alexis g.'s Profile

In a moment of desperation, I visited Piaf for a highlights and a blow out. Both experiences turned out terribly. I won't mention the names of the two stylists on here (I don't want bad karma) but PM me if you are thinking about going here and want to avoid them.

The highlighting experience:
I was shoved into a hot back room with about 5 other people, while one stylist rotated around us doing our hair. I felt like I was at a walk-in medical clinic, not a hair salon. It was about as impersonal as you can get. I got there at 4:30 and said I had to, HAD TO leave by 6:30. She said that was fine. At 6:15 the foils were still on my hair and I had to threaten to walk out before she paid attention to me. She was literally doing 3 other people's hair at the same time as mine. When the foils came off, my hair was streak city. Ugh.

The style/blow-out:
OK so fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I returned to Piaf because it's a block from my office and I wanted a blow out. My hair was kind of ratty (I hadn't gotten a trim in 4 months) and so I agreed when the stylist asked if she could trim it. I emphasized OVER AND OVER for her to only cut 1 inch at the most. She went ahead and "made the executive decision" to hack off 3 inches of my hair. And she put in these god-awful layers so I can't even put my hair in a ponytail now. She gave me a hairstyle that only a professional could make look good. When I do it at home, it looks terrible and will take forever to grow out.

BEWARE, don't go here. The customer service is the worst I've ever experienced... and I've been to Bubbles before.

I have to give Matchbox one star after the terrible experience I had there last night. Here is a rundown of our experience:

-Passive aggressive waitress who talked down to us the whole time.
-20-25 minutes for our drinks to arrive.
-The staff messed up our orders. No apologies.
-A manager came over and told us that we had to be quiet. We were a group of 8 on a Saturday night at 10 pm. No one was standing up or screaming, we were just having a good time, trying to talk over the cheesy, loud music.

I've been to Matchbox before and it was OK, but last night was disgusting. I wouldn't go here again if you paid me. The staff was pretentious and acted like they were doing us a favor by serving us. It isn't like we are degenerates -- we are normal people in our late 20s who were just looking to have a fun meal. We spent a lot of money there and they should have been kissing our butts, not acting like we were a bunch of cheap, rowdy teenagers.

See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya, Matchbox.

I agree with the other reviews who are into this place. The free tequila shots and wacky atmosphere will keep me coming back. The food is good too, and so are the prices. If I lived closer to Eastern Market, I would be here like, every day. It's a great place for groups, especially groups of people who don't mind getting a little bit hammered.

I've been going to Blondie's for almost a year and overall, my experience here has been great.

I love having blonde hair, and so I thought a salon called Blondie's would be appropriate. They don't use "bleach" here, but some kind of mixture that is gentler on the hair. I thought this meant my hair would turn orange-ish, but they somehow get it as blonde as you want it.

I started out with Janna, who saved my hair from a bad bleach experience. When Janna left without telling ANY of her clients, I switched to Kuki, who I've seen about 3-4 times. She is very friendly and professional, and is a true "artist" with hair color. She put blonde, brown and red in my hair (at my request) and managed to make it all look natural. Kuki is also really fast, which is something I can appreciate after years of getting my hair done at the salon. I've had people take up to 4 hours to finish highlighting my shoulder-length hair, but Kuki can get the color and cut done in less than two.

The reception staff at Blondie's is also terrific. I'm used to showing up at salons and hearing them say "Oh, we didn't know you wanted a cut. We don't have time for that." The receptionists at Blondie's actually write down what you'd like done, so the stylists are fully prepared when you arrive. It seems like a little thing, but it's something that the reception staff at many other salons cannot remember.

We were seated right away on a Saturday morning, which is always a plus. I guess it helps that I'm not obsessed with sitting outside. The huevos rancheros is AMAZING here (and vegetarian) and they serve Chimay. It's also in a really "happening" location. Go.

You can tell the merchandise here is chosen very carefully, and a lot of thought goes into what they sell. This is the perfect place to stock up on your preppy basics and colorful dresses. The staff is very friendly and seem to genuinely want to help the customers.

They have at least one decent vegetarian option and they have Chimay (even though they don't serve it in the Chimay glasses) so they get 4 stars.

This store did have some cute things, but a lot of the dresses were a bit frilly. I tried on one dress after being informed that they were mostly "one size fits all." It looked like a potato sack when I put it on. The sales girl kept poking her head in and telling me it looked "so fabulous!" I also tried on a blazer that looked great on the mannequin, but not on me, because it was so big. I am by no means an abnormally small person. I'm 5'7". The sales girl informed me that "it's supposed to be really big like that, that's the style now." Well, even if something is trendy, doesn't mean it looks good on me. I told her as much, as politely as I could, and when I was exiting the store I turned around to see her making faces at me behind my back. She was sticking her tongue out at me. Whatever.

In addition to having a good CD selection and an alarming number of Twilight posters, this place sells "ice luge in a box." Who knew there was such a thing?!

The No Name is the best thing on the menu. The portions here are ridiculous. I don't know if they are making fun of Americans in general for being fat. It's one theory I have.
They should really start selling booze here.