Nail Fantasy

Awful experience here. I had an appointment and still had to wait an hour! Totally unprofessional and disrespectful to my time. They were packed. If you can’t take the appointment, just say so before I get there! Either they took walk ins before us or overbooked appointments. So not cool a clearly a way for them to just make people wait so they can make the most money banking on them not leaving.
I asked for medium length ROUND acrylics. I said round multiple times. First, she cut my natural nails without asking if I wanted that. My other lady always asks. Then, she cut the acrylics too short. She barely rounded the corners so I had to say round again. She barely rounded AGAIN. I had to show her a PICTURE of what round looks like! Aren’t these professionals? So she finally filed them down round but they were way way too short at this point. But what was I going to do? Have her start over and waste more of my time? And she lay down the acrylic sooo thick. I didn’t ask for bubble nails.
She complained of her arm being sore, not cool to say to a customer. Now I need to either feel guilty while she’s working, or feel like I’m not getting her quality work. She spent time taking money out of her drawer and shoving it in her bag, also unprofessional. And things just seemed really unclean.
My nails turned out crooked and I had the worst headache so I paid them and left.
Me, my mother and law, and my two friends will never ever be coming back here. They lost four potential regular clients.
Edit: my mother in laws nails are not even smooth AND her lady got up to go EAT three times while she was doing her nails! RUDE!

I came back here for the first time in a couple of years since I made my move down to Mission Valley. I decided to give them a shot because I was in the area, and I couldn’t go down to Convoy due to time restrictions. ALSO, I have my engagement party on Saturday and a new job to start tomorrow, and all I wanted was a clean new set on my hands.
I was expecting to get Vannie to do my nails because that’s who did them the last time that I was in. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get her since they were busy. I walked in at 3:30pm on a Sunday, with prior calling informing them that I needed a pink & white job. Vannie let me know that it was going to be $ 25. Cool!
I get there and it was busy, so I had to wait a little, but I didn’t think that was a problem. It wasn’t until my job started that I started having issues. (Maybe because I’m so spoiled by my USUAL nail tech that I can see all of the things I’m not used to and nitpick. Excuse me, for I am not a professional, but I do get my nails done often enough to notice.)
The lady who was working on me was really rough with my hands and was just tossing them left and right like dead weight. She sanded down the original acrylics that I had and started to buff and shape. She didn’t shape my nails square enough and some of my nails have rounded edges, pointed edges, etc. Hate that. Make my nails ONE shape, please. She proceeded to start picking off some pieces of the old acrylic to make room for the white powder? Why don’t you just sand down the entire thing??? (Now my right pointer and middle finger have visible cracks underneath the coats and it looks sloppy.) Then as she was applying the powder, she was using an EXCESSIVE amount of liquid. I was watching her like a hawk, honestly, because I couldn’t stand the way she was building my nails. She didn’t even brush off any of the powder shavings from when she was sanding down, she just used her hands and slapped my hands in attempts to wipe it off?!?
It’s the end, I have my hands under the lamp, waiting to cure. Then it finishes and she tells me to wash my hands in their bathroom. Little did I know the reason being is because she left a lot of excess liquid and powder that DRIED on my fingers, and washing them with soap and water didn’t get all of it off.
I go to pay and she says the pink and white job was $ 28, even though Vannie CLEARLY told me on the phone it was $ 25. I tried to ask her if this was correct and she said $ 25 for gel ONLY, $ 28 for the entire full set of pink & white. IF THIS IS THE CASE PLEASE SPECIFY ON THE PHONE WITH CLIENTS. I know it’s only a $ 3 difference but that $ 3 can make a difference as a tip elsewhere for a BETTER BUILT SET. I left unsatisfied and didn’t bother even going back because they closed at 4 and they were already an hour behind closing with a (STILL) long line out the door. I will not be coming back here. I’ll stick with Hello Bella Nails.
******* ALSO, CASH ONLY HERE. Don’t expect your next mani/​pedi job to get you points on your CC. *******

The ladies here are so nice! I’ve had a great experience every time I have come here. I feel welcome and they’re all good at having a conversation. The place could be a little cleaner and more organized but it’s okay overall.

I used to get my nails done by Susan when I did shellac or acryllics. I stopped doing that and went back to a regular mani. Susan is awesome. She takes her time when doing your nails and does not rush. I get my mani and pedi’s by Rose. AMAZINGGGGGGGGGG. She also takes her time with you and does not rush you. Love her massages. She acutally massages your feet and not just your lower legs. All the women are really nice here. I suggest making an appointment before coming here so you will not be waiting long.

