Modern Nail

Terrible service. I made an appointment, but when I showed up there were two people waiting before me and they all had the same appointment time. The owner told me to wait for 5 minutes (do they expect to finish a manicure in 5 minutes?)
The store doesn’t look that clean and from what I see from others who have done the manicure, the nail color looks slightly uneven. The manicure service doesn’t look that professional either.

Very happy with pedicure experience. Walked in, 30 min wait so did a little shopping nearby and came back. Friendly and professional staff. Nice polish selection, and pedicure itself was very good, including exfoliation and hot stones. My feet look and feel great. Thanks, Modern Nail, I’ll be back!

The most underrated nail salon in Princeton. Another great service experience yesterday.

Came here this past weekend and will not be returning. The owners are extremely rude. For eyebrow waxing, her technique resulted in tearing the hairs (rather than pulling them out). Having gone for waxing for over a decade, I can tell good from bad, and I certainly don’t benefit from this tearing approach which grows back in 2 days.
Also, for the manicure, the approach was rushed and low-​quality. Chipping began in just over a day, and it didn’t look professionally done.

Walked in and was told there would be a 20 minute wait for a manicure. 45 minutes later I was still waiting. When I asked for an updated time estimate, the woman tried to blame another customer for the delay. It was rude of her to mislead me in the first place and even worse to try to pass it off on someone else. I will NOT return here.

I just had a color gel pedicure and was charged $ 68 which is really expensive for this area. I like the shop and the owners but they need to be competitive in their pricing. I’m walking distance to the salon but I’ll have to go elsewhere from now on… It’s just too expensive.

Poor manicure!
I noticed the reviews on Unilocal were mixed on Modern Nail. I am fussy when it comes my nails especially when I am having them painted red. You go to have them professionally painted because you want them to look professionally painted.
At Modern Nail you will not achieve that professionally done look. I had to ask the man who did my nails to clean it up several times — he couldn’t tell there was red polish all over my cuticles. Not happy and I told them and they really didn’t care to make it right. Besides the students, most of their clients would be visitors to the area such as myself — they are probably thinking why bother with a client who is probably not coming back.

The staff is very friendly.
That being said, it was one of the worst quality manicures I’ve gotten. I chose a nail polish and halfway through she could not go on with the polish because it was so old and crusted she was not able to put a nice coat on. It looked like it was diluted and probably not the original liquid in the polish bottle.
Their tools are dull, not sharp leading to tearing of cuticles rather than snipping.
In NY I can get the same quality mani for $ 5, not $ 15.
I should have complained but they were very nice.

… don’t get your waxing done there… very sloppy job… simply missed to many spots and «broke» the hair instead of removing. So after a couple of days it more looked like a bad shaving job. The lady was just too hurried as people were waiting.

Very nice and pleasant staff. I had a nice gel manicure done here while visiting Princeton. There was a nice selection of colors and I was very happy with my manicure overall. The only thing I found odd was that they didn’t cut my cuticles and left them looking a little ragged. They do however, spend a good deal of time on you.

My mom and I go to this nail salon and absolutely love it. They do a wonderful job with hot rocks for every pedicure! The location is particularly convenient since it’s next to the parking garage and several markets so you can zip in and out of Princeton with your nails and errands done in no time!

anywhere in Princeton you have to pay to park. add that into the price you pay to get your nails done. if you can afford it fine. i would rather park for free and go to a good salon.

The worst mani-​pedi I had. I trusted the other reviews here, but something had obviously changed since last summer — my experience was the opposite!
Terrible client service, expensive, unsanitary and disrespectful of my time.
I came in and confirmed with the lady I’d come back for a full mani-​pedi in 10 minutes and that I would need to finish within an hour. I came back exactly as agreed, but she was busy with someone else who had just started.
She apologetically offered my to «start» with an older Asian man (her husband?). He gave me a so-​so manicure (not including polish) — I am not accustomed to getting a manicure with a man, so it was a slightly strange/​unpleasant experience
He then set me up on one of their pedicure chairs. Although the actual chair and basin looked ok, when he turned on the water I could clearly smell mold — my sense of smell is weak, but this was overpowering.
I was then ignored by both the man (reading at the counter) and the woman (giving the other client a very long pedi) for over 30 minutes! I was just sitting there, feet in cold smelly water, unable to get up. After waiting for half an hour, I reminded the lady I had to go soon. She was confused and embarrassed and stated she still had to finish the other pedicure and also a manicure.
They did not respect the appointment I confirmed with them and put in another client before me. I might have understood if they let me know before I started that they won’t finish on time. That would have at least let me choose to go across the street to one of the other nail salons in the area. But instead, they did a half-​manicure and just let me wait «captive» in some cold water.
They ended up asking the other client to wait while the lady gave me a super-​fast pedicure and polish. Both of us felt uncomfortable. The french polish was obviously sub par. They charged me a bit below their overpriced regular, but it still wasn’t worth the experience.

Very nice staff, great French pedicure, try spa pedicure and you will really relax, very clean, waxing available as well

Unilocal reviewers are right again! this nail salon is beautiful and clean and the owner is lovely.
I spent all summer getting mani/​pedis in Manhattan and was worried about pricier nail salons back in Princeton, but Modern Nail is worth it. The service here was so much better and more personable than that I received on the Upper West side. And it was only $ 38 for a mani/​pedi with my student discount. well worth it.

Fantastic nail salon — wonderful pedicure which included a hot stone massage. Mani + Pedi for $ 45 which is in keeping with Princeton prices. Lovely atmosphere with classical music playing in the background.
Will definitely be coming back as a regular!

Visiting my boyfriend in Princeton and looking for a last minute pedicure before attending a wedding, I decided to try this place on a Friday afternoon. It was pretty quiet in there (no wait for a walk-​in), but the ladies were super sweet and friendly. Oh man though, the pedicure! I’ve had many in NYC where I live and this one definitely stood above the rest. The technician was exceptionally detail oriented and efficient (but not rushed). Everything was very very clean (I’m kind of a clean-​freak when it comes to this sort of thing). She also gave a great foot/​leg massage with hot stones for which I thought «omg, I thought it was a regular pedicure — how much is this going to be?». Same price. Turns out that’s just the way these ladies are: AWESOME!
Notes: bring cash for tips (duh!), chill out and don’t be in a huge rush anywhere (it did take a little longer that I expected), and call ahead — I think I just lucked out on the walk-​in as I can see how it could get pretty busy sometimes!

I love small family owned businesses. This nail salon is by far the cleanest that I’ve visited in Princeton (new machines, pedicure spas, nice selection of magazines, etc). Princeton students/​faculty also receive 15% off manicures and pedicures. They do an excellent job and my manicure typically lasts 2 weeks