Frank’s Tailoring

I quite like Frank. He’s probably not for the precious Berkeley sort, who want their posterior kissed at every moment, but I have always found him friendly, professional, and always prompt in terms of my drycleaning and tailoring needs.

Frank has refused all of the jobs I’ve brought him on grounds of «difficulty,» even though they were quite reasonable.
I brought in a shirt with two ripped elbows requiring patches and a pair of pants with an insignia I wanted removed. He said both jobs were «too difficult» and refused to take either of them. The assessment of difficulty is subjective but I believed that both of the requests were reasonable. I won’t be returning.

Wash and fold, same day if you get there in the am. Frank is always friendly and the clothes are neat and done right. Also, I asked him to hang dry jeans one time and he has always remembered since then.

This is my first Unilocal review but I feel strongly about reviewing Frank as he was completely unprofessional and actually rude for no apparent reason.
I walked in to Frank yelling on the phone to what I assume to be a customer over a cleaning bill. He continued arguing over the phone for several minutes while i just stood waiting. I looked around and the shop is in disarray… its filthy, messy, and generally disgusting.
He finally got off the phone and I told him i had a hole in my jeans and would like a patch. I have been to him before for jeans alterations and he had repaired them just fine, so I thought it would not be a hassle. I took in a similar pair of jeans to be patched and he quoted me $ 30… then suggested I just replace the jeans. I said I wanted the repair and he then said $ 30 was too cheap for the amount of sewing to be done. At this point, i said nothing. He THEN backtracked again and said he wouldn’t repair the jeans. I explained that he has repaired pants for me similarly before, and he could charge me whatever he wanted for the repair. He gave me a mean look, at which point I said I would take my business somewhere else.
At no point did I get angry or upset. In fact, I was pleasant, and maybe spoke a sentence or two to him. I don’t know if he was just in a bad mood, but I will never return to that shop again.
I took my jeans to Arlene’s cleaners on College avenue who not only said she would do the repair for less money, but she may have been the nicest person I have ever encountered. Go there for your alterations or cleaning needs, her service alone is worth it.

I have tried to like this business and have given it a few tries. Once I wanted a lined pair of pants hemmed and the tailor seemed rather displeased, explaining that it was extra work for him. This last time, I had 2 pairs of pants that I needed hemmed; I wanted them longer than what he had initially measured to which he responded sarcastically, «fine if you want to do my job, make it easier for me.»
He agreed that he would hem less so that the pants would be longer, but when I picked them up, they were cut short (the way HE wanted them!). I spent a good $ 40 for each pair of pants; with the hemming, I wasted more than $ 100 on 2 pair of once-​decent pants that I am now unhappy with. Don’t plan to go to this place again.

I have been here 3 times, mostly because this tailor shop is local and I wanna support my neighborhood businesses. But I will not return again, every time I go I told no. The first time I wanted some fancy jeans hemmed — I wanted the original bottom on them (which I have do e at other tailors numerous times). He told me that was a dumb idea and he wouldn’t do it… Even though I was willing to pay the extra that he charges to do this type if hem.
2^nd visit I wanted a dress altered– he said no it would be to much work and he doesn’t do dresses.
3^rd visit — today I wanted a dress taken in, I just needed a couple darts in it so it fit slimmer– he again said no… He sent me to
Another tailor. I just don’t get it. Apparently he died not want my business so… I won’t be going back.

After having my new blazer’s buttons replaced for a whopping $ 10, i requested Mr Frank to also open the pockets as I left the store. At this, he became mad and turned his back on me saying «$ 3, or NO». I attempted to reason with him, citing my long term customer status but at that he walked away and pretended not to hear as I attempted to at least get my old suit buttons back. He refused to even do that. In short, Frank was atrociously rude and has very high prices. There are many more choices in Berkeley for quality tailors, avoid Frank’s.

I just want to do a simple alteration with the length on 3 of my pants. It turned out to be 2 got altered and 1 still left it the same length.
It is just wasting my time to call and bring it to him to do it again.

A boutique owner recommended Frank to me, as I needed something significantly altered with a very fast turn around. I had bought a beautiful West African fabric print top & skirt from a friend for a special event, and of course didn’t try it on properly until about 2 days before the occasion. Turns out whoever measured/​made the outfit either had arms holes of two totally different sizes, or just thought it would be amusing to create a lopsided shirt.
By this time, I’m freaking out — because who has time to alter the top and have it back in less than two days? Well, I initially took it to a boutique who specializes in African fabric fashion & alterations but understandably they could not have it back to me in such a short time, so she suggested I try Franks. I went to Franks & he knew exactly what was wrong with the fabric (that it was basically unwearable since I could only get one side of body in the top) Anyways did I mention it was Wednesday, and I needed the top on Friday? Frank was sure to tell me he promised no miracles because he wasn’t sure the garment could be let out 2.5 inches since the original designer only provided 2 inches of spare cloth. It was going to be tight fit.
So I paid a little more than the normal rate (still not bad) to have the alteration rushed, and when I went I came to pick it up that Friday, Frank did indeed provide a miracle. He really came through, had it ready, just as we agreed, and he made my beautiful garment able to be worn. I was so relieved! He’s such a skilled tailor, and he’s very fair and knowledgeable. From this point on, I’ll be bringing anything I need altered to him!

