Caruso Frank & Elio Custom Tailoring

Great experience. I was leaving on vacation in two days and needed my new jeans hemmed. These guys turned the job around in 24 hours with great results for a reasonable price ($ 18). Will come again!

Walked in on a Saturday morning to have the pockets of a suit jacket sewn shut. We were greeted by Elio, a pleasant older gentlemen who was working on some garments in the back. I explained what I wanted done, and he told me to leave the jacket and return in the afternoon. He did exactly what I requested and charged me «a couple bucks.» I love the cozy, family-​run vibe of this place.

Not only are the brothers great tailors, they’re great people! FYI– they have 2 parking spots in the back.

I’m going to the Academy Awards tomorrow. A friend asked me what designer I would be wearing (it was a joke he figured me for a rental)?
I proudly told him I was dressed by the house of Frank and Elio Caruso. What I didn’t mention was I purchased the tux from them around 1990!
Anyway still looks sharp.
I now live in Northern California. Hope frank and Elio are well.

These guys are outstanding. I brought in a jacket to be altered. It ended up just not fitting well. They had a suit in stock with Super 140 wool, that fit amazing. They were able to alter within one day and get me outfitted for a great price.

Caruso Frank and Elio Custom Tailoring is the best tailor on the West Side of L.A. and possibly all of L.A. I am a very persnickety guy and I like things to be perfect in terms of tailoring and fit. I will have nightmares if something on a suit or pair of slacks is ¼ inch off.
About two years ago I set out to totally redo my wardrobe, purchasing slacks, suits and all that goes with that, including shirts, ties and shoes. After trying a few of the tailors on the West Side, including one who gets many five star reviews, I can tell you that none come close at all to the workmanship and detail of these tailors. Oh, the others may come close, but when it comes to their finished product, you will find the following: bad stitching on shortened pants, seams in slacks that are off center because they were narrowed, or suit jacket linings that are really messed up because the jacket was taken in. This does not happen here!
I’ve brought in four suits, four pair of pants, and old suit pants where the jacket oddly fits right into today’s slim silhouette, but the pants had cuffs and were about 12″ wide. They narrowed the pants, and jettisoned the cuffs, and the suit looks like an expensive Italian suit from Europe. Similarly, because I am a very small size they have taken in the jackets and the finished product looks like it was made that way. I cannot tell they’ve been altered, other than the fit which then looks like a custom-​made suit.
Also, they have a good sense of humor and are easy to deal with. If anything is not right, like when you get home and you decide the pants are too short, just bring them in and they will fix them quickly. AND happily!
Don’t believe the couple of one and two star reviews. If these guys can make me a happy guy with their tailoring, they will do the same for you. Trust no one else. These tailors, who have family in Italy who are mostly tailors have been in Santa Monica for decades. Simply, they are the best and they can present what most other tailors cannot: Tremendous knowlege and experience, attention to detail and careful quality alterations.

I walked in with a tux from the days of MC Hammer and after 2 weeks it was ready for the Bond movies!
Although it’s impossible to completely change the structure of a tux, they did a good job removing the pleats, shortening the jacket and removing all the excess fabric.
Overall for the same cost of renting a tux, I can wear mine again.
Also be weary of the 1 star reviews, they appear fraudulent since one person wrote them 2 1-​star reviews. Secondly, another review is regarding a women’s garment, if you walk into a store and see 100s of suits, you might assume that is what they are good at.
I will go back.

I’ve been going to Caruso’s for years. These guys are the real deal. They are two brothers and old school tailors. I go in and have them expand my waist bands (usually after the holidays!) and take them in with regularity for my short term weight loss! They have an expert eye, know exactly what I want and are lovely. These men perform the dying art of true tailoring and their prices are SO reasonable.
Even if I need «more room» in a pair of pants that they’ve tailored for years, they’ll find it. They are wonderful men, true artists and you will be delighted to have found this true gem in Santa Monica.

our whole family, meaning husband/​wife/​son/​daughter, has been going to the caruso brothers for our alteration needs for decades. the two brothers produce consistent and high quality results every time. we recommend their service without any reservations.

