Zen Salon

This is a busy fast paced shop. Don’t be too intimidated by the line if you come here. It actually moves fast. They don’t hablamo a bunch of English here but its not been a problem for me. If you are into a bunch of English being spoken HELLO?- don’t get your haircut in Chinatown. You really have to go out of your way to end up in this little shop. Anyhow I have had four good cuts here on consectative weekends and it has been good. Impressed by the price as well.

Price great,
But, how about service?
How about the outcome?
Well,
Let me tell you,
They service you fast and efficient ‚
But how does it come out???
Let me tell you,
The cut, clean nice, good looking,
If you get highlights, nice and professional ‚
So you ask, why not 5 stars?
Well,
Let me tell you,
It really is 4 going to 5…
(Let’s see next time)…
Did I mention great price,
Lol

I was referred here by a friend.
Before I went to Zen I called to make my appointment with Karen just to simplify my life just a little. When I came in for my appointment I noticed the place is full of Chinese speakers and felt out of place. This place has many stations and it was packed when I went in for my appointment. It’s a good thing that I had made my appointment before hand. Karen was nice and she speaks English (woohoo). She took care of my needs in a timely manner. My haircut was decent and cheap.
Price: depending on what kind of haircut you want, the price varies.
Parking: because it’s located on a busy street there’s never any parking on the street store front, unless you’re lucky. So be prepared to park on the small side street and do a little walking.
Service: I have no complaints as my appointment was with only Karen.
I would come back to get a trim or haircut with Karen.

I have been going to this salons for years. I only ask for Karen. She is the best of cutting layers. I referred her to lot of my friends/​co-​workers and they all love her.

They ALSO lied to me. They told me that Joe went on a «long vacation». I thought they were lying when they told me that but after a year, and he’s still «on a long vacation», I’m sure they’re lying. My hair is super long now and I always refuse to try new people cause who knows how my hair will end up looking.
now my hair is down to my butt, and I REALLY need to find Joe. I read in the other review that he moved down the street but does anyone know exactly where? Or have his phone number? PLEASE message me the address/​number if anyone has it please. I really need to find him so I can finally get a haircut.

One of the worst, ugliest haircuts I’ve ever had in my entire life.
I usually go to other places, but I wanted to try this place — Zen Salon. Several points I have to discuss:
First of all, if you’re an ABC, good luck at this place. Barely ANYONE here speaks English. I tried explaining to the person who cut my hair how I wanted it cut. But he didn’t speak a drop of English. All he could do was nod his head trying to understand what I was saying.
Second of all. Does this guy even know HOW to cut hair??? I was staring straight at the mirror, telling him that he basically used a razor to make a HUGE GASH on my sideburns. Again, no English. Another thing — the guy doesn’t know how to CUT HAIR. Absolutely no CARE or QUALITY. All he did was use the razor, shave the top of my head, and use the large hair shears to chop off pieces of my hair. EVERY OTHER place I’ve went to uses trimming scissors to even the top part of your hair, and to make it look well. A good barber usually has a a good practice to make your hair even. This guy cut my hair in a way that was almost like a student who doesn’t know what he’s doing, or even cares for that matter.
And i paid $ 14 bucks for the haircut and shampoo. What a total waste of money. All I know is that i’m never coming back here again. Unbelievably low quality. So pissed off.

$ 8 cut. Ask for Teresa.

For those with the bad reviews — COME ON people! Look how much you are getting charged! If you’re expecting Umberto, then don’t come here. You get what you pay for, and they take their time and it’s CHEAP. If you want something fancy and different, that may be hard to communicate but you have to tell them what you want and they’ll do it. I’ve always had a great experience, and so has the rest of my family.

I’m not sure how the other workers are, but I come here just for Karen. Ask for her if you want a good haircut. She actually UNDERSTANDS what you want. If you’re a girl, you know what I mean when you ask to trim 2 inches off, and they shave your entire hair off. YOU KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT. If you ask to trim 2 inches, Karen will trim 2 inches. She does V-​layer cuts perfectly. She also cuts bangs professionally =) I recommend this place, only for her!

If you are a woman, I suggest that you avoid this salon. The guy who cut my hair had no idea what he was doing. He gave me a terrible haircut, and I had to go to a different salon to ask another hairdresser to save my hair. As far as I can tell, the hairdressers here can do a decent job with men’s hair, but do not know how to cut women’s hair.

I been coming here for years now. They always had wonderful service until the last time I went a couple of month ago. I always ask for joe. So the day when I went I called joe to schedule an appointment. When I got there his stand was cleared out. I ask the boss where he went and the boss told me he went back to China he will come back in a month. But I told him I spoke with Joe this morning and he answered his phone. So the boss said do you want to get service or not. I don’t live very close so since I was there I just got service from another person. That person told me Joe left and open his own shop down the street. The boss didn’t want to tell customers in fear of loosing them. because most of them we’re looking for Joe. That’s very dishonest and rude.
So for those of you that want to know where joe went. He has his own shop down the same street.

