Royal Cleaner

Exactly what you need — they do an excellent job on my shirts, better than many I have tried before.

I’ve been going here every week with all kinds of clothes for longer than five years. During that time, they’ve always been very pleasant and smiled even when they’re in the middle of a customer rush. They’ve never overcharged me or been late with any order. I don’t bring them high end clothes to mend and you shouldn’t either; that’s better suited for a professional tailor. However, for routine mending, their prices are good, their service is fast, and their quality is solid. My wife has sent me here with delicate articles and hard-​to-​clean dresses and always received great results.
This is already better than most cleaners, but the pickier Unilocalers may shrug and claim this is just how all cleaners should be. I wholeheartedly agree. I’m quite picky too, and often have extra requests, which get handled beautifully. Here’s one example — I travel more than most, so I’ve always requested that my shirts be folded and boxed so they’re ready to pack. Other cleaners don’t like this since it’s extra work; I have to ask for it each time; and the shirts have often come back sloppy. In contrast, Angela and her staff pleasantly nodded at the request, automatically remember this every time, and do an outstanding job including paper collar stands, paper lining, and wrapping it all in a light blue package that looks like my shirts were pressed at Tiffany’s. As far as I’m concerned, they are.
On my weekly Saturday walk to Royal Cleaner, I pass several other cleaners I’ve tried along the way. As long as Angela and her team are in business, I won’t ever go anywhere else.

Best dry cleaner in the area. Angela runs a tight ship here. They meet promised deadlines and provide a great service. I’m always amazed how everyone working there seems to preternaturally know exactly how many shirts I have waiting for me to pick up without having to check receipts and paperwork.

TL;DR If you have delicate or expensive please save yourself the grief and take those pieces elsewhere.
Let me preface this review by saying that I dislike it when people use Unilocal as a platform to intentionally hurt business owners or gripe when things don’t go perfectly. I will, however, make note of business practices that lead to subpar service.
I won’t be coming back here for any services as this business has failed to gain my trust in many ways. I always try to set my expectations with repairs and dry cleaning by asking questions and communicating my desires. Sometimes there has to be a compromise since the professionals know more than I do and may have to let me know that something can’t be done a certain way. That’s fine, however, Royal Cleaners refused to be accountable for any of the things I pointed out as not meeting the expectations they set with me when I dropped off. I’m not a confrontational person and I concede when things aren’t possible. Royal Cleaners didn’t make an attempt to acknowledge or take responsibility for anything that wasn’t right.
What went wrong:
— they miscalculated my bill by about $ 10 (in their favor). No apology offered
— I dropped off on a Saturday and they offered Wednesday pick up. I told them I wasn’t in a rush so I could come back the next Saturday. I arrive, my things aren’t done, they ask me to come back. Again no apology offered and I had to make the trip back a week later
— they made a Helmut Lang dress unwearable by botching the delicate fabric (see photos). I’ll have to pay someone else to repair the damage they’ve done. I had a hole smaller than a sunflower seed by my shoulder from snagging on something and needed the hole to be closed. This part of the dress is very sheer so I knew that there would likely be a sign of repair but the way Royal Cleaners addressed the issue made the problem worse. They put a round bolt of fabric behind the hole and sewed it on with haphazard zigzags. It’s so obvious that it looks ridiculous
— I brought a light weight Helmut Lang sweater with the same issue. Tiny hole from a snag. They addressed the issue the same way
— when I noticed some snagged threads (see photos) on a delicate 6397 top the person at the front desk argued with me that the damage was my fault. I happened to be wearing a backpack during that visit and the lady said that the Velcro had I damaged it. I had only worn this top once, never with a backpack. Grease stains yes (which they couldn’t get out, by the way) but snagged threads, absolutely not
— I noticed that a trench coat that they had «cleaned» still had a stain on the sleeve. When I pointed it out, instead of offering to try cleaning it, the response I received: «it was so filthy». I don’t think I would have gone so far as to use the word filthy but I knew it needed cleaning, that’s why I brought it in…

the best in town! They can do it all! The owner is communicative and staff are so timely.

