Foremost Cleaners

I used this drycleaner for about two years. I kept giving them chance after chance because the ladies who work there are seriously the nicest. They are even dog friendly! It’s nice to grab your clothes while walking your pooch.
The tailoring was done relatively well. I just had pants hemmed, but it seemed fine.
The drycleaning was another story. Frequently came back with deodorant still apparent. They couldn’t get spots or minor stains out. The final straw was when five, yes FIVE, of my boyfriend’s shirts came back with the right sleeves nearly cut off near the elbow. It was if they were caught in a machine and sliced. When he pointed it out, they said it was his wear and tear. But if you laid the shirts on top each other, it was in the exact same spot and same length of slice. They offered us no compensation and just stressed that it was our fault. Not a chance. That was the end of our customer-​drycleaner relationship.

Three shirts and a pair of pants for $ 10 cleaned. Maybe a good deal but they weren’t ironed or pressed well at all. I’ll be using someone else. Woman that runs it is also difficult to communicate with and possibly plays dumb to get off easy.

Laura is friendly, manages to remember my name and even waves hello when I pass by on errands. My clothes always turn out great too. I don’t know about other reviewers, but this has been my experience. I have only used the cleaning services but they do alterations as well.

I have no issues in terms of quality of the dry cleaning and the main owner is very nice and friendly. However the assistant can be needlessly rude and snippy -.she acts like she doesn’t even want to work there This would be a four-​star rating if it wasn’t for her. My advice would be to avoid it like the plague when the assistant is at the counter, then you should have no problems.

Have been using them for about 3 years (but not usually for my finest/​expensive clothes.) Last year, i couldn’t find 2 of my Brioni dress shirts. I asked about them at the cleaners and the woman said «No, you have everything.» I figured I must have dropped them on the way to the cleaners one day and they were long gone. A year later, I go back to pick up some pants, and she brings out my two shirts! They were there for over a year. $ 300 shirts! Then, she tried to charge me for cleaning them!
Today, while picking up a sweater, I asked her about a missing pair of khaki pants. She says, «No, we have a new system and we know everything that is here.» When I ased her to PLEASE check as we’ve had this problem before, she said I was mean!
Five minutes later, she said, «Oh, is this your partner’s sweater?» It had been there 3 months and claimed they didn’t have it on previous visits.
I no longer trust them and will not return. Beware!

It is not typical for me to write reviews on Unilocal,but decided to write one about Foremost cleaners. Went in this morning to ask for same day service for 3 basic dress shirts. The little Asian lady looked at me like I had three heads. It was 830am! She basically threw the receipt at me and did not say a word as I left. After I pick up my clothes, I will never return.

As Drew K. stated recently we too got double charged. The woman who works there charged us for a full suit as well as charging us also for the pants within the suit, so we are paying twice to get dress pants cleaned? I understand this is a simple mistake and definitely can be easily resolved, we apparently were wrong. This morning when my boyfriend went in to explain the misunderstanding the woman was beyond rude and disrespectful. I don’t think she understands the meaning of customer service, or customer loyalty. Being there is about 4 different cleaners in the same vicinity we will take our regular business elsewhere.
Just would like to warn others that you should double check your receipts, I think they are scamming people out of money.

This place moved to the corner about 50 feet away from their old place, guess the poor customer service moved with them.
I had an issue before with getting double charged, it took them weeks to correct it and not one apology. I figured mistakes happen and I should give them another chance. That was a poor move on my part.
I brought in some shirts to be cleaned and boxed for traveling, they said it would be ready next day at 5. I came right before closing and they were not there, the girl always is sweet but always plays dumb. I told her I didn’t feel right paying for the shirts, she charged me anyways, told me I would get a discount next time. I had to wait and call for their driver to bring me my shirts. On the call he asked if I could come meet him, I told him No Sport, you bring these shirts to me, you could have brought them to the store on time, like you said you would on the receipt. Never going back here again, plenty of places in the area to get clothes dry cleaned.

I’ve always had a good experience with this place. When some garment couldn’t be repaired, they’ve called me and told me about it which is appreciated.
Always polite, always friendly. Good service. Alterations and such, are a bit more expensive but they’ve always been well done. I’d recommend this place to anyone.

I can’t complain about this place. I’ve had a coat dry cleaned here and my winter coats zipper repaired. They did a perfect job. Ill only say that I’m a seamstress myself and I don’t think replacing a zipper should cost $ 50.

