A-1 Tailor

Had the best experience at A-​1 which I chose for location. The bridesmaid dress had 3 full layers that needed hemming as well as whole dress taken in 2 sizes. The alterations are so professional that the dress doesn’t look worked on! Fits perfectly. Thank you Louis!

My first visit was a great experience. I brought in seven pairs of pants that needed to be altered and they were done professionally within a week.
However, I dropped off an expensive pair of snow pants to be hemmed. I asked for the original hem to be included. The tailor said it would be $ 20 and ready in a week.
When I picked them up today, he charged me only $ 12. I looked at the hem and realized that they had just cut the whole bottom part off and NOT put the original waterproof hem on it like I requested. When I brought it up, he insisted that I never said anything about wanting to keep the original hem! Still had me pay the $ 12 even though he didn’t give me what I very specifically asked for! Are you serious?!? You botch an expensive pair of snow pants and then expect me to pay for YOUR error? I don’t appreciate being called a liar, especially when it wasn’t my fault that you didn’t write my request down; that’s no way to do business. Won’t be back.

I had a fancy pair of pants that needed to be hemmed. The pants had a difficult seam that I was hoping they could replicate when making it shorter; you would never even tell they were hemmed. They did a great job!

My boyfriend and I took a pair of his suit slacks here to get them slimmed. The pant legs were way too wide and long, and the skilled tailors at A-​1 turned them into perfectly-​fitting slacks. The entire service cost $ 22 which, to be completely honest, I have no idea if that’s a good price or not. However, the guys working here are skilled and extremely friendly. Other customers came and went while we were inside A-​1 and they all seemed to know the store owners personally. Overall, a great local business that I will continue to support.

I was looking for somewhere to get my first suit tailored. I did a search and found A-​1. I arrived on a Saturday and the owner helped me right away. As I was trying on my suit, several who I am guessing were regulars — came in to get and pick stuff up. The owner knew them well and even asked them how their husbands, family members, etc. were doing. I liked that, because it shows this place has repeat customers who like the work done here.
When I came back to get my suit, before I even handed him my ticket, he knew immediately that it was a charcoal suit. I got it home and they did fantastic work. A better name for this place would be A++ Tailor! I will definitely be going back here in the future!

The pricing is a bit expensive but the tailoring was perfect!

Didn’t get the best tailoring job on a bridesmaid dress but they were nice about it. $ 55 & 3 days later, the tailor had taken in the sides as well as shortened the straps on my dress but didn’t take it in as much as I thought we had discussed so it was loose & the straps were shortened at different lengths so the dress hung crooked on my body. They offered to fix it but timeline wouldn’t work for me so I took it as is. I’m giving 3 stars cuz they were very nice but the tailoring job was closer to 1.5 stars. Would try alternative options.

Great small establishment I found on Unilocal.
I’m an doctor and wear embroidered scrubs every day that make me look like a child playing dress up. I came to A-​1 with a set asking to resize it substantially and some pretty specific demands — I wanted it to be more female in shape at the waist and chest but no darts, there was no stretch at all in the material but I wanted it very close to the body while still being to put it on/​off without dislocating a shoulder, and I wanted proper sleeve seams to be put in as it it was just two single pieces of fabric stitched together. For the pants, I was equally demanding… I wanted to lower the waistband and raise the crotch and also narrow it significantly.
He spent at least 20 minutes with me on the first sizing and I returned 1 week later to refit, requesting several alterations. Without a blink, he agreed and continued to honor our prior price despite the additional workload I had given him. We negotiated a deal since I ended up giving him all 6 sets of scrubs and they all came out pretty good given all the parameters and limitations.
A couple days into the order I wanted to get my white doctor coat done as well and he was able to do it without delaying the finish date (1 week… not bad for 13 items!)
Cash or check only, but there’s an atm across the street. Great small establishment with pretty quality work and excellent service. I’d trust them with anything from cheap repairs to full on tailoring of expensive items.

Stopped in today to have few pants hemmed and was in a time crunch. They were so accommodating and quick in the return I had a pair back to me within 2 hours. What a life saver! They were perfectly hemmed and look wonderful. I can’t thank you guys enough for doing it so quickly! You guys rock!

