Valley

Unclear, vague and arbitrary prices on nail designs. I booked an appointment online for a gel manicure and 15 mins of nail design ($ 65 before tip)
Check in process was fine — I checked in and was seated almost immediately. I didn’t have a specific design in mind. all I knew was that I wanted to stay within the 15 minutes of nail design so I was interested in getting ideas from my manicurist to see what she would be comfortable with doing in that time slot. She didn’t seem very engaged and wasn’t presenting any ideas. so the person in the front desk suggested that I Instagram #valley15 to get some ideas. He stressed to only look at the #valley15 — so I was under the impression that anything I chose with that hashtag would be covered in what I had paid.
Imagine my surprise when I went up to the front desk to pay and he had tacked on an extra $ 20 to my bill !! What surprised me even more was the fact that she really did all in all spend about 15 minutes on the nail design. so I was confused as to why I was being charged extra? When I asked him he said it was because the design was more «intricate» — but then why was it under the hashtag #valley15 if its too intricate?
All in all it was a very unpleasant surprise and I left feeling cheated on. If you are going to be charged extra for a design, then it should not be included in the hashtag. If I had known I was going to be charged extra, I could have easily picked something else — since my heart wasn’t set on something specific. I just picked whatever I thought was pretty that was under the hashtag.
I even brought this to their attention by responding to their survey, only to get a response back that basically states that they stand behind their vague pricing policy. Long story short, go someplace else. Many better places in the city that offer quality and better customer service.

My regular polish manicure with ombré sparkles cost $ 60. I can tell you that this is NOT worth the price and it actually looked like I had done it myself. I’m more annoyed that all the sparkles are chipping off and I got this done yesterday. I wanted to try this place bc of all the hype but when I asked about doing designs or doing something on my nails the woman told me that they don’t do that except if it’s on gel. This place is ridiculous, sorry valley but your hype is too cool for me.

When my best friend got married — I jumped at the chance to splurge on some fancy nails. I booked the appointment online (super easy) with Kesang for the last time slot of the day. Walked in, no wait time, and offered a drink. I totally appreciate that even though most of the other techs were wrapping up and cleaning up their stations for the day, Kesang took her time, talked me through my design choices, and didn’t rush anything. I’ve been getting my nails done for the last ten years of my life, and this was hands down the best manicure I’ve ever gotten. It was also the most expensive. But here I am 3 weeks and 6 days later, and I completely understand why. Only yesterday, did one of my nails start to chip/​peel. With the exception of just growing out, my nails were otherwise perfect.
Kesang is so talented and such a perfectionist. She would do a design on one nail, show me and asked what I thought. To me it was fine. And she would look at it some more, and then decide it wasn’t good enough. Take it off and redo it. So of course this took much longer than a regular mani but the results are worth it.

Visiting New York for a few days, made a last minute appointment and they were able to accommodate my friend and me. Got a basic half moon mani and chatted it up with my nail tech. It was pricey and I hate to say I wasn’t impressed with it – especially since less than 24 hours later I have three chipped nails. Bummer.

Pretty pricey for the work that was done. I got a one-​color gel mani, no nail art. The polish was a bit messy and was left on my skin/​fingertips. The tech cut my cuticle to point of causing it to bleed and it was sore for the next week. It also took almost 2 hours.

Didn’t realize a manicure/​pedicure took over two hours. I made an appointment and service was so slow I had to leave to make a dinner reservation before I got my gel done. Left with bare nails on my toes and hands and you still had the audacity to charge me almost 90 dollars. Are you kidding me? And that’s after I talked you down from the 114 you almost charged me. Also you blared Death Cab For Cutie at me and let a girl loudly talk to her therapist on the phone for an hour and said nothing. Hope that chick figures out how to handle her relationship at work with someone named Margot.
I thoroughly enjoyed writing this.

I used to love valley, but I feel the hype is officially over. Paying 89 $ for a plain old gel mani with a plastic triangle stuck on each nails took 2 hours and cost a fortune. Why? I’m yet to understand. Saying «nail art» and sticking something on the nail is like saying you’re selling fine art, when it’s a smear of lipstick on a piece of notebook paper. Stop.

