Panoyan Custom Tailoring & Menswear

Mr. Panoyan is a crook who tried to cheat me.
I wanted to have mother of pearl buttons sewn onto a dress shirt and wanted this done quickly, so I called Panoyan to see if he had MOP buttons and if he could have the shirt ready when I needed it; he said that he had the buttons and that he could replace them. In the shop, Mr. Panoyan insulted me and the shirt, asking where I was from (I’m from Israel, he’s from Lebanon, so apparently he considered me an enemy). He showed me another shirt that had MOP buttons on it, which is key to understanding what happened here, and said that top-​tier shirts normally have these types of natural shell buttons installed to begin with. I trusted him, because he had shown me a shirt with MOP buttons, demonstrating that he understood my request.
When I got the shirt back, it had plastic buttons sewn onto it… I had to check another shirt that I had from the same shirt-​maker to confirm that Mr. Panoyan had even done anything to the shirt at all. Indeed, he had replaced the plastic buttons with plastic buttons. If he hadn’t shown me a shirt in his shop that had mother of pearl buttons, I would have taken it as a misunderstanding, but since he had shown me a shirt with MOP buttons, he clearly understood what I had asked for and I realized that I had dealt with a dirty cheat. The day I got the shirt back from Panoyan was the day I needed the shirt for the event (someone’s wedding). I ended up removing all of the plastic buttons Panoyan sewed onto the shirt (except for the lowest one on the shirt placket, and the ones on the sleeves and cuffs that he had sewn on) and removing real mother of pearl buttons from another shirt I had in order to sew those MOP buttons onto the shirt I took to Panoyan. I spent hours of my day doing this and was thinking the worst thoughts about Panoyan the entire time. My sewing is not professional, of course, and I was worried about doing a sloppy job, but I did the best that I could, knowing that the event I was going to was only a bit later that same day. I could have done the sewing myself, from the beginning, however, I didn’t have spare MOP buttons and I didn’t trust my sewing abilities, which is why I called Panoyan.
I came by Panoyan’s shop another day to confront him about this and was treated rudely, as usual. I had him cornered though, because, like I said before, I am from Israel and we are the last type of people you want to mess with. Having worked in intelligence, I know how to interrogate scumbags. I was very polite, however. I reminded him that he had shown me a shirt with MOP buttons, which removed his ability to claim it was a misunderstanding. I wouldn’t accept that a professional tailor wouldn’t know the difference between plastic and mother of pearl buttons. It baffles me to think he could get away with this attempt at cheating me, when I had asked for MOP buttons to be installed — I certainly know the difference between plastic and shell buttons, or I wouldn’t have made this request in the first place! I told Panoyan that I had to remove his buttons (except for the ones I mentioned above that I left on because they wouldn’t show under my suit jacket and I didn’t have time to replace them all) and that I had to install my own from another shirt. I showed him the buttons that I had sewn and the ones that he had sewn. Then, Panoyan tried to say that the sewing wasn’t his work, which is another ridiculous lie. The shop was closing and I told him I’d return to deal with him again.
When I returned yet another day, I brought the shirt he had replaced plastic buttons with plastic buttons, the shirt I had used to pull the real MOP buttons off, and a shirt from the same shirt-​maker as the one he worked on, to demonstrate what their sewing looks like from their workshop, and how his is clearly different. I also brought a bag of MOP buttons to sew onto the two shirts that had been messed up and needed to be repaired professionally. He began insulting me and the shirts. I told him politely and firmly that he needed to do what I asked because he had tried to cheat me and this was unacceptable. He took the shirts grumpily. I left.
Upon returning to Panoyan’s shop to pick up the two shirts, I was treated very rudely. I was polite, however, Panoyan quickly pushed the shirts at me and said something to the effect of «OK, that’s that — never see you again.» Of course you’ll never see me again, you dirty crook… Don’t cheat people and you won’t have to deal with the consequences. Hard times, I guess.
DO NOT TRUST THIS TAILOR.
The charges were also too expensive for simple work. I have been taking shirts, pants and jackets to Lee’s Tailoring for years and Lee has always been very kind, friendly, patient and trustworthy. I would have taken the shirt to Lee to begin with, but I didn’t want to trouble him with an urgent request.
I’ve taken the time to document this dishonesty so that others don’t have to have the same type of experiences.

Considerate, honest work. I took a jacket in to be fitted. Another tailor I had visited in SB had told me that «it’s supposed to fit that way – it’s the style» without even listening to what style I wanted.
Mr. Panoyan heard what I wanted and explained what he could achieve given the existing style of the coat. The workmanship was excellent, and I am much more satisfied with my coat than I was before.
I would recommend him to anyone looking for quality alterations.

Best tailor I’ve found in SB, and I’ve tried a few. More expensive than I had expected, but very quality work. Other tailors in SB ruin your clothes, Panoyan makes them better. Has the feel of an old time tailor. I’m now a repeat customer. Recommended.

This morning as I went to have a skirt taken up (a maxi skirt that is essentially a maxi dress on me without alterations), my normal tailor was closed. I drove somewhat aimlessly on State St until Panoyan caught my eye. I parked, went up to the door, and saw that the store was closed. However, the owner (Gary) saw me, opened the door, and was very gracious about letting me try on the skirt for him to alter. Gary was very pleasant, the store is beautiful, and I was there for less than five minutes. I really appreciate when small business owners go the extra mile, like letting a customer into the store when they are closed. The alteration will cost me $ 34, which isn’t cheap like some of the places I used to go in San Francisco, but so far I am thrilled with my experience at Panoyan. Hopefully the alterations go well so I don’t have to come back and amend the review!

I was a groomsman for a wedding in Santa Barbara recently, and they chose this place to rent the tuxedos from. The experience was bad. Of the four groomsmen at the wedding, only one of us had a good experience here. The tux fit horribly on three of us.
I sent in accurate measurements for the tuxedo and showed up a day early to try it on at the shop. The jacket fit well on the shoulders, but was HUGE around the belly. After pointing this out I was told, «it’s because of your shoulders, that’s the best you’ll get.» Needless to say, the vest was also HUGE around the waist. The pants barely fit, and there was a large pouch of extra fabric near the pleats at the crotch area. After pointing this out I was told, «eh, it’s a rental.» For this I paid $ 125?
To sum it up… poor fitting, bad service. Go to Mission Tuxedos.

Excellent service and very friendly place. Located across street from Verizon. Great job getting tuxedo’s for my wedding. Next thing is to get a suit. Great high end stuff, much better than going to Nordstrom’s. Alterations on some other things were done quickly and were perfect.

Great service & good pricing for excellent work.