J & A Custom Tailor

Really friendly service and fair prices. I just wasn’t very satisfied with the outcome. I brought in pants to be tailored. Unfortunately the pockets kind of stick out now. It looks a bit weird wearing them now. I’m sure they usually do a good job as all people working there look like real pro’s. I guess that I just had bad luck. I should have given only 2 or 3 stars but for the fact that I didn’t try enough to make them fix it I figure it’s kind of my mistake.

Fast and good — a bit expensive but they know what they’re doing and they are good — pants I’ve done and shirts too — recommend highly

I have used J&A Tailors for 20 plus years and never had a bad experience. I always leave whatever I need tailored (suits and pants) for a week. I drop them off on Saturday, and come back the next Saturday and pick them up. I have never had a «rush» job, so I can’t speak to that. I would estimate I have had more than 30 pair of pants altered there over the last 20 years, and that I have had a half dozen jackets altered during that time period. Every alteration was done correctly, and the price was fair. While it’s true that the place looks like the Collyer Brothers’ living room, I’ve never had anything lost, and I find the boss at J&A pleasant to deal with. I have never had a very elaborate job — mostly it’s taking in or letting out the waist of a pair of pants, and hemming and cuffing a pair of pants — but I feel very comfortable (like I feel in a pair of pants altered by J&A) recommending them.

Good reliable work. I needed repairs on a winter jacket and they were done quickly and with little repair showing. I’ve used them on and off for well over 5 years.

I had a similar (awful) experience to Sara, Steven and Suzanne. I went into the store on a Wednesday to get a dress taken in. The owner, Jose, measured me and asked how quickly I needed the work done. I explained that I would be wearing the dress as a bridesmaid at my friend’s wedding in two weeks’ time, so a week would work. Jose said that was fine, and told me the dress would be ready the following Wednesday. When I went in Wednesday, the dress wasn’t done. I was given no explanation — just shoulder shrugs. Jose told me to come back on Saturday, and assured me the dress would be ready. I reminded him that I really needed the dress done by the weekend, before my friend’s wedding.
I came in on Saturday (today). The dress wasn’t done. Again — no explanation, just shoulder shrugs. All this time, they had my phone number but didn’t bother to call me to let me know my dress wasn’t ready.
When I went in today, Jose suggested I come back Monday. Of course, my friend’s wedding is now in a couple of days’ time. I was so annoyed that I didn’t want to give them my business, and I certainly wasn’t going to rely on Jose’s promise that the dress would be done by Monday. I took the dress elsewhere (Alterations Master Tailor at 2 W. 46^th St, which has guaranteed to get it done in two days), but I had to pay a $ 25 rush charge, and the cost for the work was $ 35 higher.
I would NOT recommend this place, especially if you need alterations done in a short period of time.

I had a bunch of suit pants tailored here and they did an excellent job at a very reasonable price. I will be using them going forward and highly recommend them.

These guys are total jerkoffs. I brought two dresses in 11 days ago to be hemmed. They told me the dresses would be ready in 4 days and called me with the exact price a day later (the boss was out and they couldn’t quote me a price without him.) when they called back, they called with a price that sounded high, but I said ok. I come back 11 days later, and the dresses still aren’t hemmed, and it’s nothing but a bunch of shoulder shrugs about why the dresses aren’t ready. They refused to cut me a break on the price and refused to apologize. I’ll never go back here again and I suggest you do the same. There are better, cheaper places where they treat you with respect.

Great service at a great Price. Helped me out of a jam when I needed a suit tailored in an hour before a wedding. Highly recommend.

I can’t say enough good things about J&A Custom Tailors. They are professionals at the top of their game.
I took in a Brooks Brothers wool overcoat which I inherited from my late uncle, who was 2 – 3 inches taller than I am. As amazing a garment as it is, you don’t want it to LOOK like it’s your uncle’s coat! Jose did an excellent alteration on the coat, and it now looks brand new!
His price ($ 50) was very reasonable for the fine wool material and type of alteration. He charges $ 18 for hemming jeans, a more typical alteration, which again is a bargain for a NY tailor.
Don’t let the unkempt workshop full of random knicknacks fool you — these guys are pros who won’t overcharge you. Like other reviewers have commented, Jose’s English is okay but not great. Knowing Spanish will help if you have a more detailed request, but probably not necessary.

Three things:
1. I wish I could speak Spanish, in order to communicate with them more easily.
2. They do really intricate work (almost impossible to tell it’s been tailored), but I guess the jacket I asked them to take in was too big, because now the fabric hangs strange. No refunds, only redos. Not a big deal to me, though.
3. Cash only.
Anyway, they’re super friendly and super quick. The place looks like kind of a mess, but they know where everything is, and I trust them.

My goto tailor in the UWS. Great prices, friendly and expert service. However, not a place to go if you need something done in a rush.