Excellent service and quality work. I was in need of adjustment of a suite and needed a high quality tailor to do the job. A-​1 tailor was recommended to me by a friend. Job was done as promised, on time and at highest quality. This place is A+!

The owner could not be any nicer and he does outstanding work. I tend to tear up my suits and this place has become my go to when I need a quick fix.
The turnaround is typically a few days and the price is almost never more than $ 10. I’m sure there are a ton of tailors on the North Shore, but this is one of the best.
Also street parking is relatively easy, even though the area gets very busy around rush hour.

Very old school — the guys wears a vest and a measuring tape, and a bit pricey, but the work is beautiful every time. It’s the sort of place you should frequent just because it exists.

I brought in a beautiful linen guyaberra for major alteration. A very difficult project with pleats and pockets and buttons. Voila! First rate tailoring by the ever-​present owner, Luís Puma. Excellent tailoring in a warm and friendly shop. The A-​1 is accurate; first rate work.

And again, A-​1 Tailor aka A+ Tailor to me saves the day. My husband was cleaning out his closets and had a lot of nice name brand dress shirts that he was going to donate because they were just out of style. The shirts were that baggy loose style that was popular in the 90s for men. I went to A-​1 Tailor and all he did was take my husband’s measurement and offered to fit them to him. As a birthday gift, I took about 10 shirts in there and he did an AMAZING job with them and had it done within the week! The price was just right and my husband feels like he just received 10 brand new shirts. I’m waiting for the next gift opportunity to bring the rest of the shirts to get tailored.
Thanks again!

Went to Levi’s the other day in search of shorts, and finally found the perfect pair! … minus the fact that the back was WAY too long (in fact, it looked so ridiculous that I couldn’t help but wonder if the designer was drunk while making the shorts). ANYWAY, the sales person suggested that I visit A-​1 tailor to get it hemmed, so I decided to make the long walk from campus down to Dempster.
The store is rather hidden and easy to overlook. Once I got inside, I was promptly helped and service was fast.
I paid $ 15 for him to cut the shorts and also to re-​create the original fringing. Wait time for the service was a little less than a week — a bit longer than I thought was necessary, but fair enough.
All in all, very satisfied with his work. Will be back.

Okay, so I wanted to make a note that I did finally have something go wrong here. I had been going here for 4 years and constantly getting great results. One of my most common alterations was having my pants taken in about an inch. This time, I needed them taken out about an inch. He took them IN an inch. When I told him, he started to tell me I was wrong, then looked at his ticket, and became flustered and apologetic. He then did his best to take them out as far as possible, but they very close to the original size — they could not be taken out more because of how he trimmed the fabric to get them to lie flat.
He should have given the pants to me for free. I should have demanded it. But I didn’t…because I didn’t want to make waves. It was right before I moved out of town and I had a lot going on!

No problem so far with A-​1 Tailor.
I’ve gotten two pairs of jeans hemmed for $ 11 each.
I wish their turnaround time was faster (4 days for a hem seems a bit much, no?) even with their increased popularity over the last few months on Unilocal