This is only for alterations, I didn’t go back for any cleaning.
short version: I don’t like being lied to and subsequently overcharged. A) Not ready when they said, B) bad internal communication C) rushed the job and D) as a result had some botched designer jeans.
involved version: It’s hard to tell who to «blame» here. Took in some Jeansies for regular hems (not original, just «trouser style,» easy) on a Monday evening. Asked if they could be done by Thursday evening as I was leaving town Friday morning and needed them for my trip. The surly counter lass said they could definitely accomodate. And, instead of Thursday PM as agreed, I decided to swing by Friday around 11am on my way out of town…
and there was the alterations lady working on a dress, and there were my jeans on a pile of other garments, length cut-​off, but no stitching done. I showed her my ticket, explained that they were to be done last night and she said «well no one told me that!» ummm, ok. I’m sure you’re frustrated too, but I can’t solve the manager’s communication issues. So then I simply asked to take my poor amputated jeans as they were, I could finish the stitching myself. She blocked me and wouldn’t hand them over, asked what time I needed them by. I said «uh YESTERDAY» (I didn’t yell, I’m too wussy). She said to wait 30 minutes and that she could finish them with a non-​original hem quickly.
Why.did.I.believe.her? (I’ll include myself in the blame here) 45minutes and $ 15 later I had a terrible wobbly hem with ugly thread. So, ruined designer denim for Mer and plenty of blame to go around. blarg. I should just stick to levis.

Took a bridesmaids dress there to get minor alterations made — just shortening the straps (could have done myself really) and hemming the bottom a few inches shorter. $ 35 seemed a little steep to me for that minor of an alteration, but I agreed to pay because I was in a time crunch and she could have it done a couple days later. I liked the computerized system and receipt she gave me. I came back a couple days later — the alterations were fine, the straps were the right length, the hem was a little uneven (edge was crinkled a bit) but there was a black ink smudge on the front of my white/​light yellow dress!
I asked her what the mark was from, and she quickly quipped, «that was there when you brought it in». Um, no, it wasn’t, I brought the dress to you still in its original bag and would have noticed if it had arrived to me with an ink stain on it, especially when I stood in front of the mirror while you pinned the straps for me. I stood firm that the ink was NOT there when I brought it in, and after nervously repeating that she noticed it when I came in originally, she told me she «didn’t mention it because she thought I knew about it» then gave me a whiny excuse that people blame her for stuff all the time to try to get things for free. Frustrated, I asked her if she could at least get the stain out, to which she replied, «No, that won’t come out — you might take it to a cleaner and see if they can get it out…»
THIS IS A DRY CLEANER, CRAZY-​PERSON.
I got the stain out myself using hairspray. I’m NEVER going back there. At least have the common-​sense to clean a stain you make on my garment or the decency to admit your mistake.

My wardrobe has been slowly decimated by a plague of ring around the collar. I had no success taking care of the problem myself. When I moved to the Damen-​Ravenswood neighborhood, I gave Foremost a test run, dropping off one shirt to see how they would perform. They laundered it for $ 1.75, and it came out like new, ironed and everything. No more ring around the collar too. I’ve now given them practically all of my dress shirts and my wardrobe is back at full strength.
Their computer system keeps track of your orders by phone number, so that you can stop in fast and they know who you are almost immediately. This is especially handy when you have a brown-​line el train to catch in a minute or so for work. Great job, ladies, and thanks for always being quick and cheerful.

I think Foremost is taking lessons from their old neighbor, Bagel on Damen. Customer service seems to be lacking.
I brought in a pair of Banana Republic chinos. I had ripped the pocket pretty badly and wanted it patched up. I specifically noted that I didn’t need them cleaned. They’re cotton pants. I knew it wouldn’t look great, no matter what. On the day I was set to pick up, I came in to find my chinos washed and pressed with a center crease.
A center crease? They didn’t come in with a center crease and they’re cotton pants. Do I look like a 50 year old man bringing in my pleated Dockers? So, that’s bad, but not as bad as the pocket.
It was untouched. No work had been done on it. They just washed and pressed the pants. Absurd. They apologized and asked me to come back the next day.
I came back. Pocket sewn, but despite two requests, the pants still had a crease down the center. I showed them the ticket which noted the lack of crease and made a mean face. Next day? Ok.
I came back the next day at 6:55 PM. They’re open until 7:00 PM. Pitch black inside. No one’s home.
After another day and a full week and half, I had my pants the next day. There’s still a faint crease that will require that I wash the pants and hope for the best.
Out of all the dry cleaning mishaps I’ve seen, this is the foremost mishap of them all. See what I did there?

used to do all my dry cleaning here when i used to live in the neighborhood. had a few jackets and leather items cleaned too and was fine. not the cheapest, but never had any problems.
the lady is really nice – one day i was robbed at the Damen brown line and didn’t have my phone and she let me use her phone.