I have mixed feelings about this place. I went like everyone else because of the fantastic reviews. When I showed up, I was stunned by the look of the place and hesitated to go in (yes, it was *that* bad from the street). Another patron walked out and assured me their work was amazing and encouraged me to go in. I went in and noticed everything was rather… disorganized but I reluctantly handed over my two pairs of jeans to be hemmed.
Upon picking them up a week later, I walked in with a friend to see another man there picking up his jackets that were tailored. The only problem – they couldn’t find them in the heaps and heaps of clothes. I finally politely interrupted and prayed they could find my jeans. After all, I’d been standing there for 10 minutes and no one had acknowledged me whatsoever and there were three men sitting there. They were found after a little digging and asking what I brought in (even though I had my ticket) and I paid $ 24 total, leaving the poor guy with the missing jackets still in the store. Who knows if they ever found them.
When I got the pants, I was barely able to look at the work. The guy basically wouldn’t let me touch them until I paid. I found this weird.
Once I was able to get a good look at them, I noticed the work was so good, it looked like they hadn’t done a thing. I went home and measured, thinking I just paid $ 24 for nothing. Sure enough, they were hemmed to 27 inches and they fit great.
As others have said, they speak very little English. They are nice guys, however, if you needed something more complicated than hemming pants, I would not go there unless you spoke Spanish.
Even though their work was great, I wouldn’t go back for fear of them losing my garments. As an aside, it was lucky I didn’t just show up on the day they said they’d be ready because they weren’t. I called as an afterthought on my way there at noon and they said they weren’t ready and to come after 2 pm. When I showed up at around 6 pm, they were done.
So overall, while the work was great, I’d nervous to give them more of my pieces of clothing to tailor.

My experience went from okay to bad to worst. The gentlemen working here seem very nice. One huge problem is that they barely speak English… and I mean BARELY. To make this short, I brought several pants and jackets for tailoring. They told me the stuff would all be ready in two weeks on a Saturday. I phoned that Saturday and one of them managed to communicate to me by phone that the clothes weren’t ready. He said to come Monday. I went on Monday. ¹⁄₃ of the order was STILL not ready. They said they’d deliver it to me in a few days. After I never heard anything further a week and a half later, I phoned them. They said they’d deliver the rest of the clothes that day. I came home to find that they delivered three of four pairs of my pants, and one pair of somebody else’s pants. My fourth pair of pants is missing. I phoned them to report my missing pants, and that they gave me somebody else’s stuff, but AGAIN, they don’t really speak English. In broken Englisth, i’m pretty sure the gentleman on the phone said his boss would come pick up the pair of pants that doesn’t belong to me. That was Thursday. It’s now Saturday, and I still haven’t seen or heard from them. Guess we’ll see if I ever manage to get back my pants again. By the way — they were new. As for the work they did on the clothes they returned, it was fine. Average and no complaints.
It’s now a week later and I still haven’t had any word from these people. Part of the problem is that when you call them, they barely speak English. I’m never sure they really even understand the problem. I will NEVER use these people again.

Great alterations, reasonably priced, excellent work. The old men working there know their stuff

I don’t know where all these 5-​star reviews came from, but my experience was totally different. First, if you don’t speak Spanish, forget it. Second, I took in pants to be altered and after explaining three times what I wanted done, I went back 10 days later and was told they hadn’t done it since they weren’t sure what I wanted. (They had my phone number, incidentally) Third, when I asked for a second pair of pants I had left to be shortened, I was charged more than had been quoted. Since both pair of pants were on the receipt with only one total price written down, I had nothing to argue with. It’s like dealing with a third-​world country.

Skilled, reliable and reasonably priced. I’ve taken in several pairs of dress pants and jeans to have the waists taken in, and some hemmed too, and every single one has been impeccably done. The staff is friendly and, as other reviewers mentioned, charmingly old-​school. I live farther uptown but this tailor is worth the trip!

Fantastic. Fair prices. Great guys. Old School style. They don’t make shops like this anymore. Pure craftsmanship. Honest. These old guys know their stuff. They won’t rip you off. They are curmudgeonly on the outside with hearts of gold. Quality. I searched for a tailor and found that most reviews were mixed about places. This kind of quality is hard to find now. Good old fashioned expertise. I had drapes altered, patches on pants, some pants taken in and a dress repaired. I bet I would have paid 3x as much somewhere else. Best kept secret on the UWS.

This place is the BEST. I will never take my alterations to the dry cleaners again!
First of all, the place is like a slice of old school NYC. You may walk past it thinking it’s a weird tchoke shop/​stoop sale but do not be deterred. Inside the super nice owner and his small staff of friendly tailors proudly do excellent work. This is quality on a whole different level from the corner cleaners.
The first time I went in, I showed some interest in the different machines they had and the owner told me all about what they all do. These guys clearly love doing great work. Plus, they play cheerful Cuban tunes that may put you in the mood for a cocktail on the Amsterdam Ave strip!
The price is right, too. I had a pair of my father-in-law’s golf pants reworked to fit me and it only cost me $ 28!
Highly recommend.