Bonnie’s Nail & Spa

if zero was an option, i’d check it off. i walked in with a friend & they told us to pick a color & that there was no wait. we picked our colors & even sat down in our spots within a reasonable time. while we were sitting, a few other, very rude customers walked in. demanding, nasty, entitled. i felt terrible for the staff… & made sure to be extra kind as they prepared our nails to soak off our gel manicures. slowly my sympathy waned however as numerous people kept walking in all being promised immediate service. telling people they’ll have to wait a few minutes isn’t a deal breaker, promising everyone immediate service when you obviously can’t fulfill that is bad business. all of the rude women were immediately taken care of & my friend & i were left for an hour with nail polish remover soaking our nails. the woman who seemed to be in charge came over at one point & told us just a little longer but at a certain point it just wasn’t worth it anymore. people that had come in after us had already left & one woman that came in after us was getting a pedicure & a manicure simultaneously while i waited for my $ 11 manicure! finally i started taking the tin foil off of my nails & scraping what was left off of my nails. when a my friend & i announced we wouldn’t be staying any longer the manager seemed to be a little miffed & tried very hard to entice us to stay by offering a few dollars off. hardly worth it & we really just needed to leave, but the woman kept repeating herself. finally, she walked away & my friend offered kindly to pay for the light shaping & filing the guy did to her nails & when he brought her receipt back he had charged her $ 26! $ 26 for sitting around for an hour listening to incredibly nasty people demand services & not actually being taken care of & a light file?! when a full regular manicure is only $ 11?! insanity. i’ve never taken the time to write a Unilocal review before, but this was all so rude & infuriating i couldn’t let the experience pass without speaking up. there are a million salons around here with competitive pricing, don’t even bother with this place. it’s absolutely not worth a few bucks off. NEVER AGAIN!

I’ve been coming here for years and never had an issue. I like that they use plastic liners in the pedicure tubs as not many places do that. Good color selection and good, fast service

This nail spa is wonderfully perfect! The owner always greets me by name with a smile and Polly always gives me an immaculate and fabulous manicure and pedicure each and every time. Bonnie’s has plenty of staff working every day and on weekends so you can walk in without an appointment. This is the only nail spa I will go frequent. Keep up the excellent service!

The rudest employees I have EVER encountered. He scoffed at me and said «that’s it?» after tipping 20% (which was very generous considering he didn’t deserve a penny). Absolutely never returning.

The only reason i am giving stars at all is so that I can write this and because my friend had a pleasant experience. Now to the business, i asked to get my eyebrows threaded luckily i walked out looking decent BUT NEVER AGAIN WILL I MAKE THIS MISTAKE. I felt like the lady was chopping at my face with the string, then as an experienced threader i know NOT to tweeze, the lady tweezed so I knew something was up. She rushed with my face strike 1, and charged more than an actual threading place would charge strike 2. Strike 3 came after i still had unwanted hairs on my eyebrows product of the rushing. Now in addition, i asked for a polish change because why not right? Usually other places would at least file your nails given that you are not asking for much with a polish change, NOPE, she grabbed my hands and painted away with no attention to how my nails actually looked, I MEAN COME ON! To top it all off, a day after my «polish change» i have 1 nail painted because the rest have all chipped which after researching i found out is the result of RUSHED NAIL PAINTING. I am not sure if my disappointment is being adequately communicated here but this place left me confirming that if i want something I can do myself done right, I should not be wasting my money and time getting it done but others. I mean harsh yes but simple easy service (the nail painting not the threading) COMPLETELY DONE WRONG. I wont be returning.

1. She stabbed my cuticles and when I said it hurt, she ignored and continued to cut deep into my cuticles.
2. I had dried up, dead skin still at the end of my pedicure. It was so obvious. Instead of removing it, when I showed her, she just lathered more lotion on.
3. I told her my nail was broken and I needed a silk wrap and she proceeded to file my nail so rough that it tore even more and I was bleeding.
4. She couldn’t do a silk wrap, so another girl did it on 2 of my torn nails. I tipped my main nail technician 20% at the end of everything — and she pointed to the girl who did the silk wrap and said she did 2 of your nails and I needed to tip her. I told her I gave her the 20% tip and if she wanted to give me change, I’d be happy to split up the tip. Incredibly rude and insulting.
5. There is a HUGE language barrier here.

