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The Wash Quarters
Rating Details »
Category: Dry Cleaning & Laundry [Edit]
Neighborhood: Mission985 Valencia Street
(between 21st St & Liberty St)
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 826-7634
- Hours:
Mon-Sun. 6:00 a.m. - 12:00 a.m.
34 reviews for The Wash Quarters
not bad.
this place is clean, and that's my main criteria. last wash is at 9, which is still sometimes hard for me to get to by, but what can you do. staff is ok, but it's a good thing I speak spanish, or else I wouldn't have understood that the doors automatically lock at 10:30, and in the event that happens, there's a red button to push to the right of it in order to get out.
I want to try their service washes, because doing it myself is life-sucking. I'll update once I get to that part.
Eek!
They started raising their prices _again_ without notification and we got an unprompted talking to about closing time by one of the owners, even though it was barely 8pm, and they close at 10.
The lady who cleans up at the end of the evening is always super friendly and awesome, but it definitely doesn't counteract how much we didn't deserve that lashing from the owner for starting our laundry a full hour before last wash. Also, one of the dryers ate two of our quarters. The owner's response? "Too bad for you." The cleaning lady's response? "Here's two quarters, guys."
Somebody give the cleaning lady a better gig, 'cause at least she rocks!
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
2/5/2009
As someone who actually _does_ my laundry here, I heart The Wash Quarters. The machines are well… Read more »
I took a jacket and sweater in for dry cleaning and when came back to get them 5 days later they hadn't had them cleaned and they tried to give them to me as if they did. I was charged too. I asked for my money back but only the manager could do that and he wasn't there.
Don't go here for dry cleaning.
Update:
I don't know what changed, but when I do wash-and-fold here, my clothes now get clean, they don't come out wrinkled, and I no longer get other people's socks in my laundry. Turn-around time is really good - 2 or 3 hours most times. I recently dropped off some sheets that had been torn up by my cats and they gave me a $15 credit even after I told them they hadn't ruined the sheets. I'm now quite pleased with Wash Quarters (although I still take my dry-cleaning somewhere speedier).
Old review:
I really want this place to be great, but the fact is that my clothes just don't get clean. I do wash and fold and "wet" cleaning there and many, many times my clothes have come back not really clean, poorly folded, and wrinkled. I also get other people's socks in my laundry pretty often, so I have to imagine my socks are also embarking on unexpected trips.
When it comes to doing your laundry yourself, the place is clean and lacking the usual complement of crazy people, but the dryers are frequently out of order and don't have a cool-down phase (probably why my wash and fold always ends up so wrinkled). I'm guessing, however, that this translates to "really awesome" for a laundromat in the Mission.
Lots of places in the Mission do free pick-up and delivery for wash and fold, so I'll be checking that out for my next load.
I have been dropping off my clothes here now for several months. They are enviro friendly so I swithced to their service. My only complaint is the pressing of my dress shirts is not the best, I feel like even I can do better sometimes. Overall, clean and nice staff though
I take my laundry here for wash and fold. Their hours are great for pick up and drop off, and they are very friendly. Wash and fold prices are not that much more expensive than using the machines, and SO much more convenient!
Everything is cooler on Valencia Street.
If I need to do stuff around the house, I'll do laundry in my neighborhood, but I really don't like the joint and they charge too much because they are the only wash in the hood.
If I feel like drinking Guinness, making feeble attempts at cruising skanks while I fold my seahorse print boxers, and getting attitude from the food servers, I'll go to Brainwash.
If I have an afternoon to kill and just want to feel cool while I do my laundry - I go to The Wash Quarters!
It's never crowded and i've never thought it was dirty. The staff is always friendly. While washing and drying I can walk down and buy that cd I've been wanting at Aquarius. I can sit with my laptop using free wifi, like I am writing this review right now. Coffee and healthy food options surround me. You can just feeeeeel the cool from Ritual Roasters wafting across the street.
Are those nuns smoking over there? Oh, no they are Consultas Espirituales? WTF is that place next to ATA? How come I've never noticed that? Valencia St is like a complex piece of art or album, you've looked or listened to it a million times and always see something new.
My recent conversation, while dropping off dry cleaning at Wash Quarters:
WQ Lady: When do you want these back?
Me: How soon can I get them?
WQ Lady: How's Tuesday?
Me: Tuesday is perfect. Great! [she then charges me and I check the receipt] Um, why does the receipt say I'll get this back Sunday?
WQ Lady: Sunday ok?