Would be 5 stars, but I had a one major complaint:
These manicures are not cheap. But I understand, the quality of the nail technicians or «nail artists» comes at a price. I would never pay this price for a manicure for myself. I couldn’t justify spending $ 75 dollars on it, that’s why my boyfriend got me a gift certificate for my birthday. And he made sure he had the correct gift — a gel manicure with 15 minutes of nail art.
When he paid for it online, it came to about $ 69 dollars for a gel manicure and 15 mins worth of nail art. And thinking that I had a gift certificate for a specific service, I thought I wouldn’t have to pay anything. My design was simple and on 2 nails on each hand. (BTW — I had my mani back in August, so it’s been a while, not recent). When I finished, they charged me $ 75 dollars, so I had to pay the balance. I didn’t go over the 15 minutes, nor did I ask for more than what my gift certificate allowed, but I was still charged. The woman said she didn’t know why the website did that, but I would suggest — if you have gift certificates available for specific services, honor them for those services or fix the website so the purchaser pays the full amount. I know $ 5 isn’t bad at all, just a surprise when I went in to a treat for my birthday as a gift and I still had to pay.
Now, the quality of the manicure was amazing. Lasted me almost 4 weeks! I was just left with a sour note with the gift certificate.

I was hesitant to write this review because I have been coming to valley on and off for years and have always had a very good experience– until my most recent appointment. As usually I had to book my appointment almost a week in advance because the salon was so busy (this isn’t out of the ordinary for this nail salon), it was also the week of Christmas so there wait list was extra long. I manage to get an appointment the morning of Christmas Eve at 11 am. It was not an ideal appointment but it was all they could do. I showed up to my appointment on time (rushed and took a cab), I was told to take a seat and that my technician would be right there. After waiting several minutes the receptionist told me that my tech had a family situation and would not be coming in, that they couldn’t do anything about it and wouldn’t be able to fit me in. I walked out pissed off, upon cooling down I called back and asked if there was anything they could do. If I was to not show up I would have been charged– besides that I’ve worked in the customer service industry for years, when your charging $ 100+ for nails you fix a situation for your client. When I spoke with that same receptionist she had a less than helpful attitude and once again stated that there was nothing they could do. I later wrote an email stating my disappointment– it was Christmas Eve, I waited all week and then they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) make the situation right. I never even got a response to the email. To say the least– it looks like I won’t be returning to valley, which really sucks because all of my past experiences have been good, it just showed me that they don’t really care about keeping customers.

Best manicure I’ve ever had in my life. And I’m super picky. She treated my nails meticulously and she was mindful of every corner. They look amazing. This is for a gel manicure no design with Molly.

They do an amazing job on the nail art. My nails look wonderful. Just pricey and the prices seem to be random. No clear price list and two of us got the same manicures and paid different amounts.
Definitely a treat.

Just tried to do walk in to a completely empty salon and got told «We don’t have anyone who can do a manicure.» Bizarre.

Great place for a special manicure!!! All of the technicians are all trained to do nail designs. Come with an idea or two, but they are more than happy to assist. (Look up #valleynyc for ideas) The regular polish lasts at least a week. Maybe more. However, the disadvantage are the prices.

I treated myself to a fancy nail art pedicure for a trip to CA. It was my first time here and I will be back!
I had flawless service from the time I booked my appointment over the phone with Tina, through the time I walked out the door.
Kesang, the nail artist was attentive, detailed, professional and very talented!
I am very selective about mani/​pedi work because I once got a toenail fungus from a very well known salon in Soho. I like the waterless pedicure at Valley, because it reduces the risk of infection.
So, Valley is pricey$$$, but it’s worth it. I can’t afford to come here every month but I would definitely come here several times a year for a more fun pedi or mani. The reason why I say it’s worth it, is for more than the service. My pedicure lasted from August 12^th until I took it off this morning, September 4^th! I never wore close-​toed shoes and it endured multiple applications of sunscreen, three showers a day and Bikram yoga classes!

Would be a STRONG 5 stars if the prices were better! Definitely a «treat yo self» place :)
I received nail extensions and a simple, artsy design so the session was something to block off the calendar for but worth every bit. Anju did an excellent job — especially since I’d never been more than a classic nails girl & went full Katy Perry talons just for kicks here (or as far as I’m concerned) — making my nails look like a clean, rockstar motif, not trashy. **BONUS: liquid quick dry meant nails were walk-​out ready in under 5 min and didn’t smudge**
Highly recommend if you’re looking to shake things up a bit or have a special event. Basic mani/​pedi? Stick to your local spot.