Went in when it wasn’t busy and was still rushed by 3 different employees to choose color and sit down– wouldn’t even let me take off my jacket– and they seemed bothered that I asked for a minute to choose my color. Asked pricing for a couple of different services and either got a blank stare or a price that wasn’t consistent with the prices I later saw posted on the wall. The person who did my nails wasn’t looking at what she was doing half of the time as she was more concerned with the people coming in and out and phones ringing even though there were other employees not working on anyone who were capable of handling new customers/​calls. Nails chipped within 12 hours almost completely off two days later. Not worth the money spent.

TERRIBLE! Ok, if you go there when it’s not crowded. No frills. Lots of colors to choose from. If you go there when it’s busy they will tell you it’s a 5 minute wait when it’s clearly MUCH longer. The woman kept telling me 1 more minute…30 minutes later I was finally seen. They rush through the treatment and are always paying attention to what’s going on around and not the customer.

This shop is the best on west 72^st, i have been coming for years, the staff work here are so friendly and thoughtful, professional, they always do amazing job here. I live right cross street so this is a spot for me to come. they also do great massages here, mani pedi combo plus 20 min massage just$ 43, so tempting. But this place is alwasy packed on the weekends, so make sure you need to make a reservation before you come.

Worst nail salon I have ever been to in my entire life. Let me count the ways for you on just how bad this experience is. 1. They dilute the nail polish. Yes. 2. They didn’t even have the gel polish I wanted despite having it out there in the main area. 3. The woman giving me a massage felt like she was taking out some personal vendetta on an ex husband of some sort, SO painful. Not relaxing. 4. A employee there got mad and walked in pissed, had a tantrum, another employee laughed and they all started gossiping. 5. When it was time for the bill, I paid it and kept cash in my bag for tip (as I usually do, considerate that the salon staff usually prefer tips in cash. The sign even said so.) However, the woman pointed at the «tip» line — and said «hello tip what about tip?’ Is she for real?! How rude! Then when I gave her the tip at the end she didn’t even say goodbye. I’m never coming back here. They didn’t even help me put my shoes on or jacket on despite having my nails done. This place SUCKS. Skip it and spend money elsewhere. There are way better salons in the area.

Worst 10 min back massage. She was yelling and yawning and there was no pressure applied.

I got a gel manicure that looked extremely uneven when I was told I was finished. I asked for a third coat at it still didn’t look as good as gel manicures should. Two days later my manicure has started turning yellow. I won’t go back here

Posted photos as well… Very unclean… Unprofessional… And highly dissatisfied with my nails… They have already popped off and I got them done 2 days ago. Please save your money and go elsewhere

I had a few average mani pedis here but my last experience cancels out any average rating. I paid $ 30.00 for a gel manicure that should have lasted 2 –3 weeks minimum. The polish chipped in a few days so I returned there for them to fix it. The manager agreed to do the nails over but she was going to charge me for a regular manicure. I refused and showed her my nail card that proved I was just in the salon getting this expensive mani that should have lasted 2 – 3 weeks.
The manager/​owner finally agreed to redo the polish no charge. I sat there long after the gel soaked off my fingers and waited while she took other customers before me. I was amazed when even after all the other customers, she again took a walk in for a chair massage and a man for a manicure, ignoring me.
I walked out with no polish. There are mani pedi places everywhere in the city that do quality work and treat customers right, why go here?

This is my go to place for a last minute mani/​pedi since they open fairly early and close fairly late. I’ve been working on the UWS for almost 10 years now and even when it’s busy I’ve been able to walk in and be seen within 15 minutes or so. They get the job done and are very polite. My mani pedis tend to last the average amount of time as expected. If I lived on the UWS I think this would be my regular spot.

2.5 stars. Not the best mani/​pedi job you’ll ever get but this place gets it done. It’s clean, fairly priced, and my polish lasts longer than other places. The attendant’s don’t really speak with you and if you visit 10 times, your 11^th service is free! As someone else mentioned, they do sometimes miss spots on your nail so be aware!

When I walked in the the place was extremely empty, which is never a good sign. I needed nail extensions for a special occasion, and they were close-​by. The manicurist cut the tips way too short, and when I addressed it, gave me an attitude. The final result was an uneven nail, and messy polish. I will never come back here.

