City Cleaners

Not egregiously overpriced and they haven’t destroyed anything yet. I suppose that’s a win when it comes to dry cleaning.

Do NOT GO HERE!!! They have ruined 4 shirts of mine and now a new suit. The shirts came back with burns on the collars and some weird brownish bleach stain. I have been going to this place for years and never had a problem. After the first mishap I thought I would give them another chance. Now, I just received my new suit back and its totally ruined by whatever process or chemicals they are using. The place is refusing to fix the problem and now I’m out of a suit and 4 shirts. Read the other reviews and you’ll see I’m not the only one this has happened too. STAY AWAY!

Not a customer friendly business. Place more value on the dollar in front of them instead of pleasing a regular customer.
I have been using City cleaners since I moved to Eckington last summer and things have generally gone well when I have brought in items to be dry cleaned. I recently went in to get a Tuxedo tailored for a wedding that I will be attending. I read the reviews on Unilocal and although there are a numerous negative reviews concerning pricing, shady tactics, and not being the most customer friendly place, I went with what was easiest and in the neighborhood. The actual tailoring job was sufficient for what I needed (hemming the pants and taking in the jacket a bit), but when I went to pay I noticed that the price quoted to me when I dropped off my tuxedo had jumped significantly. When I brought this up to the employee he brought over his mother and she stated she did more work than what she told me originally and that is why the price was more expensive even though I didn’t request anything additional.
I asked them if they would be willing to split the difference between what was told to me when I brought my suit in and what I was now being charged and they would not budge. I tried to explain to them that I had never had any problems with them before and that I had seen that this situation (overcharging after a quote or work has been done) had been written about before in reviews. I didn’t think I was being unreasonable by offering to split the difference but they did not care. I kindly told them that I would be taking my regular business to the dry cleaner only a block away, paid for the services, and left.
One would think that a neighborhood business would be kind to their regular customers and not bait and switch on them. The least they could have done was call to inform me that the price would increase if they are unable to give an accurate quote from the get go. I should have paid attention to the reviews and I paid for it, literally.

Wife and I have been using City Cleaners for years, and for the most part we would have pretty good service. Every now and then I would find collar stays missing, and once a button was missing on one of my shirts. Recently though, they ruined a brand new sweater I left with them, it has a giant bleach stain on the front. When I went back to complain, I was told that the sweater was old, that it already had a stain on it, basically they called me a liar. One of the owners said they would review the tape to see if the stain was visible there when I dropped it off, and asked me to come back after I got home from work. Well, I went back, there was no mention of the tape, no refund, not even an apology. I was so angry I didn’t even argue. I will NEVER go back to them again!

Great dry cleaning service. Always on time, done well, good price. No complaints, definitely recommend. Haven’t had any experience with their alteration or shoe services so cannot vouch for that. Really friendly staff.

I started using City Cleaners about two months ago because they pick up and drop off at my apartment building, which is pretty convenient. However, I have had several issues with them since I started using their service. One of my shirts was returned with a button missing and several were returned with the collar stays missing. I’ve even had some returned with tiny spots on them. Most recently, I picked up my dry cleaning and found a shirt that did not belong to me and they charged my account to clean it. This will be my last time using City Cleaners.

They are pretty good with dry cleaning but their shoe repair quality is HORRIBLE as well as horrible customer service when they make mistakes.
I took a pair of suede boots with natural wooden heels to be cleaned. When they came back, the heels were painted dark brown so I asked them to get rid of the paint. They tried, but the lacquer never really came off so I said that I would not like to pay for the service, which in my mind is completely reasonable considering my boots are now ruined.
Then, the male owner said that they won’t give me back my boots unless I paid at least half the price, and got upset about how many times he had to go back to get them fixed.
Frankly, it’s not my fault that he had to go back to get them fixed — its their mistake that they did something I did not ask them to do. They were completely unapologetic about the mistake they made. On top of getting upset with me, he accused me of bringing a 10 year old pair to get them to be bran new. My boots were only 2 years old.
Anyway, I would DEFINITELY NOT get them to repair/​shine your shoes, especially if they are expensive because they can ruin them and not be accountable at all.

