Akiko Nails

I have been going here for AGES because it’s the only place I trust for nail art/extensions! So many amazing artists too. I’ve seen Michelle, Yayo, and Eli and they are all fantastic. For more complex designs, I highly recommend Yayo and Michelle. I NEVER have burn lines in my nails and they know how to execute whatever design you want with such precision! The atmosphere of the salon is super chill and the front staff/reception is always so welcoming and accommodating. I cannot recommend this place enough! EDIT: I’d like to say I don’t know how in the world this place has received low-rated reviews. I truly think some people just like to complain. Also, the remarks about Yayo (the nail tech with brightly colored hair and amazing and wild nails) are weird. She’s never been rude or short with me. Maybe try talking to or conversing with her because she’s a human being too. Also, the fact that she can do such amazing work on others with such long nails of her own is so impressive!

I’ve been going to Gianni monthly for over a year and a half now and every single time my nails come out perfectly! The salon is clean and comfortable, and the receptionists are always super friendly and helpful with scheduling or rescheduling appointments. Gianni always matches my inspo pics exactly, and takes her time to clean and prep my nails - which is probably why my nails can last up to 5-6 weeks without chipping! I always get compliments on my nails from friends, coworkers, and strangers everywhere I go and have referred all of them to Akiko!

Less than one week and my gel x came off for my birthday nails. This place used to be good in 2021, nail techs that knew how to do gel x application. I went in Dec and they charged me 200 for gel with air brush. Insane. Then it’s started chipping off 8 days later, right outside the window of when they’d fix it. Think that was a fluke, now I got my birthday nails and a pedicure and it was almost the same price? And with the huge snow storm I can’t go and get them fixed. Will not be returning after this experience.

It's a two star review not because the place is bad, as my over experience at the Salon was just okay. But because this is a nail salon and I come to get the art and craftsmanship that nail techs have to offer. Based on my experience and results I did not get that technique from a salon that claims on it to "specialize in Japanese nail art". My results came out overall DIY-ish. My nail tech, Anna, was very nice and acommedating to try and make it to my liking. However, I just think my nail tech's skills to do the nail art were just casual or average. I don't think my nails really look similar to the monthly special. Also the monthly special looks alot different in person than they do on Instagram. On Instagram they appear severely edited. (I have attached those photos for comparison) I want to clarify I DO NOT think the nails are ugly. They are just fine, and could be improved. I just don't think they're to my liking or up to my standards of nail art that someone would pay for. The salon people are very nice and the atmosphere is nice as well. Booking and appointment super easy. Overall experience everyone was kind and helpful. They even gave me a 10% discount since my appointment time was scheduled wrong on their end. However, I genuinely do not like how my nails came out. I got the monthly special on my natural naked nail(which included the use of overlay). I misunderstood how that works, and that I admit is my mistake for not reading carefully. The monthly special just to clarify for anyone that you can choose 4 of 5 accent nails shown on their ig and then get a color to fill the rest of the nails. I did ask for an estimate for doing all accents on each finger, which would be about $165 more or less depending on the art. Last time I came to New York I went to Krystal Oh's nail salon.This is just my opinion, but Krystal Oh's nail salon does monthly sets for $90 on natural nails and their techniques and execution are much better (also they have a more wide variety of cohesive designs). And they definitely put more effort in trying to recreate what they put out on their Instagram. I think I just didn't get the right nail tech for me. And I likely won't go back to this salon, but it was nice trying a different place.

It’s funny how their website states how they are so “customer oriented, everything is about customer’s satisfaction”… well in my opinion best customer care is when the service is high quality and wastes the least amount of the customer’s precious time. You can see how my pedicure looked after going to this salon. The first set of photos is made in the salon RIGHT AFTER the service, the second set - at home several hours later…. First of all your regular polish is obviously very low quality, I’m not blaming the technician, it’s not her fault, the polish is terrible. But what happened is that they had only one pedicure technician on a fully booked Sunday and for some reason only she could fix my nail polish but she was already busy with the next client. I believe that when the customer service is truly good, ANY technician can step up and fix the problem, but no, they told me to wait till my technician is free which is a waste of my time and I couldn’t just sit and wait after already being at the salon for 2.5 hours. Respect your client’s time. They did offer me to come any day in the next 7 days to change the polish but that’s even a bigger waste of my time!! Plus I was leaving for vacation the next day. So yes I went to my vacation with these nails. My manicure looks pretty good however the technician was a bit too rough with the machines and her station was pretty filthy. Never coming back to this place. 120$ for what you see in the photos is pretty ridiculous.