Me: No, Sunday is not ok. I'm getting married Saturday and this is my fiance's suit.
WQ Lady: How about Thursday?
Me: How about Tuesday, like you just told me?
WQ Lady: How about you call Wednesday?
How about I just start taking my dry cleaning to PRESSED like everyone else? (They also do environmentally friendly cleaning.)
I used to come here for the $1 special on Friday evenings. Because well my boyfriend likes to take his time getting up to the city Fridays, so I have all this free time after work...
It was clean and bright. I would entertain myself reading the community board or by walking in the neighborhood (great location). On occasion, I'll try to do grocery shopping at the same time while doing laundry.
They lock the doors of the dryers, but not the doors of the top load washers (of course). I always wondered if anybody would go through my clothes, but I was comforted that the staff was watchful. They have detergent of all types if needed. Plus you can also ask the staff for change if the machine is broken. The Wash Quarters is staffed until midnight and open Sundays. The dryer is 25 cent for 8 minutes, which nice since I don't always want to put my (prized) clothes in the dryer for more than 10 minutes sometimes.
This was my first laundromat experience since I used to have a machine in-house wherever I lived. Yet I am reluctant to go anywhere else since this place is so clean and well-kept.
On other services: I brought dry cleaning here and had no issues at all. They charge an arm and a leg for dry cleaning my fancy dress, but that's expected. My roommate loves their wash and fold service which is $1/lb. The average rate in San Francisco.
But being a cheapskate and not quite understanding that laundry prices have to be $2 per load in the city, I have managed to take my laundry elsewhere. But oh Wash Quarters, I'll be back when you bring back your $1 special!
The new ownership is terrible. The service is terrible. The prices are higher than average, and it takes twice to dry clean something here as it does elsewhere in the neighborhood.
Additionally, they do not seem to care what happens to your clothes while they have them. My white wool coat came back from cleaning with a NEW large black stain on it. They sent it back; the stain cannot be removed. The staff did not even offer to pay for it or try again. Goodbye favorite and best coat.
Take your business elsewhere.
Warning : hate, hate, hate follows...
Usually yelp suggestions are pretty close to right on but damn every once in a while I get thrown off.
Hence my visit to Wash Quarters. First of all, as of 6/12 there were no "envori-friendly" detergents available; only the Tide, Downy, etc. that reside in every other laundromat around. Secondly, you know I'm pro-earth and stuff but I think it's pretty hilarious that people would come here solely for "green dry-cleaning" or whatever they call it; I assure you there are other parts of your existence that are more hurtful to mother earth than your monthly dry-cleaning.
Only in San Francisco would people be bourgee and smug enough to switch to green dry-cleaning and then brag about it.
Also, I've only been here once and this isn't fair, BUT there were screaming kids running around, with adults screaming back at them, finally culminating with one adult chucking a book (yeah a novel!) at one of the little girls to shut her up.
And that's a little bit ghetto.
Don't do my own laundry here, just laundering and dry/wet cleaning. They claim to use "Wet Cleaning" wherever possible as an environmentally friendly alternative.
I like having shirts laundered for 1.50 or whatever it is. But I don't want to put nasty solvents into the waste stream.
The clothes are clean. They are reasonably priced. They come on recyclable hangers. And the staff are cordial. What else can I ask for?
Eco-friendly-ish cleaning in the Mission. Thumbs up.
I just don't know how to feel about Wash Quarters. I took all of my weeks of backed-up dry cleaning last week ($109, thank you VERY much. Mama needs to do laundry more often) and was pretty excited when they told me that my Saturday drop-off would be ready on Monday. Great! Perfect! Fantastic!
Except on Monday I get a call saying "Do you really NEED your drycleaning today?" Why yes, yes I do. Because otherwise I just REALLY enjoy making unreasonable and needless demands of underpaid service employees. "Well, I'll have to call you back." No call back. None.
On Tuesday I show up there because I really do need the clothes. They can't find them. Can't. Find. Them. Can't find my order. Panic panic panic panic, my entire wardrobe of pretty dresses is in their hands. Panic panic panic. Oh, wait, that's my dress. I have to SEE MY CLOTHES on a rack and WALK OVER TO THEM in order to prove that I own them.
They do a nice job, I guess, but they're expensive and sort of careless. I don't know. I don't like to panic at the cleaners.
Even though there's a laundromat 20 steps away from my apartment, I walk the 2 blocks to do laundry here. It's clean and spacious, and they have energy/water efficient machines. Plus, Sidewalk Juice is really close-by. http://www.yelp.com/bi...