Great prices. Terrific styles. My wife will not have her hair cut anyplace but here.

I have been going here for over a year now, about once a month for just the standard haircut, no wash or anything else. Prices are 8 dollars for haircuts, whereas parking is free and easily accessible on the side streets.
As I have told others, this place is a hit or miss. One haircut could be amazing, while the next haircut could be way off or lopsided. I feel this with each of the barbers who had cut my hair multiple times. Don’t be surprised when they ask you multiple times if you would like to wash your hair either (at additional costs) or if they give attitude when you suggest that there are uneven areas. Still, you get what you paid for, and I do go here consistently just for the loyalty, the price, and not wanting to take risks anywhere else.

I should note that unless I were flat broke, I would not come here to cut or color my hair. Not that I’ve ever had a bad experience here, but no one comes near this head of hair with scissors and dye except for Monica over at Bokaos in Pasadena.
With that said, I think you could get an awesome blow out here for a fabulous price! The other day, I was in a huge hurry to get to where I needed to be. That particular morning, I went to the gym, came home to shower, and before I knew it, I was running really late. .. so I threw on some clothes, did my make-​up, and stopped by Zen Salon, looking for someone to just blow-​dry my hair. Luckily, as soon as I walked in, I was greeted and sat down in SECONDS.
The lady asked what I needed to do, and I told her I just wanted to blow-​dry my hair and add volume with a little bit of curls on the bottom. I was done in about 15 – 20 minutes, which put me back on schedule. All for $ 12!!! Yes, $ 12. Other salons would charge you $ 30+, so it was such a nice relief that I paid less than half of what I normally would pay. Granted, the work wasn’t as good as my normal blow outs, but for $ 12, I’m willing to cut Zen a lot of slack.

This is a good place to get a haircut, the prices are the lowest I’ve seen. Although they have increase the men’s haircut one dollar recently, it’s still cheep.
I get my haircut, at Zen, from my Teresa. She’s very nice but speaks little English. She spends the time to make sure you like your haircut and always tries to push for a hair wash, around four dollars more. :) she’s a bit silly, but nice.

One of my friends flipped through all my fb pictures and said that I have had the same haircut since high school, and that’s pretty true. It’s cause I’ve gotten my hair cut by the same person from here for the longest time.
I never ask for anything fancy — I just want long layers and bangs to make my hair lighter, because otherwise it is extremely thick and heavy. I go to college in Chicago, and I’ve tried salons that cost triple the price of this one, asked for this haircut, and no dice. My hair never comes out the say I want it to be, since no one can cut my hair like Michael can.
It’s costs only $ 25 after tax and clip, including wash and style for a woman’s cut, which is pretty much unheard of. I always plan around my schedule each break to make sure I have time to get a cut before I have to head back to the Windy City.
P. S. Michael is wonderful for me, but I’ve also seen him make kids cry because they don’t like it. I think he’s just good at the type of style I want, and he’s not really a versatile hair stylist (my sister asked for something different, and ended up getting the same cut as me too lol).

Had a Japanese straight perm and hair cut.
This was my idea going into the salon…(which i used because i know others that go there) my hair is super long and a little bit wavy… so i wanted to make it super straight and long instead.
that was my idea anyways. The stylist said my hair was dry on the ends and i should give my hair a trim. I then responded by asking for some long layers if they were going to cut a little anyways. The «long layers» had the first layer in the back about as high as my ears!!! This made me upset because i love love love long hair.
Straight perm was nice… love it, but which my hair was longer since i lost like four inches of hair! darn…

I’ve been coming here every time I visit Monterey Park. The prices are good and the haircuts are decent. I mean its not bad and not good. You pay for what you get. There could be a wait sometimes but it is usually quick since like 30 people work here. The people working here are nice. They are always talking super loud to each other in Chinese. The lady that cut my hair the other day told me my hair was nice. I was like WTF? Really? I don’t even take care of it and that day I didn’t even shower yet.
Overall the service is good. However, they should try to hire someone that actually knows how to speak English.

I am biased because I have been hair cuts here since I was 4 years. Most of the staff speak only Chinese. Cash only.

I really like this place! Especially for the price. For a girls cut, it costs $ 14. I first came here because one of my friends comes here regularly, and now all of my girl friends come here. Haha. They have a lot of workers, so the quality of cut you get really depends on who cuts your hair. We always go to Karen. :)
If you have super thin, flat, asian hair, tell Karen that you want volume and you’ll be good! And, bring a picture! She really makes sure to listen to you and that she does exactly want you want. She also gives suggestions based on your hair type/​face which I like because I’m indecisive.
One thing I didn’t like is that I got a V-​cut… and it was too much «V» for my taste. A little too fobby, which I wasn’t aiming for. I’m going again tomorrow, so we’ll see how she does this time around!