It’s hard to find a good dry cleaner/​alteration place in this city. City Cleaners has generally done a good job. They made two of my hems too short, but I have had many different things hemmed here and they usually do a better job than most places. I always get my pants hemmed here and it’s pretty flawless.
I recently had to really demand they not charge me for pants that they had to re-​hem for me after hemming them too short, but after discussing it together they ended up not charging me. And in fairness to them it had taken me awhile to come back and ask them to fix the hem. I would continue to go here. Overall, they can get things done quickly when you ask, they are friendly, and they do a good job.

The best! Super friendly, hard working folks. Love ‘em!

Completely ruined a new shirt of mine and claimed that I made the damage. Even though they accepted the shirt and produced the damage on the shirt to me the day I was to receive my clothing. They did nothing to help appease my pain of losing a shirt and will not be receiving my business again.

So, I don’t really often write reviews but I feel so incredibly taken advantage of by this business that I’m grateful there is such an outlet as Unilocal to help people avoid places such as this. Also, I apologize for the length but thought it best to be thorough.
I came here a couple of weeks ago to deposit a large load of dry cleaning. It was busy, and while there a customer was talking with what I assume to be one of the owners (a middle-​aged Asian woman). She was complaining that her shoes had not been soled correctly. Mistakes happen of course, but what surprised me was that the woman at the counter was not in the least apologetic and just said that the customer could come pick up in a few days. The customer was a little irate at this because she needed her shoes that day and had expected them to be ready. Again, the woman at the counter was non-​apologetic and actually kind of rude.
Then it was my turn and the woman counted my clothes and said there were 16 items. That was more than I expected so I asked if we could verify. She counted them again in front of me and there were 16 items so I thanked her for counting again and went on my way.
I returned a week later in order to pick up my dry cleaning. I thought about counting the items at the store but it was so busy and crowded again that I didn’t want to get in everyone’s way. When I got home I unpacked everything and discovered that I was missing 2 items — 2 cashmere sweaters (one of which was my favorite sweater).
I went back to the dry cleaners that Saturday a little irked for the inconvenience but just expecting them to find the items; no big deal. There was a young Asian man at the counter (the son of the previous woman) and I informed him of the missing items, describing what brand they were and what they looked like but the young man cut me off and said it was not possible for the sweaters to be missing because the sweaters would have been tied together. But he went and took a look in the back and said there was nothing there. We went back and forth a few times with him saying it was impossible for this to happen and me saying all I knew was that I did not have those sweaters (but we were both being very civil to each other). As I was waiting for the young man to look behind, a customer came in and said: «You gave me the wrong shirts.» At this point I’m thinking: ok twice I’ve been here and twice they’ve made mistakes with other customers, that’s a lot! The discussion with the young man ended very civilly, with him saying that I should take another look, which I agreed to, and that he would take another look as well and call me the same day.
Obviously, I never received a call so Monday I called back and got an older gentleman (the father?). He asked for my account number and then went and talked to his wife (I could hear them talking). Next thing I know he gets back on the phone and says he’s the one who wrapped all 16 pieces together and remembers putting all 16 pieces together (with the amount of business they do, I highly doubt he would remember my order in those details). He told me I was mistaken and that I went home with 16 pieces at which point I’m started to get a bit irate and told him that I was very unhappy with the situation. And he said: «We gave you the 16 pieces so that’s that». At this point I hung up because I was furious. Furious that he was calling me a liar, furious that their was no admission of blame even though it seems like A LOT of mistakes happen at their business, and furious that I had not only lost but was not even getting refunded my two cashmere sweaters (around $ 500 total for both).
I’ve worked in many service-​oriented places, and I would never dream of making the customer feel like that. Even IF IT WAS not the business’ fault, that’s not how you handle the situation. I will be reporting this to the Better Business Bureau because I just feel like I was so royally taken advantage of.

Great location, always very friendly and nice. Unlike their neighbor competitor, they do alterations on-​site!
I also would love a write up of what they charge, and will share the prices I got on 8÷1÷2013 for a few items:
Dry clean:
Silk blouse: 5.95
Skirt: 4.95
Knee length dress: 8.99
Hemming:
Pants: 14.00
I hear their prices for men’s shirts are very reasonable and their turn around is very quick! In 2011 I got a trench coat taken in and sleeves shortened that ended up costing me about $ 50. Not entirely cost-​effective but the job was seamless (pun intended!).

