V Nails and Spa

I really like Tracy, she is efficient and very professional… customer service at the front desk could stand improvement.

Came for a Mani/​pedi due to decent reviews on Unilocal and limited cheap salon availability in DC. Was very disappointed and won’t return. The pedi was going OK until she had me dip my feet into a tub of wax that turned out to be the communal pot. I hesitated and said yes before I had a chance to think about what I was doing. Immediately upon removal of my feet, the customer next to me dipped hers in. I sat skeeved for the rest of the visit. Pedi itself was just OK. 3 stars for the actual quality of work. The manicure was awful. I would give 1 star. I legitimately left wishing I had done it myself at home. She cut them way too short to the point of pain and didn’t bother to clean up the sides or edges with the actual polish at all. My hypothetical 3 year-​old niece could have done a better job. Harsh but users beware. Wish I had seen this type of post before going.

Best no-​frills waxing in dc. Professional, kind woman who never makes me feel bad for going a little too long between waxes. She does a fabulous job and prices can’t be beat: $ 53 for a Brazilian, eyebrow, and lip wax, plus tip (I always tip 30 percent– she’s that good).

Ann is the best. I believe she owns V Nails (formerly Nail Avenue in Van Ness) and has been doing my eyebrows for over 10 years. Having someone pour wax on your face and then peck you with a pair of tweezers is never a fun time, but somehow Ann turns it into a relaxing experience. I can’t comment on the rest of the salon, but she is great!

I went a few times for mani pedis and found everyone there to be very friendly. Great customer service. As a massage therapist, I need to have my nails super short and can’t wear any polish. This is the first place I found where the nail techs didn’t harass me or act passive aggressively about how short my nails are or tell me constantly throughout the treatment how I should grow them longer. Score! Sadly, I had to stop going when one girl cut my cuticle, wiped the blood off with her fingers, took the cuticle oil brush out of the oil jar, wiped it on the bloody cuticle, and put it back in the oil that is used for everyone else! No. Just no. Too bad, because it’s super convenient and I would have gone regularly.

Its a decent nail spot or its price in DC. Come prepared to wait its a little small as well.

I’ve been coming here ever since I moved from SF two years ago to get my eyebrows and upper lip waxed now. I’m not the sort of person who expects luxury spa treatment just to get my eyebrows done, so this is my kind of place — in and out, real fast. My friend the ‘eyebrow lady’ (whose name I would have spelled incorrectly!) is always cheerful and kind to me, no matter how busy it is, in addition to being super efficient and making sure the pain is minimal. For the affordable price, it’s incredibly well worth it, and I know I can always rely on her to come through and make even my unfortunately uneven eyebrows look as groomed as they possibly can. Thank you, V Nails and Spa, for such consistently great service!
PS — It’s cash only for eyebrow + upper lip waxing, since it doesn’t hit their minimum — know that!

I had an very good experience here today. I’m new to the city and was looking for somewhere to do my acrylic fill. I walked in and they were busy so we scheduled an appointment when it was convenient.
My technician Annie was quick but very careful, nails were polished to perfection.
Overall I’m pleased.
Only cons would be that I’m accustom to chatting with my tech which didn’t happen here. And it is a bit more than I would normally pay for a fill.
But I will definitely be back.
I have been back 4 times and I’ve had Tracy do my nails as well and she was also very careful and particular about my nails which I appreciate.
Tracy 2 and Annie 2 both great!

One of my nails chipped after a week so I came back to get it fixed. I found out that the nail tech that did my nails wasn’t working so I would have to pay $ 5. That’s ridiculous! It’s not my fault that it chipped. Would give it no stars if I could.

After my pedicure I felt like my feet had silk pajamas on them!
This is not a fancy schmancy place, but they do give you a fancy scmancy pedicure. For $ 25 + tip I got: massage chair, great technician, long leg scrub and massage, parafin wax dip and great looking toes!

The girl who did my pedicure fixed two cracked nails I had (long distance hiking and biking does that to you). I feel like she was slightly annoyed at the extra work, but I was still happy to have my toes looking great again!

