18th Street Cleaners

It’s so difficult to find a dry cleaner that meets my requirements:
— Reasonable prices
— Quality of the dry cleaning service itself
— Good customer service
18^th Street Cleaners meets all of the above!
The owner remembers my name and knows my husband, so it doesn’t matter who drops off or picks up. My clothes always come back clean and are never damaged. Prices are super reasonable (I don’t think they take credit cards). My clothes are always ready by the date she quotes. What more could one ask for in a dry cleaner? :)

I love these guys. Regina always knows what is in there regardless of whether I bring it in or my husband. Always on time and great service.

Let me start by saying that I wear a cotton button down shirt every day to work — so I bring volumes to which ever cleaner I go with. I went to 18^th Street Cleaners for 7 years — no issues. Actually had switched from other cleaners to come to 18^th Street even though I had to drive here — while could have walked to others. She got my collars clean.
Then after 7 years of giving Regina business, I got a shirt back with some sort of brown spot on the pocket that didn’t go through to the underlying shirt. I didn’t wear it – took it back — and she tried to re-​clean it and it didn’t come out. I explained to her that it was most likely the rust from one of the machines they use to press my shirts. She disagreed — I explained that it wasn’t there before and when I picked up my shirt, it was there. She told me I bled on it – I knew I hadn’t and showed her that it was not on the underlying shirt — just on the shirt pocket. She refused to accept responsibility for it – so I have taken my business elsewhere. It was a poor business decision on her part — missing $ 40/​month in cleaning fees. But you take your chances — you could be lucky and not have any issues — but if Regina makes a mistake, she won’t own it.

Be warned. They charge $ 7 extra above for the wash and fold.

Had a really bad experience here awhile back.
Brought a pair of dress slacks to be cleaned. When I came to pick them up I was told that I had already picked them up and that I just must have forgotten that I had. After I was being accused of lying about it – I left my phone number and exited in a huff. A couple of days later — the pants showed up. I picked them up and received no apology or acknowledgment of the mistake on their part.
Haven’t been back since.

I went to them after the spot 1 block closer to me boarded up and I am SO glad that happened: not only are they are always super sweet, but they even tend to remember what my items are despite there being countless of other customers and items in the shop. Icing on the cake: I had a skirt cleaned there and when I went to pick it up there was still a bit of a spot on it, and before I even noticed, the woman proprietor proactively noted it and offered to send it back for a more thorough cleaning. It came back a few days later looking great. If they can go that extra mile, I can easily go that extra block.

I have been to this place for years. The Proprietress and her husband have been superb from day one. Can’t say anything bad about them!

Had a friend recommend this place and what a mistake. They may be good for laundry, but my dry cleaning came back a mess. Took in a sport coat and a winter pea coat for dry cleaning. No stains. Simple job really. And they come back looking exactly as I took them in. In fact, batting the coat produces a cloud of dust and the sport coat was covered in lint and appeared to have no chemical scent of even being cleaned at all. Pretty sure they didn’t do anything to them. Feel like a total sucker. Took more than a week and I am out $ 25. Find somewhere else for your dry cleaning needs.

For me, the best part of bringing in or picking up laundry here, is hearing Regina say, «How ARE YOOUUUU!» I look forward to hearing this each time. The service is awesome, my clothes and bedding come back, clean, perfectly folded and smelling great. I really hated doing laundry and 18^th Street Cleaners has taken that burden off me. Dry cleaning service, mending also top notch. Great value for your dollar.

Having my hatred of doing laundry finally come to a boil, I broke my Wash and Fold cherry and headed into 18^th Street Cleaners.
In less than 24 hours, all my work clothes and bed sheets were clean, perfectly folded and smelling like just the amount of fabric softener I enjoy. I hate when you get this overwhelming stench of fabric softer with every turn of your head or lift of the arm. Subtle… oh so subtle is the key.
So needless to say I have a new habit and I plan on getting my fix of 18^th Street Cleaners on a weekly basis.

Gina is the best. I first started using them when I lived in Potrero and would drive to the Castro just to drop off my things. Best cleaners I have used thus far and have no plans of changing.