I just returned from Caruso’s and have tears of disappointment in my eyes as I write this.
Along with my wedding dress, this was one of the two most important dresses in my life for an equally important event. I spent as much on it as I spent on my wedding dress and was prepared to spend as much on the tailoring. I spent a couple of days studying the consistently mixed reviews for many tailors and thought Caruso’s was my best choice.
Two weeks before the event I took the afternoon off work, packed up the shoes and underwear I was planning to wear with dress and headed to the shop. I knew for certain I needed the dress shortened a few inches and was looking forward to a professional’s recommendations for fitting.
Although the shop was completely empty, I felt so rushed when I got there. The very gruff man behind the counter never suggested I try on the dress and it didn’t seem an appropriate venue. I ended up just leaving it with instructions to shorten 4″ inches from the top of the skirt so as not to affect the dress’s unique hem. The man, who never told me his name, didn’t so much as held it up to confirm the length. I was given a ticket and told to come back 7 days later. While being rushed out the door I asked if I could leave my name or phone number in case there were problems. «No, just bring the ticket,» he said gruffly. I was so nervous about losing the ticket I made several copies just in case, all the while hoping 4″ was the right length.
The next Thursday, I called the store to confirm the dress I’d dropped off the previous week was ready. «If you dropped it off last week, of course it’s ready,» I was gruffly told.
When I arrived, the store was again empty with the same man behind the counter. He recognized me and immediately said he couldn’t shorten the dress the way I wanted. «Oh, so you haven’t even started?» I asked. He bristled and in an angry tone explained, «No, but if you come back in an hour I can have it done.»
He showed me why he couldn’t shorten the dress the way we’d originally agreed — something he could have seen if he’d spent 30 seconds looking at the dress when I dropped it off. He proposed a new method that would have ruined the existing uniquely beautiful hem. If only he’d allowed me to leave my number I could have taken it to another tailor willing to work with me on the alterations or started looking for another dress.
I’m so disappointed and heartbroken and, admittedly, my feelings are a bit hurt by the man’s aggressive anger. Fortunately, I’ve never worn the dress and can return it but it took me so many months to find I don’t know if I can find a replacement in the few days remaining before the event. Given that he offered to shorten it in an hour, why did he originally make me wait a week? Why wouldn’t he take my phone number when I offered? Why wouldn’t he take a minute to look at the dress when I dropped it off?
Nevertheless, I’m giving two star for 1) not moving forward with the alternative method of shortening without asking me first and 2) for acknowledging that he should have let me leave my number. Despite my disappointment, the dress wasn’t ruined and it’s not like he punched me in the face or anything. Just hurt my feelings :-)

Absolutely love these guys… and I’m a gal! I read these reviews, which is exactly why I have taken 10 pairs of pants to be tailored. They are so incredibly nice and efficient.
Great story: My biggest problem is people usually take up my jeans way too much, so I specifically asked for them to be left a little longer. I realized one of the slacks was a little too long after I wore them. So I brought them back in with some other pants about a month later. I didn’t even mention it, because I asked for them to be on the longer side. When I checked out, he said «No charge on these, since we were re-​doing them». I didn’t expect them to cover it, because he was just doing what I asked. I thought that was incredibly gracious.
This is the only place I bring my pants to be hemmed. =)

I’m with John on this one — these guys are a total find.
I am a female and they hem my pants and do other alterations for my mom and me all the time. They are super old school Italians who love what they do, and are great at it. I may not wear men’s suits, but these men know what they are doing.
I recommend them all the time and have never heard of anyone having a bad experience.

I have used Caruso for many years. I have had him alter dozens of suits, fine jackets, high quality overcoats, as well as make a few custom pieces. He’s easy to work with, friendly, and very skilled. I HIGHLY recommend him.

My experience with these two old school tailors has been fantastic. They are classic Italian tailors with very good italian suits and accessories for very low prices. They are very service oriented and will help you find what makes sense for you. I’ve walked into this shop with a big trade show coming up, nothing to wear, two days later I have perfectly tailored, Italian-​made suits and perfectly fitting shirts, matching belts, etc. the whole schear. All of this for less than ¹⁄₃ of what you would pay in a department store.
These guys came over on the boat from Italy 50 or so years ago and set up shop in Santa Monica before it was on the map. These gentlemen are old school and they are the real deal. This place is a FIND.
I don’t understand why somebody like Gina would bother writing a review for a full service men’s clothing store when she had a bad experience getting jeans hemmed there. That’s like moaning about a fine French restaurant because you were thirsty and went in for a glass of water and you were disappointed that they didn’t put enough ice in it. Gina, hello… Don’t review an establishment unless you actually patronize it for the purpose for which it was intended.
If you are simply looking for alteration work, go to their nephew:
CARUSO ENZO CUSTOM TAILOR
3021 Ocean Park Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90 405
(310) 452‑5103

Sorry Gina, I’ve never had a problem with these guys and they have hemmed my girlfriends jeans before. Maybe its a dude thing. Also, what does your co-​worker say, he/​she was the one who referred you… hmm. Works for me, hopefully i dont get screwed next time i go in.

DO NOT GIVE THEM BUSINESS HERE! My mistake was coming here from a referral of a co-​worker to get jeans hemmed. It looks like a tailor shop geared towards men’s suits but I asked them if they did women’s jeans and they said they do it all the time. So I asked them to keep the original hem on my jeans and shorten the length. What do they do? They don’t attach the original hem. I come back in 2 hours because they said they’ll fix it right away. What do they do? It looks like they added some random original hem from another pair of jeans and it was the most horrible looking hem job I’ve seen. I could have done a better job doing it myself. I didn’t want to pay but he said I’ll just charge you $ 12 (originally $ 15) and bring me back a pair of jeans that have a better hem job. So I returned for the 4^th time and showed him another pair and he wants me to bring back my original pair so that he’ll do the same job. Does he not understand I don’t want him touching my jeans ever again? He wouldn’t give me back my $ so just told him I’d write a horrible review. They don’t even deserve 1 star.