I can’t comment on his prices for dry cleaning or tailoring because this is pretty much the only place I use but I can tell you that Frank is a nice man who has always treated me right.
He’s always had my clothes done on time. Sometimes I’ve forgotten or lost my pick up slip and he still finds my clothes for me. Whenever I need a small tear fixed or a button sewed on he usually does it free of charge.
I rarely get my clothes tailored so I don’t really know what I’m doing when it comes to asking for alterations. Frank took his his time with me, helped measure me and talked with me about how I wanted my jacket changed. He gives honest advice about clothes and has always been very personable to me! Yay Frank!

Frank is the best. He is a superb tailor and a very friendly person if you spend the time to get to know him. We no longer live in Berkeley but will still travel over there if we have tailoring work that need to be done. If he doesn’t feel that it’s necessary for you to spend the money to take in/​let out a piece of clothing or what have you, he always lets you know so you won’t waste money. He also spends the time to go through your dry cleaning to make sure all the stains are noted and not all the dry cleaners do that. We miss seeing Frank on a regular basis!

Another reason why Frank is cool: I brought this elaborate decorated Syrian tablecloth for him to dry clean, and he recommended I wait until it had more wear (so as not to risk ruining its loveliness). He left it up to me, but I was thankful for the honesty. Go Frank!

I can’t stand the tailor here. I wanted to get a pair of pants taken in and the tailor (Frank?) was so condescending and rude. He said he couldn’t do it and said that I was being unreasonable for even asking. So I took the pants to Advanced European Tailoring and they were able to do the pants fine. I moved to a house near Frank’s and decided to give him a second chance. I took a dress in to get tailored and rather than say he couldn’t do the tailoring, he condescendingly said, «why don’t you just go get some thread and do this yourself.» I went to Advanced European Tailoring and they did the dress. Seriously, there is no reason to go here since Advanced European Tailoring can do the job better and without any rude service.

Use Frank for my dry cleaning and tailoring. He does a good job. Sometimes he’s a hard ass and talks to you like you’re stupid.

I sent my favorite white pants to be dry-​cleaned here for some spots near the hem. It was really expensive, but I wanted them to be wearable again. When we picked them up, there were new rust-​colored mystery stains on the outer thigh, almost like an iron had singed the pants. We were confused and asked for the pants to be re-​cleaned. Frank became very irate and told us he would ever launder our white pants again. The stains did not come out during the second cleaning.
Additionally, Frank took some measurements for a suit rental for our wedding. He charged us for this service, when it’s normally a courtesy at most cleaners. Later we received a call from the rental store telling us that all the measurements were completely wrong and we had to get them redone. The rental people were right — Frank’s measurements for the pants were 5 inches off!
The service was subpar, the prices were high, and the owner was rude. I’d recommend going elsewhere.

My landlord recommended Franks as relatively affordable, quick, and for excellent work. He was right on all counts, the «relatively affordable» point being the reason for one less star … they’re priced reasonably for Berkeley, but higher than I (perhaps unreasonably) hoped.
I had two pairs of pants significantly altered and could not be happier with the result — Frank’s work is excellent and faster than several other Berkeley tailors.
I went back to have a suit altered and he did a great job, it fits better than any of my other suits, though I did pay more to get it there.
At Franks I’d say you get what you pay for and then some, not cheap and not at expensive for the area; but always excellent work for the price.
There are a couple comments on Unilocal about Frank’s attitude and language skills. These comments are definitely overblown based my interactions there — I tend to get along with most everyone, but I can’t see how anyone would get in a yelling match with Frank unless they were simply not open to his suggestions from years of experience. Though Frank is clearly busy getting his work done for his customers’ benefit and it’s clear that he has no desire to waste his (and therefore, his other customers’) time in small talk, he was willing to talk plenty in order to let me communicate just what I wanted and to give suggestions where I was unsure. He listened well and gave clear, reasoned replied which always turned out to be right in my case. The suggestion that his English is less than excellent is silly if not rude — he was always easy to talk with and understood better than many native English speakers would have because he listens well and communicates

Frank was super nice and I liked him a lot… but I didn’t like that it cost $ 40 to hem the sleeves on my coat :/.

I’ve been using Frank’s for about the past 5ish years (because my buttondowns and khakis always end up wrinkled when I wash/​dry them) … this guy is great, very friendly and professional. He’s pretty flexible about his hours if you give him notice (especially if you need to work around your work schedule) … Closed Tuesdays, but open every other day of the week (yeah, including weekends). He has pretty quick turnaround and runs one of those small mom-​and-​pop type businesses that cares about his customers. He’s one of few people that has earned my repeat patronage.