It’s very simple, really. You will receive acceptable (but not outstanding) nail services here from acceptable (not distinguished) nail manicurists in an acceptable (neither luxurious nor stylish) establishment. I’ve been to Nail Fantasy four times, having had mani-​pedis from a different technician each visit. I believe it’s a fair statement to say that I have yet to be treated with any semblance of hospitality from one soul in there. They do not look up when a customer enters. There is no cheerful greeting, no smiling words of welcome, and no goodbye or thanks even to the generous tipper. If you don’t much care about such niceties then this place is, as I said, acceptable. These ladies do not give the impression that they are particularly pleased to be employed here. Their lack of friendliness is a bit disconcerting, but if your expectations aren’t terribly high you’ll most likely be satisfied. Be aware that there is a constant, incessant humming of at least a half dozen voices chattering across the shop at each other in their native language for the entire duration of your time here. If you are limited to English, do not expect to have a pleasant exchange of small talk of any kind. It’s a bit noisy and lacking in ambiance, but my nails have always looked totally acceptable.

Vannie is absolutely amazing! I’m a farmer and came in to get calluses off, dead cracked skin smoothed, and gel nails. I had a completely broken and dead thumb nail that was half falling off, and she fixed it! She shaved it down, cut out the dead stuff, cleaned it, put on some acrylic filling, buffed it out, and it looks good as new!!! She took great care of me and made sure I liked her work every step of the way. She even offered for me to come in for free maintenance on my thumb if it starts regrowing funny.
I’ve always enjoyed this place because it is local and the employees are all friendly and talkative, but this visit truly showed their talent and concern for customer satisfaction.

I was a walk in today and got seated with Vannie… She was amazing !!! Hands down the best nail person ever !!! I asked for a gel acrylic with an almond shape and she did wonderful!!! It was perfect, didn’t take to long and was a good amount to pay !!! Definitely will be returning in the near future !!!

Definitely sub par. Place doesn’t look very clean and décor is pretty much nonexistent. The ladies were nice enough. Smell is awful especially with 2 of them sitting there eating lunch mixed with nail chemical smell… barf. The lady that did my nails cut me on 3 fingers while working on my cuticles… could have done a better job on the polish. I would have asked her to fix, but being tired of sitting there and enduring the smells I just wanted out. My mom was with me, she got a gel manicure, it’s been less than a week and it’s already peeling off. Also, they only take cash or check. Not coming back and definitely not recommended.

I had my nails done by Holly today and I am very impressed with the service. She filled and painted my nails quickly (within about a half hour) and they look great! She was also very nice. I will be coming back in the future.

I don’t usually get my nails done on the regular but this is a place I go when I want to feel pampered. I really like Julie. She pays attention to detail and always makes sure that I’m happy with my nails. She’s fairly new at Nail Fantasy but she’s had years of experience. The prices aren’t so bad either.

This place is great! There aren’t that many colors to choose from but overall the place is pretty nice! I got just a basic pedicure and she really made sure to massage my legs well! I will definitely be coming back!

Oh boy, I am not quite sure where to start with this one. I have had my nails professionally done for over 20 years… and this place is something else.
First let me say that I came here because I was given a gift certificate and figured since its close by that I would give them a try.
FACILITY: Right at the entrance of the shop you can already smell all the unpleasant chemical and smells that comes with a poorly ventilated salon. After 10 minutes of sitting in there, you will get used to it and may not notice it as much, but if you have allergies or sensitive to a high level of dust, then you may feel it for the duration of your stay. The facility is in desperate need of an update and DEEP clean. Sanitation is not a top priority here.
PRICE: Their price at north of $ 30 for mani/​pedi with french manicure polish is fair. Not the most expensive and definitely not the cheapest.
AMBIANCE: Far from relaxing. Between the smell, an 80s facility, the clutterness and the constant nonstop chattering of the staff, its extremely hard to relax. Now if you are looking to learn Vietnamese for the 1 hour or so you are there, then yes you are in the right place because its constant.
SERVICE: I had an appointment and upon arriving they gave me the next available technician. My technician was Hoa (Wah) is what they were calling her. A lady in her late 40s or early 50s. She wanted to start with a pedicure in the salon chair so I gather my things and got situated. Although her skills were average her service is horrific. This is when you kind of hope a negative rating exists. I requested that she waits for 10 minutes before putting the top coat on my feet that way she can start on my hands. She was so physically upset over it, I didn’t understand. Then she insist I picked up all my things and move to a table for a manicure because she can’t do it while I was in a spa chair. I did request for spa mani/​pedi so I wasn’t quite sure why I have to move for the manicure. Things just went south, she was so physically upset she was grumpy, rude tone, body language it was the most awkward experience so I ask the manager and she decided to take over with the manicure and sent the lady to the break room.
Now you would think that the manager would do an awesome job after she witness and saw what her staff was doing. Umm, a big disappointment. To her credit she did profusely apologize for my experience blaming the excuse on language barrier. But lets say that its not the case. My cuticles were not clean and just about the worst french manicure I’ve had for as long as I can remember. The white line was not clean, and the pink coat she puts on was uneven. It was just a mess. I really should have just gotten up and walked out but kept thinking it was going to get better. Needless to say when it was over I couldnt get out of there fast enough as I was super late to my next appointment. What I thought was going to be an hour of relaxation, turned into 1.5 hours of pure disappointment.
RECOMMENDATION: If you are looking for location convenience, there are TWO shops in this plaza, and although I have not tried the other one, I highly doubt it can get any worse.
For now I am just going back to the GEM of a nail salon I found and am a regular at in Poway. ALOHA NAILS, oh how I miss you. Its physically a little further for me, but so worth all the trouble. The service, facility, and staff are SO SO much better there, its like night and day.