They also have dry/wet cleaning service. Once, Steven's shirts came back a day later than expected. This was no big deal to us, but they were so apologetic and even offered to deliver the shirts (we declined and picked them up). They also gave us a discount coupon for our next service.
I'm really glad this place is in my 'hood.
I am horrible about doing laundry. I will let it pile up for WEEKS until it is absolutely necessary that I do it. In college, I used to go so far as buying new undies from Longs (in a 3-pack mind you) so that I could put off doing my laundry as long as possible.
The 4 years since college hasn't done much for me. The first place I lived in when I moved to the city had a washer and dryer in it and it lived right outside of my bedroom door. Perhaps the roomate who did laundry every damn day of the week deterred me from doing a load, but really- how lazy can a lady get???
Wash Quarters was right around the corner from my house and efficiently cleaned my 2 big-load and 1 regular size load of laundry in a night. I would drop a pretty penny every time I decided my number was up and I had to give in to the pile.
An added bonus to this place is that they do dry cleaning- or wet cleaning for the more environmentally concious folk. It's a clean, safe, and chill environment to spend a night cleansing oneself of the pile.
I decided that part of being an adult means that I spend a little money on things that I hate doing. That, as an adult, I don't have to do things like laundry anymore. I hate doing laundry.
Wash Quarters wash and fold is awesome, they even put your socks together, plus you get a choice of the more environmentally friendly detergent. They've never lost or ruined anything in the year and a half that I've dropped off my laundry. And they don't make faces at the girl (me) who refuses to wash her own panties.
If only they'd come take out my trash.
I have been lucky by always living in an apartment with laundry on-site and usually inside the unit. Now I found myself in a place without either and not wanting to spend hours at the Laundromat I was in search for a good wash/fold service. I found the Wash Quarters. The wash/fold service is great; it comes out to $1/pound if you have over 15 pounds, $1.25 if less. Getting to 15lbs was surprisingly easy. I drop it off in the morning (they open at 7am) and pick it up in the evening on my way home from work, although I believe the attendant told me she would have it done within a few hours... In addition to the wash/fold service, their dry cleaning is great too and it's green! They don't use the harsh chemicals that traditional dry cleaners use which, in addition to protecting the environment, lengthens the life of your dry cleaned clothing.
It's also one of the cleanest Laundromat's I have been to.
There is nothing better than dropping 20lbs of laundry off on the way to work, and then picking it up clean, folded, and toasty warm on the way home. God I love wash & fold. I go here mostly b/c my boyfriend has been going for years, but I've been very pleased. Never had any problems with missing or damaged clothes. They're open late & on weekend so it's super convenient. I mean, what else will $20 buy you these days?
Dry Cleaning is fucking foul and disgusting. And it causes cancer and this shit is confirmed by scientists and stuff*. And it's not even really dry. LIARS!!! Although no water is involved in the process, liquid solvents are, and the main one, perchloroethylene, is nas-tay stuff. Better known as perc, it's a likely carcinogen linked to a host of other health problems that also contaminates our soil and water. It's not quite as disgusting as Factory Farming but it's pretty damn close and honestly, it's all connected. Because I am ethically opposed to this bunch of bullshit (and also cheap and lazy), I have eschewed Dry Clean Only fabrics for eons. Or um, I have thrown them in with the rest of my wash and been like, "VIA CON DIOS, BITCHES!!! I'LL SEE YOU IN THE NEXT LIFE! AND THIS SHOT OF WHISKEY IS FOR YOU!" and then i hold my head over the washing machine and pour the whiskey half into my mouth and half into the machine then i hit start and get naked and i forget what happens after that...usually it involves tripping over my foster dog, Ike (ADOPT HIM! HE IS ADORABLE AND PERFECT!: http://www.rocketdogre... ) and crying myself to sleep whilst watching a&e's, "Intervention" (BEST. SHOW. EVER. if you want to feel better about how pathetic you are, watch this show. you will totally self-congratulate when you see the mom of 4 reaching for the heroin whilst her boyfriend rapes her kid in the basement. you can call your parents and hold the phone to the TV and be like, "I might be single and I might work too much for too little pay and no hope of advancement and maybe my college education was a sham and i am very fat but AT LEAST I DON'T SNORT COKE OFF OF STRIPPER'S BREASTS FOR A LIVING!!!!!" and then you pass out in a pile of your own vomit. but you don't have a problem, they do. i digress...)
