Dolma Nails

This place was clean, inexpensive, and I was happy with my nails.

1. The place has changed. It is at ⁴²⁄₄₁ street
2. Such a slow service. The mani/​pedi not great either. They are really trying to give you the best but not that experienced. Not very satisfied with how they applied the polish.

It is my understanding that Dolma has either moved locations or has now closed, as this location is now known as Nam’s Skin Care. I came here last night looking to get a mani/​pedi and to kill some time before meeting a friend for dinner around the corner.
This is the smallest nail salon I have ever been visited in my life. It has ONE pedicure chair. In other words, you should probably make an appointment if you work in the area and want to ensure that you will be seen. I was fortunate that when I dropped in, the woman before me was finishing up.
Because I was in a hurry, I got a standard pedicure. They have a ton of different options — several «spa» pedicures that have a variety of lotions and soaks, paraffin pedicure (which is increasingly harder to find), french, etc. The same is true for their manis. Nam’s has the standard selection of polish — Opi, Essie, etc. I didn’t get polish because I was in a rush and I am too hard on my hands to have it stay (including gel.)
Their price list said that they charge $ 7 for callus pedicures but the woman doing my pedi still applied a gel and treated my heels. She gave me one of the best pedis I have had in a long time. All of the filing is even. She didn’t dig or needlessly cut, and it didn’t hurt. Their tools were kept clean in a sanitizer.
The majority of their space is devoted to other services that Nam’s provides including facials, body treatments and massages. They carry and use several lines of products that a former aesthetician of mine used, which I was pleased to see.
Is this place glam? Not at all. If you are looking for a spa to go to with a group of girlfriends and be handed a glass of champagne as soon as you walk in the door UES-​style, this is not for you. This is a very bare bones, low rent, get the job done spot, with two very hard working ladies. They are sweet and attentive, both of whom know what they are doing. Prices are very reasonable. I got a brief but excellent shoulder massage while my toes were drying, which gave me an indication of how good their massages are. She even offered me a piece of candy and held the door open for me as I left.
Options for «spa» services in the West 40s in the 8^th to 10^th Aves are very limited. Most salons are closer to 6^th to 7^th Ave. This place is a gem to be appreciated. I will go back here for a massage and facial when I am in the city. You should too if you are in the area.

Cheap, clean, place, lovely people. My bare-​bones neighborhood spot for the basics. Sitting here right now after having my two big toenails touched up for free with no pushback; got sock marks even after waiting two hours to put them on yesterday. Love these women!

First the good, the staff is super friendly and kind. However, the place is small, even by NYC standards, and they were soooooo slooooooow. I needed a pedi, my friend needed her old gel polish removed and a mani… and we both opted to go without color because there was just no sense of urgency, although there were others waiting. Won’t recommend it, and would never go back.

Great service had a gel pedicure and manicure!
Very satisfied. I would recommend it!

Dolma and her team are absolutely the best. It’s definitely not a glitz and glam nail spa (it’s very, very tiny and just has the essentials) but they do an absolutely incredible job — very passionate and diligent about their work. I come here all the time for manis and pedis on a walk in basis and they can typically accommodate me right away.
They have Essie & OPI nail polishes, as well as gel. They can also do mani /​pedi at the same time if you need to be in and out, or they take their time if you have longer to hang around.

Tiniest, dingiest nail salon I’ve ever been in. They have 2 manicure tables and 2 or 3 pedicure chairs. I think the drying station could only fit one person. It was hot inside and there were flies.
Price was fine. It was $ 29 for a mani-​pedi.
But I will say that they did a fine job. They were very friendly and diligent. Really took their time with the filing, clipping, and massages even though they were busy (Thursday right after work) and had other customers waiting.

Doesn’t look/​feel like a very sanitary place and that was my disappointment. However the ladies who work there are very friendly and nice. They also do a complementary back rub while your nailpolish is drying, which is really nice.

The worst place I never been.
The girls was rude and the manicure is just so bad… The tools was not clean at all, empty cup of coffee on the floor…
Just So disgusting !!
They forced me to give 20% tip, it was the worst manicure of my life.
Don’t go there !!!

Best shellac nails! Attention to detail is wonderful, they last 3 weeks with very minimal chipping and bending (mine usually chip after 1 or 2 weeks at other places). Staff are friendly and nice, and they throw in a little back rub while you wait — what more could you want?!

This place may be small and modest but they definitely deliver a high quality service without breaking the bank. After my 7 mile run through Time Square and Central Park today my poor feet were barking. They were in need of some R&R.
They added a 10min foot massage for $ 10 and I couldn’t simply say no. I was in nirvana as my lil puppies were put to sleep.