I wish I would have listened to some of the other woman who wrote reviews about how Royal Cleaners damaged their wedding dresses. I picked my wedding dress up yesterday after being dry cleaned and found not one, but THREE tears in the lace. I was so upset :(I checked the lace in front of them when I dropped it off and clearly made sure the woman had the opportunity to check and showed her how there were no major stains or tears. When I picked it up another woman told me they must have missed them. There were NONE, and that is not my responsibility to double check. Then she started saying it was actually because of the additional layer of lace I had added when I bought it, to add length, (which was done where I purchased the dress, at a high end bridal store with a very reputable seamstress. Although Im sure that is again what they will argue). Even if that was the case, the tears were NOT in places that had anything to do with any sewing. Royal Cleaners did a few quick sewing fixes in order to make it not be as noticeable, but it is alencon lace– you cant just sew on that. I planned on reselling my dress and took really good care of it for that reason, and now will lose money because of their carelessness.
When I asked for a discount, because they had torn my dress in three places, she said no and had the audacity to tell me that they sewed my dress for free! You tore it, why in the world would I pay for you to then fix it?
Ladies, I didnt think something like this would bother me that much, especially because I had planned on reselling it, but its your wedding dress. It was not cheap and is really special. I know others had great experiences here, but there are also a lot of people that had awful experiences and at the risk that you are one of the ones they mess up– do yourself the favor an go somewhere else!

I brought my wedding dress in to be cleaned based on the reviews on Unilocal.
While they quoted me about $ 270, which seems quite a bit higher than the rest of the reviews, I decided I would go ahead and go with it. When I came to pick up the dress they’d added on an extra $ 35 for sewing. I had already sewn up the dress myself, there was a rip on the bottom, and they basically sewed over exactly what I had done. It didn’t look any better than what I had already done prior to bringing it in. I realize $ 35 on top of an already expensive wedding dress cleaning fee isn’t very much, but it made me feel ripped off.
Furthermore, the woman who helped me, while very sweet, didn’t speak enough English that I felt like I could explain why I shouldn’t pay the extra $ 35. I left frustrated.
The dress was clean and the box is really nice. I won’t be going back though.

Been coming here a couple times a month for over a year to get my shirts and pants done… owner is super friendly and have never had any problems. Definitely the best dry cleaner I’ve found in the city, have had great experiences with suits and sweaters as well. Highly recommended.

Terrible, terrible experience. I choose Royal Cleaner to clean my wedding dress after reading other reviews. Sadly, I had an awful experience and urge other brides to avoid using their services.
After our wedding reception, I needed to wear the dress again for a second reception in our hometown. I was told it would be $ 85 and ready in two weeks. Awesome! I told them no rush, I didn’t need it for a month.
A month passes, and I don’t hear anything from them. I call a week after it was supposed to be ready and the employee tries to convince me to come pick it up later in the week, but dodges the question of «is it ready?». When I go in a week later, they once again ask me if I can come back the next day, but insist it’s ready. The employee goes into the back with the owner for 20 minutes and leaves me standing up front without explanation. When they finally bring out the dress, it’s obvious it hasn’t been touched. The dress had only minor discoloration at the bottom and still has the exact same discoloration.
They said they tried but couldn’t do much. «$ 195» she says. I reply that I was told it would be $ 85, she says it’s lace, so it’s more expensive and then stands there staring at me. A young girl (maybe 12) is hanging out behind the counter and I don’t want to make a scene, so I pay.
I really resent their lack of professionalism, explanation, and service.

The ladies who work here are super sweet, but that is the only good thing about this cleaner. I brought in maybe 8 – 10 items, which only half of which were dry cleaning. The total ended up being $ 55 and some of my clothing wasn’t done. In my experience of going to a cleaners, Royal is overpriced. Beyond that, I found a few stains still left on my clothing. I will not be back.

Classic red wine on a nice wool suit story…
Big outdoor summer wedding in Montana, my nice $$$ tan wool suit, drunk bridesmaid, bottle of red all over my suit, pants, and shirt. Thought I’d have to write it off, Royal knocked it out of the park, for only $ 25. I can’t even begin to find one of the dozens of spots that were on the suit. These ladies know what they’re doing!

Bridal Cleaning
I bought a wedding dress from a pre-​owned wedding dress site that was COMPLETELY misrepresented. The skirt was like a commercial for laundry detergent… red velvet cupcake stains, dirt, grass stains, and makeup. I was feeling pretty hopeless when I brought it in and was hoping they might be able to just fade some of the most obvious spots. When I picked it up a week later the skirt looked brand new! I don’t use the term «miracle-​worker» often but I really feel it is appropriate here.
The women there were so nice and so friendly. They commiserated with me about the situation and listened while I cursed the woman who sold the dress in such poor condition. I have been back a couple times and had equally good experiences. They always remember what I bring in– they never even look at my ticket.
I highly recommend them for bridal cleaning! They paid so much attention to detail and hold their work to such high standards. The price was very reasonable for wedding dress cleaning and they really couldn’t have done a better job.