I’ve used Foremost Cleaners off and on for the last several years. For a while, I was using a (name omitted) so-​called «greener cleaner», even going to the effort of driving there, because I wanted to pay more $$ for non-​toxic materials and the privilege of having my own dry cleaning bag. After some horribly rude counter service at the «greener cleaner», I went back to Foremost Cleaners, under the Damen el stop.
Recent items cleaned were a winter wool coat, silk blouses, sweaters, and light wool pants for winter. I also had one tailoring repair; a zipper on one pair of lined wool pants wouldn’t zip all the way up. I could wear the pants, but would have to wear a long blouse outside the pants, because there was about a 2″ gap at the top. When I showed these pants to the lady at Foremost, she noticed, and pointed out to me, that there was a tear in the pants at the bottom of the zipper. She quoted me a $ 28 price to clean and repair the pants, and replace the zipper. I think she thought I was nuts for agreeing, but hey, I might not like a new pair of pants as well, and anyway, a new pair would cost me well in excess of $ 50.
It was a Monday, and I said, no hurry for the repairs and the other cleaning. She said, Friday. OK fine. I went in Saturday morning to pick everything up. When she brought out my clothes, she said, «You’ll see! It looks like new!»
Upon examining the repair at home, I had a quick, heart-​stopping moment. The new zipper was lime green. The pants are a dark forest green. But you know what? It’s an invisible zipper. You can only see the contrasting color when the pants are inside out. Since I intend to wear these right side out, the mismatched color is not an issue. And the tear was expertly stitched up.
So, in general, they clean what they say they can clean; when something is spotted and maybe unfixable, they tell me; repairs are done on time and well; and, well, what else is there? I don’t know if they cost more or less than other cleaners. They certainly cost less than the politically correct cleaner. I’m not crazy about getting plastic bags, but what can I do about that? Well, maybe I will ask…
Bottom line: they’ve got my business.

I recently used Foremost for the first time despite living in two blocks away for almost six years. The woman was friendly, the work was done on time (two business days earlier than she originally suggested and I asked for an earlier day), the price was right, and the work was good.
They even fixed the hem on my fiancée’s suit pants leg and didn’t charge us for it. I would definitely go back.

I went here to get two pants hemmed. I asked her to do a rush job. She said fine and that I could pick them up at 2pm the next day. The pants weren’t ready. She had sent them to a «factory», which made me a little nervous, since I thought she was taking care of the tailoring. She charged an exorbitant amount for tailoring and she didn’t get the length right on one of the pants. When I went back to get it corrected she yelled at me that she NEVER makes mistakes. This was my error. I finally said to her, that if we both agreed that it was my fault would she please fix it? I was tired of arguing with her.
I asked her to patch a whole on the jeans, which she charged $ 8 for.

Ok so I’m somewhat breaking the « Unilocalers Pact» since I’m not actually reviewing the business’ services or quality. On the other hand I am reviewing the owners/​employees which is half of what makes a good business what it truly is. And the story begins like this…
It had been a rough morning and little did I know that it would get rougher. I was in a hurry hopping up the Damen El stairs to get to the southbound platform when I hear a «DING!» I look at my murse (man purse) to see that my key had fallen out, through the stairs it went and down onto the who-​knows-​where pigeon haven below. I returned to ground level to investigate. All I saw was a little walkway between the remodeled El station and the vacant sweets store. I then noticed the neighboring Foremost Cleaners and bristly walked over to enter with my shy face: «Hi, um I was going up the El stairs when my apartment key fell on the sidewalk below. Do you have access to there?» The little Asian women smiled and nodded «Ah, yes, men wallets drop often.» Well I guess I was another one of the infamous dorks. If it weren’t for her, I would be in biiiig trouble. Next time I need hemming or dry cleaning, I’ll be sure to bring it here.

I’ve been coming here for 6 months and my boyfriend for a year-​and-​a-​half. Never any problems. Service is good enough — no complaints about anything here.
Prices for shirts, pants, etc seem reasonable to me. However, $ 50 to get one suit jacket altered (letting out the sleeves and taking up the bottom) seemed high to me. But she did a good job though.
Convenient location (just below the new Damen Brown Line stop) and great hours (open late). Get some Thai next door on your way home, too! ;-)