Alas, there are other solutions to evil devil Skinny White Bitch Dry Cleaning and the best one is called "Wet Cleaning" (which is as sexy as it sounds! ow!)...basically it means water is pushed through your clothing but it's so teeny tiny that it doesn't traumatize the fabric. WAHOO! Your clothes are just as clean as they would be if you went the conventional dry cleaning route AND you won't die of cancer. and you aren't destroying the Earth. I mean, I know you can't give up your precious BLT's and Pork Chimichangas but you can at least make a small detour to go to a Happy Earth, Healthy You (I made that up!) Dry Cleaning, right??? Give me a reason to believe in the greater good of humanity or I'll just fucking end it all now. But that would make you happy, wouldn't it? I'd rather DIE! What!
The Wash Quarters offers Wet Cleaning (i mean, really, that's sexy) and it's open late and on the weekends (even Sunday!) and the folks who work here are super nice and they also will do your wash for you and give you the choice of using good for the Earth and its Water supply laundry detergent (I think, "Planet" brand?) and you can also do your own wash here. They have WiFi so you can totally Yelp about this place from this place. THE FUTURE IS NOW! I'm not but that's because i'm not homeless or a loser. LAURA!
And with that, I'm off to France! Au revoir, bitches!!! Actually, I'm not going to France, I'm just making a crepe but whatevs.
*stuff = no idea who this "stuff" is but i wanted to throw it in for "academic" "weight". feel free to PM megan w. as she is an expert on all things dry cleaning. and pretty much everything else. except for donuts, i'm your girl for that.
They separate all my little nylon slip-socks and fasten them together with a safety pin, which I then get to keep.
They pay attention when I ask them not to put certain items in the dryer.
They thought they had lost my new sweater, when in fact while it was hanging dry, someone mistook it for an item needing wet cleaning, and it came back two days later in perfect condition. They even called a second time after leaving a voicemail to make sure I knew.
They're always friendly and nice.
The price is just a little bit more than I'd like to get my laundry done for me, which I consider to be a guilt tax; paying that little bit more alleviates whatever shame I might feel for um outsourcing a job that I have also been paid to do for others, once upon a time.
They use environmentally friendly detergent that is also dye- and fragrance-free, for no extra charge. Commercial detergents give me rashes, as do most "gentle" ones with scent. Planet, the one Wash Quarters uses, is just right.
They are located a pleasant 2.5 blocks from my front door, right next to Herbivore, which is very convenient if you are dropping your laundry off at 7:30 on Friday evening and in desperate need of nourishment (however middling).
Wash Quarters, you are great. You ought to have a tip jar.
A regular here, I can't give it a full 4 stars because of a lack of green products. But they do a good wash and fold, and the prices are loowww.
A laundromat that actually has staff available to speak to if something goes wrong!? Oh my god, how can that be possible? Seriously, wash quarters is the cleanest, nicest laundromat on Valencia Street. They provide a very important service to those of us without the luxury of having a laundry room in our building. They even have a clean bathroom! Amazing!
Rockin' the environmentally friendly dry cleaning. I lost my receipt, left my stuff there for more than 2 months and it was still there when I finally remembered to pick it up (it was a business suit I use once a year, and then only under threat of torture). Don't bother calling them though about your dry cleaning - they'll tell you they'll call back then don't. Since it's pretty much in the middle of the Mission, just stop in instead.
Avoid this place.
do i have to give them a star??!!
i mean my 100 dollar dress was ripped off of its lace for a 1/3 of the rim, i lost my dress and they should not even get any stars!!!!
I wanted to go back and complain but I was leaving the country for a 8 months and it was just too crazy to deal with that...sigh....sad....me....
It's clean, by lots of cool establishments, and no ones going to jack my stuff. That's all I ask.
A little bit pricey, but I have no other choice since it's literally near my doorstep. Plus it's convenient if I"m feeling really lazy to go to drive to a cheaper laundromat. The price one has to pay to live in a gentrified neighborhood...
I went to this place for my wash & fold and laundry for about eight months or so. Until, for a period of about a month, one out of every two of my dress shirts came back with at least one button melted or missing. This also happened to coincide with the period when I started getting my white sheets and shirts coming back with grayish black splotches that they didn't have when I sent them in. AND it happened to coincide with them raising the price of wash & fold from $1/pound to $1.25/pound.
That was enough motivation for me to find another place--and I found R&A Launderette, on Valencia between 23rd and 24th. Wash & fold is only 85 cents a pound, buttons never get melted off, and no mysterious splotches appear. And the elderly couple that runs the place is just as nice as the folks at Wash Quarters. AND they actually have my stuff ready when they say they're going to.
