El Rey Tattoo & Barber

One of the coolest shops I’ve ever been in, and I’ve been to a lot. Solid tattoo work without any rock stars performing, except for the one guy in the corner has a drum kit so he might qualify. I didn’t get to hear him play though, so I have no idea. Killer barbershop in front, and I could park across the street in the garage which was great, made it easy to get in and out.

I’ve had two masterpieces done with Randy and constantly get complimented on my art. People are often amazed that the lines are so clear after several years.

Great people. Good attitudes. Real helpful and knowledgeable. Beautiful clean shop. Amazing artwork on the walls. Barbershop is the real deal. Traditional. Hot towel straight razor shaves are a once in a life time must try thing. I recommend it. Men’s spa type thing.
Hands down Randy has been doing great tattoos in San Diego for over 20yrs now. A master of freehand.

One of my favorite people to be around «randy». We always have good conversation and great times in the shop. I get a cut and shave frequently. Have known randy for many years and has his artwork all over by body. Trust him, admire him, and will continue to show my loyalty for el rey and randy for many years to come. Thanks randy for all the great years!

I got my first tattoo here by randy last week because my husband has known him for a couple of years. He’s easy going friendly and a great artist. He pays attention to detail and does his absolute best. Im planning on going in next month for my second one. Great shop i highly recommend it guys!

I went in as a walk in in the morning and I was attended pretty quick. they are cash only so I had to go to take out cash, luckily theres an atm across the street. mean while one of the guys was sketching my tattoo. I love how I got to pick out the font the way the words flowed on their iPad. it was my first tattoo and he was extremely helpful (I don’t remember his name). he even suggested putting hearts at the end of the sentences instead of periods which turned out so beautiful. already planned my next tattoo idea once this one heals up. highly recommend!!!

My friend referred me to Dave @ EL REY for a tattoo and we went because I live close to the shop and the reviews and pics were 5 star. She had a lot of work previously done with Dave-​EL REY stands out! You can tell the shop is amazing from the street — I love the art and vibe. Dave was professional and took his time– work clean/​price fair. I brought my son back for a haircut (I’m a hairdresser but I always like a barbershop experience) dL homework A+…

I have been going to Randy since he was at the original Avalon in PB. I get stopped all the time on the street and asked where I got my sleeves done… I always answer RANDY JANSON!!! Now I say Randy at El Rey Tattoo and Barber… His shop is clean and fun… always good music playing… always a cool and friendly vibe… no pretentiousness there. The rest of the team are always worthy as well… you can’t miss! My friend goes to Dave and swears by him! The Barbershop is awesome too… always look forward to seeing the dudes get a clip and a bit of the straight razor!

This place kicks @$$. I go to Dave and he ripped it up. He is way professional. He listens. He puts all his energy and love into his work. You can tell these guys were born to «draw on people». Their shop is rad! The team is bad@$$. Im sending all my peeps there!!!

This place was excellent. The barber, Pix, was super cool and took his time. Definitely going back there again. Recommend it to anybody.

Randy has started fixing a majorly messed up and (emotionally) painful tattoo that covers most of my back. The lines were originally done by my ex who used my back as a practice board when he was learning to tattoo so you can only imagine what they looked like. I was referred by my someone who has a full back piece done with amazing detail by Randy, so I was pretty confident in his work going in.
When I walked in to the shop, he could tell just how stressed I was and made me feel at ease without focusing on the problem and just got right in to the solution. I thought I was going to have to cover it a up but he told me he could save it and make it what it was supposed to be — and he is doing just that.
He breaks out a whole arsenal of Sharpies at the beginning of each session and takes the time to hand draw in what the end vision is and then does whatever my body can take. He ends each session when he thinks my body has had enough and he’s been right each time. He is professional, genuine, doesn’t need to look like a bad ass, entertains the entire time with some hilarious stories about his epic youth, and just makes you feel okay to be you.
Seasoned ink lovers and newbies alike will love him. Just go and do it.

Friendly. Great location. I live in city heights. Awesome shop. Well designed and planned out. I wish them well.