Review for wedding dress cleaning and boxing:
After the wedding, I did a little research to find the best places to get the gown cleaned and boxed up. Priscilla gave me 2 names. Peninou French Laundry told me that it would be minimum $ 650 to get the dress cleaned. It might be $ 1000+, and this didn’t include the actual acid free box. Dear. lord. The lady wasn’t amused when I asked her if mythical creatures were going to be cleaning the dress with their assholes.
Priscilla also recommended Royal cleaners. I took the dress to them, and was quoted $ 180, box and all. Much more reasonable. The cleaning took 3 weeks, and the owner called me as soon as it was ready. The dress looked Brand Spanking New. All of the wine and dirt stains from our beach wedding were gone. It looked pristine.
I waited while they put the cleaned dress on a cardboard form of a bust, and put it in the first layer of acid free box. This one has a clear plastic window that lets you see how the dress is packaged inside the box. As soon as I was happy that the dress was placed correctly, they slid another cardboard box over the first, sealed the whole thing with tape, and placed a plastic bag over the contraption with a «This Side Up» post it. The whole thing looks very airtight and secure.
Royal Cleaners may look like your average local dry cleaners, but I got the distinct impression that they go above and beyond. The Royal ladies were most pleasant and helpful during this whole process. As I was waiting for the dress to be boxed up, I listened to one of the seamstresses debating with the owner for 10 minutes on the different ways she could fix the lace on another wedding dress they were cleaning. For the life of me I couldn’t tell what was wrong with the thing, but apparently 2 or 3 stitches of lace had snapped, and they were determined to fix it. They were going on and on about the lace in Chinese, and started apologizing when they realized that I could understand them and that I was really amused. Ultimately, I was impressed with their attention to detail. The owner of the dress would probably have had no idea that those few stitches had any issues.
Highly recommended. Wish I lived closer so I could bring my regular dry cleaning to them.

I’ve been slimming down and had a black dress that I wanted to wear on New Year’s Eve that I have not worn in a couple years. I needed same day alterations and was willing to go looking for the right person to fix it for the right place. Turned out I didn’t need to go far.
They had me put the dress on and tailored it to my exact size, it was very quick. I picked the dress up a couple hours later and it was PERFECT. I am really happy with the cut of the dress and it was ready on time, as promised.
Not only did I save money by altering a dress I already owned, but now I love the dress even more and will get to wear it more often. Hurray to me for fitting back into that little black number and thank you Royal Cleaner for helping me look good on New Year’s Eve.

«Can you come back tomorrow?: «Can you come back tomorrow?» «Can you come back tomorrow?»
Yes — they asked me that THREE times. I brought in my clothes on a Monday and was told they would be ready Wednesday. I go in Wednesday and they are not done yet. I go in Thursday — still not done. I go in Friday — and yep — still not done! I finally pick them up Saturday — cursing all the time I wasted because of this businesses incompetence. Expensive to boot — no apology or discount, even though they took almost a WEEK to get my clothes back to me. Oh well, there is no shortage of dry cleaners around — I will take my business elsewhere.

This place provides very consistent, quality dry cleaning services.
I’ve been here about a dozen times, each time with a bag full of suits, sweaters, dresses, silk stuff, and synthetic stuff, and the quality of the cleaning and pressing has always been right on. We also used their wash and fold service once and were pleased with it.
Just don’t count on them to be open at 8 am on the morning you need something. Other than that, they’re great.

Might be good but TOO expensive. I think $ 6 for a sweater is way too much — I couldn’t tell the difference from their drycleaning on the one I used to go to in Potrero Hill that charged $ 3.50.
Anyways, must be a very high markup.

RUDE.
For no apparent reason. Just plain old rude and totally uncool. You don’t want my business? No problem.
Stick it.

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while — a year ago I had a black satin dress dry cleaned here. Unfortunately, due to some unknown reason (I’m still sort of upset about this), the dress came back with a gaping chemical hole in the middle of the front. There was absolutely no way to fix it, and I’m certain the cleaners were at fault.
However, there is a happy ending: when they saw how upset I was about the hole, and when I demanded that it be fixed, I agreed to come back. 1 month later, I come to get the dress and guess what? They had TAILORED a new one! A BRAND NEW ONE! That was such an awesome «I’m sorry» gesture that I just about fell over.
I’m not happy about the mistake, but I am happy about how they fixed it. Kudos to Royal Cleaners for being committed to their customers!

By far the best dry cleaning service I have found in SF. Their ownership REMEMBERS MY ORDER WITHOUT THE TICKET!!! So amazing to see them retrieve my stuff as I walk to the door. They are super friendly, have good prices, they recycle the hangers (remember to bring them back), and they always get stains out.
I live in Potrero Hill and drive here for dry cleaning.