What I love about Dolma when I first walked through her doors was that genuine sincere smile, amazing customer service skills and her professional way in everything she does.
But when Dolma isn’t there there are some workers 2 in particular that have no idea what customer service is all about.
Have you ever had someone work on your hands and feet and feel the «negative» vibrations. Well when these 2 ladies started working on me I felt horrible & not good. Although I got there early & no one was there they were rushing, seemed angry and bothered that I was there. It turns out I left upset & told Dolma about the experience. Dolma I love you but I refused to be taken care of by these 2 ladies. It just doesn’t feel good.

Came here in a crunch. It’s small but has a good selection of colors. The staff really knew their customers and were caring. However, everything was an up sell. I wanted to reach not listen to a sales pitch. My nails did last a full week which never happens.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect because the reviews for this place were all over the map. Overall I would say in a HUGE pinch you can go here if you are semi desperate but otherwise I wouldn’t bother.
I walked in during lunch hour at work for a mani pedi and there was one girl getting hers done. I kind of freaked out at how small and dingy it was and decided against the pedi. It wasn’t dirty but really just run down.
I sat at the table and got a decent manicure with no wait and was in and out in less than 30 minutes. The technician was quick and seemed skilled enough, and did pay attention to my terrible winter destroyed cuticles. My nails actually looked great despite my anxiety because of the lack of ambiance of the place.
The only thing stopping me from going back is their cleanliness — no machine to disinfect. They soak their tools in some chemical to clean them and it is sitting in a plastic box in this ‘juice’ — that freaked me out but it was too late for me to run. Despite my anxiety over that, nails did look good and are lasting so far. Surprised and satisfied for the price I suppose. $ 10. You get what you pay for!

The space is extremely small, with only 2 or 3 nail stations and 3 pedicure chairs. The floors are not swept very well and at closer looks the entire place is a bit unclean.
I didn’t see the tools come out of a sanitizer so I asked for another one. They don’t use warm water to soak your fingers in, which I had never experienced. The manicure did not seem rushed but I did not like the final result. It looked as if there were pieces of sand stuck under the polish, which didn’t help when she put on a heavy final coat.
I didn’t receive a short back massage as I saw others did because the woman working on me was eager to move on to the next customer once they arrived.
Overall it was not terrible, and the polish lasted a couple days. However I doubt I’ll be going back here, I enjoy a more relaxed experience rather than staring at the dirt on the floor.

I am absolutely befuddled as to how reviews are so high for this place. I’ve been three times now. Not only does it take entirely too long for a supposed «no frills» spot (half the reason I was so hopeful it’d work out, given the geographical convenience and price point), they just plain don’t do a great job.
I’m regularly left with uneven tips (as in crooked/​angled) and painted fingers. Plus, the quick dry is glopped on so heavily and inaccurately, nails regularly chip before 24 hours has passed.
Dolma, I had such high hopes!

I very much enjoy this nail place. I have been back about 5 or 6 times. I usually go during my lunch break and I’m in and out within 25 mins if there is no line. The ladies truly know how to give you a quick professional manicure.
My biggest pet peeve with nail salons is how they actually color your nails and let me tell you they do an awesome job. And for the price? You wont find a better nail salon for $ 9. I’v been to quite a few nails places around here…