I’ve continued to come to V Nails for pedicures even after I moved away from the area. Their service and the place itself has gone downhill over the years.
The massage chairs and basins are worn and gross. Today, a screw from the chair I was sitting in came loose and fell into the basin. After the salt scrub, as the nail tech was rinsing my feet, the water turned from burning hot without a warning. My heel is still stinging from it. The nail tech was unable to explain what happened because he had no idea why.
The nail tech rushed through my pedicure even though the place was half empty and there was no one waiting. He skipped the lotion and massage part of the pedicure process altogether.
The floor is wet in some spots and there are towels and trash littered and strewn about. I’m normally cavalier about putting my purse and bags on the floor, but this time I absolutely refused to.
I’m not going to go out of my way to return again.

Went in for a gel manicure a week ago and already have a full nail chipped/​missing, along with another chip on a different nail. When I called to ask about fixing it or a refund, I was rudely told their hours of operation and told «no refunds.» When I said that the job they had done was unacceptable, I was met with silence, and then HUNG UP ON about three seconds later. Ridiculous and terrible customer service. Definitely will avoid them from now on.

They are pretty decent with their services but their prices are way too high. I got an acrylic set done there and the woman made sure it matched the picture I brought to her perfectly. She did the coffin shape beautifully and made the acrylic look more natural and thinner.
Went back to for acrylic removal and they charge $ 10!!! This means the removal and a manicure would have been $ 25! It was too much for me personally. I can’t go back but my first trip was a great experience.

Perfect service, nails haven’t chip yet and I did them 4 days ago. I even move to Texas and had to pack some boxes and clean my apartment. Nothing, nails are as perfect as first day.
One bad thing, they all really pressure you to get gel nails. I didn’t get them.

First impression: The salon is tucked away but when I walked in it felt clean and organized, I was immediately impressed by the polish selection (Essie, OPI, etc); the nail salons in my neighborhood use cheap colors and your choices are between neon and burgundy.
The man at the front was quiet but I didn’t get a vibe that he was rude and he did let me know that if I had any problems with my nails to come back and they would fix it for free, which is nice.
I get gel on my hands and feet usually done by V and no real complaints thus far. If something chips I go back and she fixes it but I’m still on the hunt for somewhere that serves champagne.

Nice people. Small place but I came at a great time with no wait. I usually go to fantasy nails so I wanted to try something else. I got a pedicure and a full set for $ 55– which isn’t terrible in DC. $ 25 pedicure and & $ 30 for full set. Tons of quality colors. Friendly staff. Annie did a great job on my nails. I will be going back !

DO NOT COME HERE!!! Overall terrible service and amenities and over priced!!! $ 25 for pedicure that lasted 15 minutes and not even a quality job! Also their practices gave me a fungi infection! They have everyone use the same pot of wax. Usually when I get a wax thing back home (I’m from California) the wax is poured into the plastic bag and your foot goes in. Here they have you stick your feet in a communal pot of wax! Disgusting! Also the over atmosphere was terrible, and the building isn’t well kept.