Mehhhh kind of a sloppy job. I came here on Sunday because Nails by Young are closed on Sundays and that is my neighborhood spot. When getting my mani done I noticed that there was a giant piece of peeling nail and the technician failed to notice it. When I asked her to remove it she seemed confused. I also had a bit of cuticle that needed to be cut and was jagged. That was annoying. I even had to cut my cuticles myself when I got home because it was such a poor job. Additionally, I noticed when they put the quick dry top coat on (the one I brought myself because I know salons always put thinner in theirs so your nails chip quickly), she was deliberately not getting the whole nail and leaving a quarter of it exposed. I went home and immediately put another top coat on to ensure there was no chipping. I probably won’t come here again.

With a super important appointment the next day, I decided that I had better look my best. Now a part of the process in «looking my best» is having the right outfit, the right shoes, perfectly blown out hair and, of course, nicely manicured nails.
I was just finishing dinner and decided to go for a post-​dinner manicure. I tried Pinky’s New York nail salon on West 73^rd and Amsterdam but there was a 30 minute wait. No thank you! I walked around the corner and stumbled upon Bonnie’s Nail & Spa. It looks like your typical nail salon but I had no time to waste — I had nails that needed to get did!
I entered, picked a color (Au Natural by Essie) and sat down… to a man! Pretty rare that men are in nail salons handing out manicures and pedicures but hey, it’s Manhattan. Everything was fine up until I noticed that not all of my old (RED OPI) nail polish had been taken off. Okay. I figured there was a method to his madness. Turns out, there was none. I had to ask if he was taking the rest off when he began putting cuticle oil on me to which he just mumbled/​grunted and took the tool used to push down the cuticles* and scraped the remaining nail polish off. Not sure if that was his plan, dumb luck or what but I thought it was a sure sign foreshadowing of what was to come.
He began to fix my awful cuticle situation but then began to cut them. I was confused as to what the point was of him pushing the cuticle down if he was planning on cutting them? I wasn’t about to tolerate that and told him to please stop. He did and continued to prep my nails. As the polish went on he had a very fast way of painting them at the pace that said to me «Hey, I really don’t want to be doing this right now and we’re about to close so, we’re gonna just get this over with.» Needless to say despite the pace, my polish looked great except later I noticed a tiny string of fiber and bubbles** in my polish. Sad face.
He whipped out a tiny pink dryer for my nails and asked if I’d like a massage. I said no but only because it cost money. He massaged me regardless but it was brief, like a sample of what I was missing out on. He focused on my left shoulder blade and then tried to rub my arms and them rubbed down on them however that was so light, it might as well been some random weirdo on the subway brushing against me. It was brief, weird and frankly pointless. Glad I wasn’t charged for that.
As my nails dried, I noticed that since the place was close to closing they were taking out the garbage. Fine. Except they dumped it all in black trash bags directly behind my seat. No, I wasn’t going anywhere but that was quite unsettling especially since it was close to my beautiful Kate Spade bag. Also, a woman came in and bellowed, «Hi! Who can give me a bikini wax? Like, a real bikini wax?» People give waxed here? Doesn’t look like the spot where you’d get it done but, gave me the impression that people might feel comfortable doing that here***.
So although my nails were satisfactory and I only paid $ 11 (plus $ 3 tip), I basically got what I paid for. Though next time I want to pay the same amount in a cleaner, friendler place where I don’t have garbage bags near me and careless (thoughtless?) manicurists near my nails.
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BEAUTY TIPS, AHOY!
* UnilocalERS: Never, ever, EVER cut your cuticles! Why? They’re there to protect you and act as a barrier from viruses and other gross things like the microscopic organisms living on the poles of the 7 train. You should always have your cuticles pushed down, always.
**If you see bubbles in your nail polish, that means you’ve used too much product! Simma down now!
***Make sure your waxer doesn’t double dip, unsanitary, and uses blue wax as that is less painful and hot therefore kinder to your skin.

So far so good. $ 20 for a pedicure. Massage, waxing, eyebrow threadig they seem to have it all here. Nice Chinese women working here, relaxing traditional Chinese music and they wear gloves and appear to try to keep everything really clean. Plastic inserts on all the chairs for water. Mine came loose and the water filled the regular basin buy for the most part they seem to work.
This is not a destination nail spa or anything super fancy, but it’s clean nice, deep massage from the chairs (they’re not wimpy) and you won’t feel like you’ve been ripped off.
Date Rating: 1
Pickup Scale: 1
Strong suggestion: good value forthw neighborhood, not fancy, pretty clean, pleasant staff & no bleeding fingers.