I’ve been going to randy for 12 years.
He has done somewhere in the ball park of 15 large and medium pieces on me.
Not only does he have the most interesting of story’s and tails to enjoy and keep your attention off the needles he is poking into your skin, he does the best work.
I mean THE BEST work.
Sure some people get that one perfect tattoo where the moon lines up with the stars, the ink and flesh are perfectly aligned and they get a great tattoo.
Randy literally does every single tattoo perfectly. I have seen him tattoo countless people in those 12 years and everyone of those tattoos are highly above anyone else i have come across.
I am a walking canvas of Randy’s work to the point where i really think if i hadn’t met randy so early on i don’t think i would have gotten so many tattoos because I do have challenging pieces I know 90% of the tattoo artist could not replicate like randy can. I really just kept pushing him for harder, weirder tattoos and he killed it every single time making each one better than i thought possible.
HIS PORTRAITS ARE PERFECT.
He can catch the soul and emotion of a photo in a tattoo. Most tattoo portraits i see are lacking the same soul and emotion from the photo. I don’t know how he does it but i now have three portraits, all which are better than the original photo hands down.
I really couldn’t say more great things about Randy and his tattooing.
NOTES FOR SUCCESS:
— Randy wont give you a crappy tattoo, he will tell you the truth if the placement, design, size, shape, etc is not going to make a perfect tattoo. Just like a book made into a movie, you need to be flexible and adapt the medium from a picture to a tattoo. Take his advice, its 22 years worth of doing it daily.
— Listen to his advice, its really not as simple as you think and it going to last forever.
— Talk to randy, he does a lot more than just tattoo people, he is truly a one of a kind and he might blow your mind but will definitely make you laugh.
— If you don’t want to take his advice he will understand and give you exactly what you are asking for. It will undoubtedly come out better than you hoped but its likely his idea would have been more artistic. Just saying.

Let’s start off with the understanding that a tattoo parlor is at heart a customer service organization. The quality of the experience is almost equally as important as the quality of the work itself. The quality of my tattoo was «pretty good;» maybe a ⁴⁄₅. Some of the line work is not fantastic, doesn’t match up quite right, etc. The guys that were in there the day I had my work done were cool nearly the entire time, but the last 10 minutes of my experience pissed me off so much it is hard to explain without expletives. The guy that was tattooing me had his gf or female friend, whatever, sitting next to me. They were having their own conversation almost the entire time I was getting worked on. Eh, that’s ok. Not MY ideal situation, but whatever. If I’m the client, you should be paying attention to ME. That’s not what pissed me off, though. What pissed me off was when he was done, I was getting a little nauseated/​dizzy, so I took a minute to get up. He decided to ask me if I could «get the hell up, because his other client was waiting.» …uh? Excuse me? Do you want me to fall on your floor and pass out? I’m sure that will get you started on your next client faster. A friend was also getting work done, and she was starting to be in some pain, so I went to see if I could do anything for her, and her artist straight up yelled at me that i was being a” f*****g retard,” and that I needed to «get out of the f*****g way.» Let me just throw in there, this wasn’t my first rodeo. I have several other tattoos, and I understand that people need their space. I was not hovering or getting in the way. I approached my friend to ask if I could get them something. Not to mention that the artist wasn’t picking up on the fact that my friend was about to puke and needed a break for a second. How do I know my friend was going to puke? BECAUSE AS SOON AS WE LEFT THE PARLOR, MY FRIEND PUKED. I could see it in my friend’s face, and was trying to give the artist a heads up.
Cleanliness: ⁵⁄₅
Prices: 3.5÷5
Ambiance: ⁵⁄₅ until someone decides to be rude to you.
My opinion after the last 10 minutes? ⁰⁄₅
I don’t care how cool the place looks, if you’re going to be a jerk, I am not giving you money. There are plenty of other places that put customer service above being a hipster tattoo artist a**hole. I can see how a lot of people like this place, but God forbid the artists don’t think you are cool enough for them…

Ok I want to start off with the fact that this shop is the cleanest most legit shop I have ever been in and I’ve been in alot of shops. He has three raddest ambiance of any shop and the old school barber is the icing on the cake.
Second off Randy Janson is one of the best tattoo artist in the bussiness professional, creative, friendly, and inspirational… Many of my friends have even said that was a great experience getting tattoed by him…
Third off he sells male enhancement pills that actually work…
Best tattoo shop in SD

Great place to get a hair cut or Tattoo .
Tell them Andy Sent you :-)

I wanted to find someone to tattoo over my stretch marks and loose skin on my stomach. After speaking to a handful of artists and hearing, «Look at my book, I can draw anything, pick a date, leave a deposit», I finally went to Randy. He was the only artist that took into consideration my body type, the location of the damaged skin and offer creative suggestions that would make the tattoo look like art versus a picture that is trying to hide something. Randy gave me a beautiful tattoo AND I now have a beautiful stomach that I am no longer embarrassed of. Thank you RANDY — Much success to you at El Rey!

Randy is top notch! If you’re looking for someone to tattoo. GO TO HIM

I have had my hair cut twice by Daniel already. I really like the job he did. The look of the shop is pretty funky I especially like the closet and bathroom doors.