I have been a customer for 17 years, and continue to use the 18^th Street Cleaners even though I now live across town in Bernal Heights.
Regina and her staff are remarkable, she truly cares about your clothes and has never disappointed me. Special requests have always been honored with a smile. I would not think of going anywhere else.

well i brought in a work jacket and a pea-​coat, and they lost the belt that went with the peacoat. they claimed that since they didn’t write on the receipt that the peacoat had a belt when i dropped the coats off that it wasn’t their fault. i asked them to please look and check their inventory for the belt, as I KNOW that i brought the coat in with the belt. they called me back five minutes later, and reiterated again, that well it wasn’t written on the receipt. right, sure y’all looked real hard. whatever. overpriced and slow too. took a week to get the coats back. go elsewhere.

Updating to 5 stars because the timing has gotten better as I continue to go there. Wash and Fold takes 1 – 2 days and they do a nice job.

My husband has been dropping our dry cleaning off to this place since we first lived in the City 15 yrs ago. We moved down to the South Bay 5 yrs ago but he still drives to SF to use them. They have always been friendly and reliable and I don’t think they’ve ever lost an article of his clothing. They’re open early in am and until later in the evening which is helpful since Alex is usually working long hours. Thank You two for the good service!

I just left my clothes here, they wanted to have one medium size load ready by thursday. really? thursday? i asked for same-​day and wanted to use my own detergent. they seemed a little shocked and appalled. probably because i saw twenty bags of laundry just in the front that have not been done. i thought having your clothes wash and folded for you was a two-​day turnaround, maximum. i just want my clothes done the same day, is that too much to ask? i guess in the afternoon when i pick up my clothes I will see what this place is going to pull off. and charge. i may have to continue with washing and folding myself…
well i picked up my items, not bad. but still a bit pricey for what it was.

Regina is the best!
Friendly, quick, great service, reasonably priced — and excellent memory!
This is the cleaners to go to, if you live in the Castro area!

Let me start by saying I love my clothes. Love, love, love them. I am not one of those people who will avoid buying something because it is dryclean only. In fact, it’s more appealing to me because that means there is less of a chance that I can ruin it.
I’ve spent a lot of time living in NYC and going to waaay over priced cleaners either in the lobby of my building or on the corner of where I worked or lived. After racking up drycleaning bills for clothes that didn’t feel/​look clean or pressed, 18^th Street Cleaner was a welcome!
I don’t even live that close to this place (all the way on 14^th and Dolores) but going here is worth it. The prices are really reasonable and the owner of the store remembers my name, remembers what I brought in, she remembers my sisters, what they bring in. She’s awesome. And the prices are fantastic. And the clothes look brilliant.
The only reason why I didn’t give 5 stars is because the turn around is about a week. Not a serious issue, but we live in a fast food society and like instant gratification don’t we?

This place is remarkable. I’ve been going here for 13 years now, even when I don’t live that close to it. Really reasonably priced, awesome service and attention to detail, and you can almost always get a parking place out front.
Regina is awesome, as already mentioned. She knows your name, your clothes, when you are messy with soup at lunch, and when your pants are too long. She is like a mom who is only focused on your clothing and works 6+ days a week to make sure we always get our clothes on time, while raising her own delightful family in the process.
Typical Regina interchange:
(I have a lavender Paul Smith button-​down with french-​cuffs that I wear occasionally under a navy blue pin-​stripe suit. Ya, not too femme, but not too butch either, I get it).
One not too femme, gay boy enters the store and says «Hi Regina, I’m here for my stuff». Regina says «Hi Mxxxxx, you pick up pink shirt, too?» I say, «Regina, I don’t have a pink shirt, you must mean the lavender shirt». Regina says «I get you pink shirt». I say, «But, Regina I don’t have a pink shirt, I’m much too masculine to wear a pink shirt». Regina, smirking and chuckling at the same time says «I get you pink shirt now».
How can you not love her?

As professional as they are unassuming (i.e. very basic workshop décor), they care about your clothes as much as you do. What John M says below is amazingly true… Regina knows your clothes on sight and what was done with each item. Even though I would have preferred a place be open on Sunday, they provide such great value here (low prices and good service), they deserve at least one day off!
The laundry is done on site, while the dry cleaning is sent out, so they can’t do same day dry cleaning service. But, they don’t charge same day prices either, so you decide. Wash and fold is perfectly done, and special requests (e.g. replacing buttons, can you pre-​treat that stain?) are handled with no added charge and everything comes back folded correctly (i.e. nearly zero wrinkles) in a neat, transportable, fold-​preserving package.
On a personal note, Regina and her family are warm, friendly, and kind-​hearted. I’ve recently left SF and while I may eventually find a decent dry cleaners I doubt I’ll find a comparable (wash and fold) place in my new ‘hood. Bring your laundry here and you may never wash your own clothes again!