shellac. So I went next door to Salon 92 and they had a pretty cheap deal, $ 20 mani/​pedi, $ 25 for shellac. The place is pretty messy but I decided I’m already here, it can’t be THAT bad.
The pedi was actually very nice. I tend to have a lot calluses and the woman (older, but not owner) really worked at soaking, and pumassing them off. And my feet were so soft & smooth and perfectly polished after. A strange part was when a younger girl offered to do my mani as I was getting my pedi. It was an awkward set up since she stood to my right and we had to keep maneuvering the soaking bowl around my lap & I had to try and twist towards her when she did my opposite hand while keeping still during the toe nail polish application. I was the only one there so they should PROBABLY just do one thing at a time.
My mani was awful. I read reviews after on how the owner should probably stop doing them and I agree. Her technique is not very good and the polish was applied poorly. It looked blotchy & streaky and when she tried to correct it, she made it worse. I could tell it wouldn’t look that great as she was doing it but didn’t have the patience to wait for her to do it over. And strangely, at the end she rubbed my nails with acetone! So weird because you’re supposed to place cuticle oil on after since the procedure is very drying. So this made my fingers really dry & left a white film around my fingers. I asked for some hand cream… and she proceeded to apply some to my arms, wrists, palms, and stopped before my fingertips lol. So I left with blotchy polish and dry, crackly cuticles :(
AND I downgraded to 1 star bc my shellac started PEELING! It looks like I’m 14 days out instead of 1. I know you get what you pay for… but there are so many ~$ 20 – 25 mani/​pedi places in this area, it really doesn’t have to be this bad. Maybe if you go, try to steer clear from the owner.

92 Salon Nail and Spa is cheap (for the upper east side) but the service is incredibly lackluster. There seems to be only two women working in the salon and they rush through each process (pedicures especially) to try and keep customers from leaving. The salon’s also a little dirty, nothing some dusting and mopping wouldn’t take care of but no one seems to be handling that. I will not be visiting them again.

Good:
— Greenhouse Spa, a few doors down, was understaffed & couldn’t accommodate me, & Salon 92 was close by
— Cheeeeap. $ 20 manicure + pedicure deals have been hard for me to find on the Upper East Side
— I got a lot of attention, since I was the only one in at the time. One attendant started my manicure as I was being pedicured, so I felt all fancy & glamorously overwhelmed. If only I’d had a Holly Go-​lightly cigarette holder…
— Decent color selection, & good basic treatment on my feet for such a low price
— No pushing of ‘spa’ this & ‘paraffin’ that & ’10 minutes, 10 dollars’. (That one always makes me uncomforatble. I mean, I know we’re talking about massages, but are we REALLY talking about massages?)
Bad:
— The personal attention dried up pretty quickly when two regulars came in. Awesome for them, but left me feeling a little cast-​aside. Cigarette holder would have been handy for passive-​aggressive ashing.
— My manicure is a little rough. I had my nails cut down, but the filing was sort of half-​assed, so I’m left with that angular finish on the edges of my nails. Annoying.
— Place was really warm & eerily silent. Turned on the radio for the regulars, though. Mmhmm.
Ugly:
— I was wearing boots, not flip flops. No flip flops were offered post-​pedicure. Regulars were too distracting, I suppose. Damp toes + socks = unpleasant-​ish.
In summary, I didn’t love it, & I’ve definitely gotten better $ 20 mani-​pedis in the Bronx & Harlem; no good for a day of relaxation or pampering. but I’d go again for cheap maintenance or in a hurry.
*Credit cards are accepted, but tip in cash

It’s really unfortunate that this place is borderline unsanitary because the manicurists here really do a great job. I’ve always been in the habit of bringing my own supplies for my services, so it doesn’t creep me out too badly. The owner here is an older woman who is (for lack of a better word) PUSHY. She will always push services on you and I don’t think she understands that no means no. Also, the owner will occasionally take on clients, and I’m not sure why as she does a nasty job. I once had a mani from her and I left with hang-​nails and red nail polish all over my fingers. It was awful. Overall, great price if you bring your own tools and request one of the younger girls to do your service.

I’m a little behind in posting this, but I walked into this salon soon after they hung out their «Grand Opening» banners (perhaps a little over a month ago). It was slow (day during the week) and maybe seemed like it was not fully open yet, but I figured I’d give it a chance. Two women were there and after I set down one started filing (it seemed really haphazard and unprofessional) and noticed she didn’t have the saucer of water for the «soak». I thought it was really odd so asked and then they said «oh, we don’t have water here yet.» It seemed completely dirty/​gross/​unsanitary that they could be open without this. I also noticed that some of the chairs seemed old and broken (again, odd since it is brand new). So I decided to leave (first time I ever did this) within a minute of the manicurist starting. I felt really bad that the two staff were left in a situation like that. I tipped the woman who worked on me and decided never to return; there are many better options in the area.

When I saw that a new Nail place had opened near my Apartment I was excited to check it out. The décor was nice, and I was greeted warmly by the owner. After telling me several times that I looked really young (I know I’ll appreciate this in my senior years) she proceed to give me a pretty good manicure (free upgrade to a french too). The manicure was great, but the longer I sat in the shop the more I noticed that was just a little bit dirty. I think she’s got a lot more work to do– and I’ll definitely check her out again, but I won’t be heading there permanently from now on.