Overall experience:
I came to this tailor because of the excellent recommendations on Unilocal.However, I was just so upset with my experience. I’ll try and make this easy to read by starting with my conclusion and then talk about my full experience afterwards.
Advice:
I think this guy is number one on Unilocal for a reason but I frankly don’t know why. If you are a young guy who wants a suit to be altered European style instead of the boxy American style, I’m not sure this is the right guy for you. I would suggest finding a tailor that is more familiar with modern and trendy fashions in suit size. This guy frankly also has a bad temper and I was pretty upset by that.
What happened:
I’m starting a new job in the fall and apparently have to wear suits everyday. This sucks. Moreover, having recently graduated from school, I honestly didn’t know anything about suits so I decided to make an investment and spend a little more money on the guy who is ranked #1 on Unilocal.
At first he was very friendly and talked to me about how he has made suits from scratch since he was 22 in Lebanon. I asked him about what he thought about Israel and Palestine, which was just bad social tact on my part. It got silent and awkward. Whatever, he pinned me up, I looked great, and I couldn’t wait to get them back.
I came back the next week and tried them but the jacket was still extremely loose (about 6 inches between my jacket button and shirt). He hushed me out of his door complimenting his own work «It fits like a glove!» However, after doing some research online, the suit fit I was expecting was called «European» (fit and slim) rather than the «American» (boxy). I honestly looked like a 12 year old boy in his father’s jacket like that episode in Arrested Development.
I went back and expressed my concerns while expecting a friendly response. However, he got so upset and he started raising his voice and started yelling at me. Ironically, he told me the same stories the previous week about his expertise. But I couldn’t believe this! For a moment, I honestly thought his sense of humor might just be as awkward as mine, but was surprised when he told me to F#$% off! I stood there speechless hoping this man wouldn’t destroy my suits on purpose if he decided to alter them again. After trying to calm him down for about 10 minutes, he begrudgingly agreed. It was all very awkward.
This was a couple weeks ago and I was really upset at the time. But I don’t want to write an angry post. I just think that the guy portrayed in Unilocal and in reality seem like two completely different people. Moreover, I’ve never received such terrible customer service, not even at a Taco Bell drive thru.
My understanding is this – a good tailor should never be satisfied until his/​her customer is satisfied. Especially if they’re ranked number 1.
I doubt I’ll ever go back.
Research:
I highly recommend this video for anyone who was looking to get their suits fit but felt completely in the dark. This video is of a tailor that describes all of the correct measurements that should be made in a suit.
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DO NOT TAKE YOUR CLOTHES HERE!!! The tailor, Wafa, is terribly rude, has very little patience, and is completely full of himself. He might do a good job sometimes, but if you EVER have comments or feedback about a completed job he will go into a frenzy!
First of all I would like to disclose that I do not normally write reviews nor do I demand that tailors perform miracles on my clothing. I am aware that if I want clothes that fit perfectly and exude great wealth and confidence I should have them custom made. Second, I buy the best quality clothing I can afford with the goal of looking like a real man that is well put together and dresses with respect for his family and community.
In the last year, I relied on A1 tailor for minor alterations to a suit jacket, some shirts, and trousers. The suit jacket and the shirt both turned out fine, but the trousers were a complete service failure. I brought in three dress pants, all the same brand and style, to have the hem and waist adjusted. Wafa measured me and pinned the first pair of trousers. He assured me that I did not have to try on the remaining two, since the trousers were all the same. After waiting two weeks, I stopped in at A1 Tailor and tried on the trousers.
To my great disappointment, the pants were all different lengths and they all had significant fraying around the bottoms (See comparison picture). I had better hem adjustments done by the tailor at the Men’s Department store at Macy’s.
I mentioned my concern about the hemming to Wafa and he just went crazy. He went on to tell me how in 32 years of working as a tailor no customer had ever complained and that it was not the pants but instead my fault because I was wearing them incorrectly. He then proceeded to have his assistant measure them and the assistant confirmed that the lengths on the trousers were indeed different. At that point Wafa was extremely upset and just walked away and refused to talk to me anymore.
As a result, I will not be supporting this business anymore and I will make sure to let everyone I know about the terrible experience at A1 Tailor. Wafa insulted my intelligence and attempted to belittle me with his comments about the quality of my clothes. As I mentioned before, I buy the best I can afford and I paid him full price to do the same work as he might do on high end designer clothing. He chose to attack the person instead of focusing on the problem. That should be enough to convince you about the type of person he is and the quality of the business he runs.
Caveat Emptor «Buyer Beware!!!»

The tailor is great! Very friendly and professional, and my clothes were ready on time. I asked him to hem 3 stretchy camisoles, and he thoroughly explained to me that while he could do what I asked, he couldn’t produce the same hemming stitch (only industrial machines could make that stitch). I didn’t care, but I appreciated that he took the time to explain what was going to happen to my clothes. Hemming my camisoles was $ 10 a piece for $ 30 total, and that was with a single stitch rather than a double stitch (which costs slightly more).
CASH ONLY!