The reviewer who said this salon is so horrible that it will make you forget your degrees is right! It’s a basic factory style shop where you can get a decent mani/​pedi on the cheap. As a graduate (art) student I found their work satisfactory for a few years… until I had a problem.
I chose the gel nails because I just removed my claw acrylic nails. Instead of soaking the acrylic off, they charged me to essentially rip the nail off using a cuticle tool. I was laid back about the whole thing because I’d never really had a problem at the salon before so although I was horrified, it didn’t hurt so I let it happen against my better judgement.
I got the gel nails to protect my nail bed from being banged up in clay class (hand-​building) by the end of the class my nails were almost completely bare. I asked my friend who is an Aveda esthetician if the clay reacted with the gel to make it come off (in other words, if it was my fault.) She told me to march back and ask for a refund because the only thing that could cause that was old or watered down gel formulas. As a customer who attended their grand opening, I did not want to cause trouble so I politely went in the same day and showed my nails to the owner/​manager. He told me they could only repaint my nails and would not give me a refund. I asked where this policy was posted and the tech that did my nails told me that it «doesn’t say anywhere we’ll give you a refund either».
How I phrased the problem was «the nail tech was very nice, but I think the polishes are old. I’ve been coming here for years but today I’d like a refund.» I wasn’t rude or loud and didn’t want to put-​off customers enjoying their spa time but boy did they make it hard to stay calm.
I was taken outside and they said they could tell by my ashy hands that I’d put them into chemicals. I protested that I had put them in clay and water and they told me straight up that they «didn’t believe me». By now I am LIVID and enraged. I paid for a gel mani because of my lifestyle, not because of the look of it. Every girl in my class had a gel manicure and their hands looked the same as when they came in the class.
I acquiesced to their offer to redo them for free since they wouldn’t refund my money and I honestly couldn’t afford to pay another salon to do my nails over. The most degrading part of the entire exchange was before we went inside, the technician and the owner said (and I had not raised my voice yet, but I am a woman of color) «If you cause a scene and raise your voice in here we’re going to call the police» I. was. LIVID!!! Then I lost my temper.
Getting my nails done was my little treat among writing a master’s thesis on education, doing student teaching, grave hour shifts in a grimey art studio and trying to earn a living. I actually told them this and they said that maybe for my poverty level a basic manicure is better. I was freaking livid. How dare they publically ridicule me for not having more money to throw away on crappy manicures?! This is how they treated a customer that patronized their business for years.
The cherry on top of my sundae was after the tech gave me a manicure more suited to my tax bracket, she brought out a pen and paper and asked me to spell «clay» so she could look it up and prove next time I saw her that it was full of chemicals. She didn’t even know what clay was and STILL treated me like I was dipping my hands in turpentine. How incredibly rude. LIVID!
This nail salon is fine until it’s not. I hope you never have a problem with their services, they’ll find a way to dehumanize and avoid responsibility at all costs.

The customer service here could make a girl forget her degrees and home training and let fly…
«Meh» Pedicures– The pedicures were ‘meh,’ at best. They were hurried (minimal attention to cuticles, no callous removal, no massage). I had to debate a woman who insisted that pushing and trimming the cuticles only made them ragged. No. Going to a bad nail salon makes them ragged.
Nightmare Customer Service– I get a pink acrylic overlay on my ultra thin nails so they’ll hold a polish (even gel polish doesn’t stay). After a few visits they talked me out of the acrylic and into (the more expensive) gel set. Throughout the application, I expressed concern there were spaces between the gel and the nail. Within 3 days I had 4 broken nails. I went in to have them fixed.
They were busy and started to prep my broken nails. The tech then stopped and the manager came over to tell me they couldn’t do my nails because the person who did gel was not in. I now have 4 bare, thin, unpolished nails. They offered to do acrylic instead! Keeping in mind that gel is time-​consuming, I asked if it was a time issue or that they really didn’t have anyone (of the 12+ people working) who could do it? That’s when it all went down hill.
They abruptly, and without explanation to the other customer, pulled a tech from a woman’s manicure (I apologized to the woman because that was not my intent or desire. She apologized to me for their behavior). The tech did a terrible rush job on my nails. They looked terrible (I had to replace them again a week later). To make it less pleasant, they sat over me and talked smack the whole time. Not «I don’t speak Vietnamese so I assume everyone around me speaking Vietnamese is talking smack,» but actually berating me. The owner blamed me for not telling the woman who initially did my nails there was an issue (which I had); for not telling them my nails were gel not acrylic (which I had); and for not coming in on a day they were less busy (I had no idea the service THEY recommended was only allowed during certain hours).
I was running late and still wanted to tip (I’m not interested in anyone providing a service to me for less than minimum wage, even if it’s subpar). They wouldn’t let me add it to the card and I had to run in the rain to get cash. Never again will I step foot in this place. Never.