I have been coming here for a few months now for fills and I have been very happy with Mary! She does such a great job on my nails. I had tried more than a dozen previous nail salons before finding Mary. Highly recommend!

The ladies here were super nice but I have to say they were definitely more involved in talking with each other, then with the customers. I was on High Alert for sanitation offenses because of some really nasty prior Unilocal reviews, but I really didn’t see anything out of the ordinary when it came to the nail tools and the chairs for pedicures.
The thing that got me was that there were about seven female employees, and they were all gathered around and nail station, with food spread out everywhere. I requested and made an appointment with Mary because past reviewers said she was the best. She didn’t okay job but I had to stay on top of her because the nail links were inconsistent and she was very distracted.
They really do have great prices for Fills ($ 18) but it is an awfully strange, unprofessional work environment.
+1 star: I got to use a gift card someone gave me so it was free.
+1 star: I did not leave bleeding from anywhere and my nails came out okay.
+1 star: they let me set at their nail drying machine for a while (so that clumsy me wouldn’t mess up my nails getting into my car).
–1 star bc it felt more like I was in a restaurant that a nail salon (Plus they didn’t offer me food and I was hungry +kinda joking… Kinda.+).
–1 star for not having a better selection of regular nail polish. Many of the polishes looked old or were almost completely out. They really didn’t have many colors to choose from.
Much better options: Linda’s nails in Poway (ask for the guy — he is fantastic!), Fancy Nails in Poway (ask for Minh– she does great acrylics and is Fast).

Just finished getting my nails done here for the first time and I LOVE them! First off, the pricing for these nails weren’t bad at all. I was surprised by how cheap acrylics were with the gel. The lady who did my nails was Vannie and she was great. I tend to have problems with other nail salons when I ask for «really square» nails because they NEVERR get it right! But Vannie knew exactly what I was talking about. It also got busy and she handled it well. Love this place already

So I walked in got seated right away for a pedicure but for some reason they haven’t took the time to put any water for my feet to soak while I wait my turn. Not good in my opinion. Should have clearly had my water going as I wait. Let’s see how the rest of this goes so far they get one star.

I“m local to the neighborhood and decided to have a try at getting my gel manicure changed out, as I had my initial ones done by my office which is located in the Morena area of SD.
Pros: seen quickly on a walk in basis, nice, polite overall, my standard pedicure was done well and they were detail oriented (assuming this is the salon near the PQ Smashburger)
Cons: **This salon ruined my nails, SCRAPING THE GEL MANICURE OFF SO ROUGHLY that my nails are brittle, thin and sensitive for now WTF!!! (this is after the whole acetone/​aluminum foil procedure)
**sanitation is not very good — dust, and no real evidence of dedicated sanitized kits or autoclave for their tools. I wasbactually worried I would get an infection.
**they do talk too much among themselves, and some of them are quite surly, not seeming to pay too much attention to their work. Its luck of the draw.
Fortunately this is compared to other salon experiences (there’s a great one by USD at the Morena area, and Joelle’s at CMR) and the place where I initially got my gels done was much more cleaner, treated my nails gently as well, so despite this salon’s close location, I will not be returning. Just be mindful of who does your gel manicures at this salon.
Why is it always cash/​check only for these businesses? Guess they don’t want to pay the CC fees and likely keep the tax trail limited.

I went to this salon for a pedicure, and everything was great! The price was right, the chair was comfortable, and the water wasn’t too hot. My girl gave an extra long leg massage, didn’t cut my nails too short, and they look great. Still looking good after 2 weeks.

I give a four because the customer service is great. They are all sweet And when I lived in pq, I would only get acrylics from susan, and a pedi from lily. But the reason i took off a star is because, a couple times ive waited about 35 mins for a 10 min wait and my nails were done by someone else and i was stuck with crooked acrylics for 3 weeks.

I do not get my nails done very often. It’s been over four years. I went in today, early, 9am. I wanted a French manicure. I thought it was gonna cost an arm and a leg. Reality it was $ 15 and I tipped her $ 5. So $ 20 out the door. For a French manicure. I left feeling like a princess ! I live in the neighborhood and I am planing on returning. This time I won’t wait so long! I really enjoyed it.
Location is also great! Lots around to get a drink before hand :)