Mr Carl & Son Custom Tailor

I’ve never posted on Unilocal,and I don’t complain. But my experience, and the workmanship, by Mr. Carl’s was so bad that I feel compelled to save other people from becoming future victims. I dropped off a pair of shorts to be taken in. Instead of opening them up at the back seem and down the crotch and taking them in and restitching, he cut two slits above each of the back welt pockets and simply restitched them back together tighter. So now my shorts have two reverse pleats on the back above each of my butt cheeks. They are ruined. WTF? I also dropped off three dress shirts to be taken in. All three came back fitting totally different, and not one was done 100% correctly as asked. And, of course, like all the other reviews, it wasn’t done on time, took over two weeks, and he is a jerk. Don’t risk it if you have nice clothes — chances are he will ruin them.

Completely satisfied. Retired to the seacoast and tried alterations through two dry cleaners. Terrible results. I was referred to Mr Carl by a friend. This man is a tailor not an alteration person with a sewing machine. I am very fussy about sport and suit coat sleeve lengths and they come out perfect. This is not about alterations, it is about tailoring. My wife had jacket and dress tailored here also with excellent results.

I think most people only come to Unilocal when they have a negative experience.
I work at the Air National Guard base nearby and had pants that I needed done quickly for a wedding. I actually skipped using this tailor initially because of the bad Unilocal reviews.
However, when I asked a co-​worker where I should go, he recommended Mr. Carl.
With his recommendation I went.
The service was great, my pants were ready on time and fit perfectly.
I wanted to take the time and tell Unilocal that the negative reviews are probably from the typical unhappy sort and all the happy customers never posted.
This place is busy and there was at no point not a customer in the shop. that being said, there’s only a couple reviews, so it’s not a good sample.
He is also particularly pro-​military.
Highly recommend.

Perhaps Mr Carl Holton, founder, was a fine man; his son, Rheinhold, currently operating the family business, is not. He is rude, awash in self-​importance, chastises you endlessly if you question the quality of work done. As another reviewer said, it feels like an abusive relationship. Had used him previously with no issues (other than his abrupt and rude attitude), but about 6 months ago took 2 – 3 pairs of jeans for hemming. The work was shoddy and I complained. It was redone, and still not right. When I complained again, Rheinhold lit into me with such rage, and for at least 5 minutes, that I was absolutely flabbergasted. There was never any discussion because he doesn’t permit discussion — just his own rantings. He went on to say that his brother Jay (who had done the work), had spent enough time on my job and had other work to get to. He then ordered me to leave the store, now, immediately. I was in shock. I could not believe how this man treated me. I then took the jeans to another tailor who just shook her head at the quality of the workmanship, and re-​did the hemming — which was perfect upon completion.
There aren’t many tailors around, but there are a couple of others in Portsmouth and Dover. And some dry cleaners hem jeans just fine. May go that route next time.

Due to some surgery, I have a rather unique tailoring requirement. I have brought several suit coats to Mr. Carls and have found his attention to detail, and customer service, to be excellent. He has taken a great deal of time to ensure that he has the coats altered to his exacting specifications, and has done so without any increase in his original (very reasonable) price quote.
As for on-​time delivery, I would only say that his shop is very busy, and, absent going the dry cleaner route, he is pretty much the only good tailor around. I also know that in a real pinch, he has come through for me twice. Once when my son needed his dress blues tailored in a hurry, and once with a quick alteration for a wedding.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him to anyone.

Honestly, I feel like Mr Carl and I are in an abusive relationship. I know how awful it is for me… but I keep going back. Literally every single time I have ever taken an article of clothing here, he has never gotten it back to me on time. NEVER. Not once. He has had a dress that I needed taken in for a wedding for SIX WEEKS. The first two times I went in to get it, it wasn’t ready. The second time he couldn’t find it. The next time, he thought it was at the dry cleaner (?), and the next time he said he knew it was at the dry cleaner… but it just wasn’t back yet. At this point, I’m fairly convinced that I will never see that dress again. The worst part is despite his crappy customer service and organization, he actually does great work… good enough to have kept me coming back all these times even after all of the disappointments. I think I’ve finally had enough and will be looking for a new tailor, however. Only visit Mr. Carl if you’ve got plenty of patience and plenty of time to spare. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Promised a jacket alteration in 2 weeks (which I thought excessive), came back in 2 weeks and he hadn’t touched the jacket. Got passive aggressive with me as if I had done him wrong, told me to come back in 2 hours, and when I did it was apparent that he had done nothing more than brush off the chalk marks he had originally made on the jacket, telling me that he had made the alteration. Not impressed– apparently his lack of organization creates these situations.

I went to him for years, but found his prices to be fairly expensive and timelines to be very long to get things back.
The final straw was when I was promised suit pants for two weeks from that day, and told to be sure to be in by 1pm because they closed on that day at that time. When I showed up at 10am on the promised day, there was a hasty note written on the door that said «Closed early to go to wedding». So my suit pants, which I had hemmed for my son’s Christening that day, were behind a locked door after they had been promised to me as long as I arrived prior to 1pm. I had to wear an old suit that didn’t fit me well due to this disorganization. I called and left an angry message and received no call back. I finally went back in, got my pants and left, never to return again.

Unfortunately, despite his charm, friendliness and great work, his service yields this poor review. I brought in a pair of pants to be taken in and was quoted 2 weeks (reasonable, I thought!) but when I went back in two weeks & two days later, they were not finished, but promised to be a few days later. They said they’d call and never did, so I let another 2 weeks go by and they still were not done. Finally, after a month and a week they were finished, but then given to the wrong customer.
I decided to chalk it off as a bad experience and try them again… this time recommending them to a friend. This friend dropped her pants off for a new lining and they quoted her a month… well, the same rinse and repeat routine as I experience occurred and 2.5 months later they were finished.
If you need something done well, maybe give them a try… but if its quickness and straightforwardness you’re after, go to the next guy.

Quick, easy and dependable. A bit pricey for a simple prom dress hem ($ 55) but well worth it as there are very few tailors in the area.