I went to valley after following them for months and obsessively trying to decide what nail art I wanted as it’s quite an investment. I was originally going to get a gel manicure with nail art and a pedicure but when the receptions told me it would be $ 110 I said forget the pedi.
I was greeted and seated quickly and the manicurist got right to work. I’m glad j didn’t get the pedicure because the stations looked incredibly uncomfortable.
I showed the manicurist the design I wanted and she seemed very confused, which in hindsight I should have asked someone else to do it. She ended up doing an ok job on the art but stated that normally people just get ombré. (??) it seemed like she may have been new, I dk.
I was disappointed to later find careless mistakes which resulted in my manicure chipping 3 days after I received it! I was pretty upset, considering I just spend $ 70 (before tip) on this manicure. I emailed valley and explained that I was on vacation and didn’t get back until after the week long grace period for free touch ups. The manager quickly responded letting me know I could come in once I returned to get it fixed. I was really happy to hear this.
I went to valley Chelsea for my re-​do where Esther did a fabulous job. She not only fixed the fingers that chipped but also caught some mistakes on other fingers.
I will return to valley in the future because of the customer service mentioned above.
My biggest recommendation is that no matter what kind of nail art you are getting, when you make the appointment specify that you want someone who is good at nail art. I’m definitely going to make future appointments with specific people rather than leaving it up to chance.

This review is for the Chelsea location.
If you can get past the front desk, you will have a wonderful time. For the amount of money spent, I anticipated a much higher end experience. We had a group appointment and one girl got lost and went to the wrong location. The receptionist was not terribly understanding about this and ended up canceling her slot. She also had me pay for her even though she did not have any thing done because it was a group appointment and had to cancel «many other clients» to fit us in. This was disappointing. Mostly because for the price paid, we all felt the service should be better quality. The techs were awesome! Just with the overall experience was better.

Most expensive manicure I’ve gotten in my life and *three* nails chipped THE FIRST NIGHT. After hundreds of manicures, this has never happened to me before. Super disappointing.

I went to Valley in Nolita and my tech was great and very nice. I was a little irritated that she said my design was impossible to do (it had a glitter accent nail and ombré on the other nails… why is this impossible to do if you are a trained nail tech???), but I chose a different design that I was happy with.
I was going to get gel on my nails, but when I heard the extra cost, I opted out. I got regular polish and still ended up paying $ 120 including tip to get artificial nails glued onto my fingers with an extremely simple design (white tips with white half moons near the cuticle). The tech also cut my cuticle and I was bleeding throughout almost the entire session.
All in all: they do a good job… they just charge WAAAAAY too much for what they do. I’ve gone to nail salons in the past to get far more intensive services and paid at least half of what I paid at Valley for something so simple. I won’t be coming back here the next time I’m in New York unless I win the lottery and have a lot of disposable income.

I went to the 15^th St location in mid-​December but have been meaning to leave a review because of how disappointed I was with the results…
I booked an appointment online the same day I went in, which I will say was convenient. Upon arrival I was told the nail technician I booked had to leave work early for personal reasons, which was also fine because I was a first time customer with no idea who was who anyway. So I believe it was Sylvia who ended up doing my nail extensions (which really just ended up being normal acrylic fakes which I was slightly confused by but maybe that was my fault).
Let it be known, my nails were in REALLY rough shape, really short and pretty disgusting, but she did a fantastic job fitting the acrylics to my nails and painting with a neutral color I chose from their great selection. They looked very natural and I was really pleased with the results and while pricy (I think I ended up dropping like $ 75 after tip) I thought it was worth it.
HOWEVER one of my nails fell off THAT NIGHT. I was even more disappointed when they kept coming off of my nails one by one… I don’t know what kind of glue they were using but it certainly did not seem very strong, because I had five nails fall off before I decided to take them all off myself. I would think that a nail salon would invest in more high quality glue, or apply the nails in a different manner… whatever it would take to fix this issue!
PS: The salon had a great ambience (big fan of the music actually) and appeared to be maintained well, which accounts for the extra star…