So it's as good or better in all respects. I'm never going back to Wash Quarters again.
The beauty of this place is the hours of operation. Why is it that every fucking full-service laundromat is closed on Sunday? Did anyone ever think that people want to do errands on the weekend and that people want clean clothes for the new work week? Well, The Wash Quarters gets it, and they get it done! Nice, helpful staff with a variety of detergents to choose from (including Planet, an eco-friendly one). I can go after work (open late) or I can drop my nasty laundry off on S-U-N-D-A-Y. Hooray!
Even though there are several laundromats closer to my apartment, I'm happy to walk a few extra blocks to the Wash Quarters. They do a great job with wash and fold and have environmentally friendly wet-cleaning for shirts and sweaters. They open early and close late, so I can always pick up my clothes before or after work. And for self-service, it's the cleanest laundromat in the neighborhood, plus they have free Wifi while you wait.
great service and best of all they offer environmentally friendly cleaning! I was happy to find out that I don't need to go to the expensive neighborhoods to find affordable pro-environment cleaning. I have allergies so I am VERY EXCITED to have a local cleaner with CO2 and Wet cleaning non-chemical -I can finally clean my cashemere sweaters without worry
Hope this helps!
Been using Wash Quarters for 4 years now for both wash/fold, laundering dress shirts, and dry cleaning. Wash/fold has always been good. Think they lose a tshirt or sock here and there but nothing I can point to with certainty. One of my laundered shirts came back totally shrunk last year. I shrugged it off and continued patronizing the place given that the next closest cleaner was an extra 2 blocks away. If that was the end of the story I would have given them 3 stars. I recently got back one of my custom shirts that I specifically asked for dry cleaning totally ruined because they laundered instead of dry cleaned it. I'm a self-admitted metrosexual guy and am extremely picky about anything to do with my clothing. I remember the day I dropped of that shirt. The woman at the counter was half on the phone and half trying to process my order. I was nervous when she didn't tag the shirt as dry clean immediately but when I asked her if she understood what I was asking for she rolled her eyes and waved me off. Now I can understand that an honest mistake was made but it was the owner's response that was really disappointing. They simply refused to recognize any liability and said that I should have checked the receipt before I left. Maybe I should have done so but we spent 15 minutes looking through their computer system. It was obvious that I had been going there for 4 years and was heavy user of wash/fold, laundering, and dry cleaning. Their employees knew me on sight. I was hurt that the owner made no attempt to rectify the situation.
the self-service laundry side of the business is great, but..
i've been going here for my dry cleaning for six years.. they've been great except for the fact that they lost two of my shirts over the years, but the owner paid for them without me even asking. then they changed owners twice and it all went wrong.
i took in 15 shirts last week, upon picking them up only had 9. i told them to call me with the status and the lady assured me that they'd call me asap. waited and waited.. no call. stopped by the next day, different lady, had to explain my issue of lost clothes again and she assured me the same thing. still no call. day 3, i call in and the new owner picks up and says it's the first he's hearing about this. assures me he's going to call me back within a few hours. no calls. day 4, i call in and tell them that my shirts cost me between 200 and 350 each and i'm getting a little worried. day 5, day 6, day 7 goes by and i'm calling every day, still with zero telephone calls back.
finally i call on day 8 and they say "oh, i think these are them, just come in.. we found them:" didn't bother to call or anything.
the only reason i keep going back to this place is because it's the only dry cleaner in the Mission that does "Wet Cleaning" which is like dry cleaning but without the chemicals. i'll keep going back, but only because i can't find another place that does Non-Chemical dry cleaning.
For the first time in my life I don't have my own washer/dryer in my building. Boo hoo, right? Anyways, I read some reviews of laundromats in the Mission and settled on the Wash Quarters as my devirginizing laundromat experience. I packed up all my stuff, grabbed a magazine and was ready to head out the door when my roomie stopped me with an offer to go sailing on the Bay on a gorgeous day. Hmmm, laundry or sailing? Laundry was a dire need...what to do? I ran down to Wash Quarters and used their wash and fold service, $1.25/lb for under 20 lbs. I have a lot of stuff that needs to be line dried and I kinda hated asking the guy if he could do that (seems so picky). I did and he was totally nice about it. When I left, I felt like my laundry was in good hands. I came back after a great day on the Bay and all my laundry was neatly folded, dried and clean. Great service - I definitely plan on using it again!