This is the first time in (my) Unilocal history that I’m left stumped on how to review this place. Dolma got the highest reviews which all seemed relatively positive with the exception of one one star review. Unfortunately, that one star review foreshadowed what was to come.
Walking in, I was genuinely shocked at how tiny the space is, only 5 – 6 clients at a time could fit in here. I couldn’t imagine how so many people in this space would possibly be comfortable and be able to move around freely. When I arrived, there were two other women there with only two staff members. One woman was being massaged and the other was in the middle of a pedicure. Not knowing this place, I called ahead of time to see if there was any wait and I was told I wasn’t. One of the manicurists asked if I had just called, I said yes and she said, «About the gel manicure?» «No.» I never mentioned gel, just a manicure.
I picked Essie’s Geranium (a festive, orangey red color — figured I’d try the orange color trend on my nails rather than lips first!). The older manicurist sat me down, took out her tools and started to prep my nails. We got off on the wrong foot as she rubbed nail polish remover in a little cut I had next to my nail in an effort to get rid of it because she thought it was red nail polish. Seriously? When I told her what she was doing, she simply made a noise and snorted as she continued to prep my nails.
Irritation subsiding, I noticed something. Complete silence. There was no noise except for the sound of nail files and sounds of the Ninth Avenue. It was very peaceful. The peace stopped when I was horrified that my manicurist was about to go ahead and use RUSTY NAIL CLIPPERS on me. I immediately told her that I’d prefer her to use a nail file. It was clear that this woman didn’t know a lick of english and or she was going to assume I would be okay letting her do my nails in a way she saw fit.
My manicurist proceeded to put glunks of who-​knows-​what on my nails and began to vigorously push my cuticles down. This bit I found quite satisfactory since she got rid of the last of my red nail polish that I had come in wearing. I had some faith restored in her until she started to cut my cuticles which I told her to stop. Unilocalers, CUTTING YOUR CUTICLES SHOULD NOT BE DONE. Cutting cuticles heightens the potential for viruses and other creepy microscopic things to enter your body — you don’t want this. That is the purpose of you even having cuticles. I digress…
Throughout this process my nails began to look great but I was keeping an eye on the time. The minutes seems to crawl by as this woman spent what felt like years on each finger. I was yelling internally for her to hurry up but you don’t yell at little old ladies that don’t speak your language, do you? No. While I was bored, I took a moment to look around and noticed a large-​ish ant near my Kate Spade and realized that’s why they had a large can of Raid for ants and roaches out for all to see along with some garbage wonton soup, cream and other junk. It was sinking in that this place is not at all clean and I began yelling internally at myself for being in this situation.
Finally the nail preparation was over. My nails were really starting to look great and I felt excited about how this color was going to look on me. I felt even better know that the best part was yet to come, the hand massage! It felt great and I thoroughly enjoyed it until the end where she did a strange POPPING OF MY KNUCKLES. What was that supposed to do? Help my nerves, blood flow or relieve stress? It made my nerves go on edge, blood flow sky rocket from irritation and my stress levels were brewing from not being to handle what the hell this woman was doing to my fingers. This was worse when she tried to clean a cut that I had with nail polish remover because she thought the cut was polish. Seriously, how dim are you?!
Relief washed over me as the strange knuckle popping thing was over and she began to FINALLY paint my nails. This was the only thing that she did quickly and paid meticulous attention to how she neatly she did my nails. She brought my bag over to the drying station and suddenly began to massage my shoulders and back! This woman did what I had always wished people would do, just f#$%ing go for it and massage me underneath my shirt/​sweater/​whatever I’m wearing to reach my back properly. The pressure was amazing and the massage was much needed. I realized then that back massages may be this woman’s forte. Sad it was over within 2 minutes but that’s all I needed to realize that that’s why the two women I saw when I first came in were adamant about getting back massages.
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The two stars is for the outcome of the manicure and free mini back massage while my nails were drying. The only two good things about this experience.

How in the heck they have a 5, is beyoooond me.
Bare bones like someone said? Yes.
Bare bones AND clean? No. No, not at all.
My face was scrunched up the entire time I was there. I have never been in such a basic, unclean, cluttered, and unsanitary nail salon in my life. Granted I’m from Atlanta, we have more space and our salons are just a bit bigger, but space factor aside I don’t enjoy seeing empty food containers, juices, etc etc. Moreover I DO NOT enjoy you using the same crusty supplies on me that you probably used on the last person. Dirty nail filer, rusted toe nail clippers, Just disgusting to be honest.
How can anyone in their right mind recommend this place? Is this how all NYC salons are?
The manicure was $ 9, which is a good price. But I would have easily shelved out $ 12 or $ 13 to be in a clean and sanitary salon.
The 1-​star is for the friendliness. They are very nice people. I just wish the place was clean and had sanitized supplies.
These reviews are obviously fakes or either these people have very very very very VERY crazily LOW STANDARDS. This salon is disgusting, no offense, I would not recommend it to anyone… except for maybe my worst enemy.
PS– This place is literally like a back alley operation, they might as well be doing your nails at the bathroom in their home, their manicures should be $ 5 and pedicures $ 10 simply because of the unsanitized and messy conditions. I literally think this place is a health hazard, I’m very tempted to report them because I feel like someone could possibly get an infection in this place. And I haaaate to say that b/​c this is a persons business, but OMG you can buy new nail kits from the Dollar Store for $ 1, you can buy cleaning supplies for $ 1. Take pride in your storefront business– atleast keep it clean and have new supplies.

I thought this place may be too good to be true but, honestly, it’s such a hidden gem! I came in right after work on a Friday for a quick manicure. The manicurist worked diligently and gave me… the BEST post manicure hand massage — I don’t care if it sounds silly.