They hemmed some pants for me and sowed on buttons for suspenders in less than 8 hours so I was able to make a wedding. Super fast!

Great service, reasonable prices, what else could you ask for? They called me to let me know i was getting charged more, which was perfectly fine because my blanket had ridiculous stains on it. The younger gentleman even helped me carry my load to the car one time when i had my hands full, what a nice guy! They also have a drop off/​pickup location in petworth on Georgia ave, which is super convenient for me since ill be moving to that neighborhood soon.

THEIR POLICY CHANGES DEPENDING ON WHO THE CUSTOMER IS. THEY DISCRIMINATE! I relocated back to DC recently and decided to try them. They asked me to pay up front for dry cleaning my clothes and a rug. Although I couldn’t recall paying for dry cleaning up front, I reluctantly did it, thinking that they had this policy for everyone. But, then I watched other customers come and go, and I realized that they weren’t asking any one else to pay up front. Just me! Oh. By the way. I just happen to be an African-​American female.
Also, while my clothes were delivered as promised I have been back 3 times to pick up my rug (an expensive handwoven klim from Tunisia) and it has not been ready. Each time I return they have a different story. Today — 3 weeks after I dropped off the rug — the young man told me, «Oh, we have no control over when our rugs are cleaned since someone else does them.» I asked him why bother giving me a day to pick up the my rug if they have no control over this? On top of this, they charged me $ 80 while a new cleaners closer to my house said they would charge only $ 50.
BEWARE: THEY MAY HAVE A SEPARATE POLICY FOR YOU, TOO, and you may not even realize it… Like the other person said: Nothing is written down…
TRY THIS CLEANERS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I needed a dry cleaner fast and did not know where to take my stuff — historically I used a dry cleaner in VA close to my job. After searching on Unilocal for some recommendations I came acrossreviews were on both ends of the spectrum — terrible and excellent. I decided to go with the 4-​star recommended City Cleaners. Two months later I’ve taken multiple items here and have not been disappointed. The older lady who works here is so sweet and the younger gentleman (who may be the owner) is very cool and friendly. They have your items pressed, cleaned, hemmed, and sewn together as fast as you want it at a reasonable price. When I briefly lived in Shaw I brought my clothes here ONLY! I live across town now so I have to take my stuff to another dry cleaner. Highly recommend, keep up the great work!

City Cleaners is the best. Ms. Kim is a very talented seamstress who has expertly altered everything from evening gowns to simple hems for my wife. She’s excellent at altering clothing and even fully re-​lined a vintage winter coat for my wife.

I’ve only been here once, but the experience was good enough that I know I’ll become a regular. I called City Cleaners around 10:30 to see if I could get a same day cleaning on a mid-​length coat. Once they looked the coat over, they told me upfront that they would have to charge extra for the leather belt loops, which was fine. The price was still extremely reasonable.
6 hours later, the once-​filthy white coat was absolutely gleaming, and they didn’t charge extra for washing it twice. I met all of the employees/​family, who are all friendly and professional.

I’ve visited this location several times and have been happy with each experience. I’ve gotten laundry, dry cleaning, and tailoring done.
The «mom» of the shop took in my dress shirt perfectly and for a pretty fair price to boot!
This is the only dry cleaners I intend to frequent!
P.S — I would 2^nd the one reviews request for a written price list. It would help me better budget and plan but I’ve never had any issues with sticker shock here!

This is the dry cleaner I rely on for all my needs, including tailoring — the lady there has now tailored many things for me and I am always pleased! They are SO kind there, especially the young man who speaks more fluent English than his mom. You really feel the family aspect there and once you go enough they make you feel like you’re a part of that family as well.
The prices are pretty good though my one complaint, and the reason I’m taking away one star, is it would be nice to have a clear, written price list, because otherwise they have confused me with their prices before and you usually don’t hear them until after you have given them your clothes. Now that I go a lot I’m more comfortable with that, but was very confused when I first went.
Also, super convenient location!
Edit: I have changed my review to 5 stars because even though they do not have a print-​out of their prices, they are more than happy to go over their price list with you and make sure you are clear on everything.