Elm Street Tattoo

Went in for a quarter size horse shoe tattoo. Was quoted $ 100. Having had numerous tattoos I knew this quote was ridiculous. Was later told by another employee that this was a ploy to over charge tourists! Obviously, I was upset! Glad I didn’t get it because I saw a friends tattoo from there, and it was horrible!

Got my 2^nd tat on Sunday about a year after my first. I loved the first & wanted the same artist as before. James doesn’t work in Dallas full time anymore but comes in town periodically so I set my appointment with him. Well worth the wait and wasn’t disappointed. The shop is very clean, cool and the guys & gals were friendly and accommodating and James… what can I say. he kicked ass on my tat which was not a very easy design. I would recommend Elm St. Tattoo to anyone.

I have gotten work done here, by Mark and Carl, and cannot recommend them enough. My latest piece was done by Carl, and he exceeded all expectations, from the design to the application. The staff is friendly and provides the type of professional service you’d expect from an old school tattoo shop. Nobody in the shop is pretentious or arrogant at all. If you are looking for a bold badass tattoo, this is your place!

was tattooed by Linda and with the first experience with her I should have known better. She canceled on me when I had to drive from out of town and I was already up there. (Which you go through all this with her assistant) to say the least I waited a year to tell her how displeased I was with my tattoo. I had sent her tons of flowers and berries and she took most of the time drawing it while I was there. Whatever. But then she told me she was gonna shade with one needle or something stupid like that on my blackberries. To put it nicely… No one can tell what’s on my arm. And it’s the entire forearm. I have never Unilocaled in my life. I actually don’t like Unilocal.But I’m still pissed at her response being, «well blackberries are dark» well duh! But you should know what they are when you look at them!!!

Save your time and money. I was excited about the shop and assumed it would be great since Oliver Peck was involved, and it had lots of great reviews. I learned by calling that to get an appt. you go online, choose an artist and email them. I did lots research and found Mark Galvan. I emailed him, I sent him a picture of what I was wanting and asked if I could make an appt. He emailed back several days later with one sentence «that’s cool when do you want to do it» we emailed back a few times, I was always left waiting multiple days to hear a response and it was always a very short uninterested answer. A few days before the appt. I asked If he was going to draw it up before or go over it with me day of. No response. I was already annoyed but thought he was probably just bad at business but great at his job. Day of appt. arrived. It was my first tattoo, and I was pretty excited. He had told me a week eariler he would be there that day from 7 to midnight. I told him I would be there around 8. I arrived at 750 and told the staff who I was waiting for. They told me they hadn’t heard from him that day, but he’d made an appt with me that he was probably on his way. I waited for a little while. Oliver was there and on his way out. The guy I had spoken with told him what was going on with me. Oliver asked if he was on his way or where he was and the other guy told him he hadn’t heard from him. Oliver said okay. As he walked out he didn’t acknowledge me at all, got on his bike and drove away. I waited for 40 minutes and left. I will not be going back and would never recommend this shop to anyone.

I have been going here for a few years now. I can honestly say I will not step foot in another tattoo shop. Every artist at Elm street is beyond amazing at what they do. My first tattoo I got here was about 4 years ago as a walk in. Simple script on my collar bone. I do not remember the guys name that did it, and I have not seen him up there after that one time, but he did a great job. Then I have had Joe Haasch do a few of my tattoos (We are actually working on a full HP sleeve now). He did my flowers on my side and on my shoulder. The line work and color on each piece is flawless (well, I should say (was) flawless. My shoulder needs to be touched up slightly but that is 100% my fault).
James Buie did most of my right arm. I am really sad that he is no longer at Elm Street. I always get stopped and asked about my butterflies (because, you know, it’s everyone business lol).
I also have had a dagger done by Josh Arseneau. Again, turned out amazing.
Anyways, the point of this review is if you want a great tattoo done by some beautiful people (For real, how is everyone that works there so gorgeous? HAVE YOU SEEN LITTLE LINDA & MOLLY?! Have you seen the naked picture of Josh in the magazine? SWOON…) this is the place to go. Everyone makes you feel comfortable and at ease. Walk ins are welcomed usually, just know there might be a wait. (If I have to wait 2 months for an appointment I don’t want to hear you B*tch about waiting an hour or two while I’m sitting there getting my tattoo). Douche bags are not welcome. I have seen a few instances of random people walking in and trying to cause trouble. I assume it is normal for the area… They are quickly taken care of though.
Speaking of random people…
If you see a parking spot available in front of the shop, TAKE IT. At night the area can get really sketchy and I always get nervous walking to my car. (Comes with the area…)

I had an excellent experience here and I cannot recommend this shop enough. It has a great feel to it, and you can be pretty much certain that you will get a flawless tattoo here. My boyfriend and I probably walked in and out 5 times over 2 days, undoubtedly painting us to be the most indecisive couple of all time; I am certain the staff noticed but if they did, they didn’t treat us differently. We finally STAYED and were approached by Bryan, who listened to our ideas (and budget) and quickly drew us up a design. We came in as a walk-​in shortly after they opened at 2 on a Sunday, and didn’t wait too much more than an hour before he took us back. My boyfriend was tattooed by Bryan, who was not only extremely skilled and creative, but kind and conversational. I was tattooed by Morgan, who was visiting from Missouri; I swear she had the world’s most delicate touch and despite doing my appx 3×3 tattoo in about 30 – 40 minutes, was flawless. We both are extremely happy with our work and played the «yours is better, no yours is better» game upon leaving.
I suggest viewers of this Unilocal page temper their reading of these reviews with some simple suggestions:
— DO NOT go into a tattoo shop (this one, or any one) with zero idea what you want and expect to receive a warm welcome. Don’t waste their time and they won’t waste yours. Go in with a solid idea of what you want, where you want it, and how much you want to pay.
— Be serious about your budget and keep in mind you’re supposed to tip. In my experience it seemed to be about $ 200/​hour but I can’t guarantee that’s accurate for you.
— They take walk-​ins but it’s not a given. If you really want a tattoo as a walk-​in, expect to wait.
— If you’re looking for a big piece, that’s when you’d want to research their regular artists and set up a consultation.
— If you’re a rude jerk to them, they may be less inclined to be overly gracious to you. Just my opinion– seems like they have no trouble getting business and don’t need the hassle. Just be normal, ya know?

Had my first piece done here & I am hooked. I felt super comfortable, & love the eccentric collection of memorabilia on the shelves. You can’t go wrong with any of the artists here — they are the best of the best! Book an appointment!

Had a wonderful experience with Linda. She did beautiful work for me and was so sweet. The shop has a nice atmosphere with a lot of fun things to look at while you wait or while you’re getting your tattoo. Definitely book an appointment, like with any reputable tattoo shop. Many of the complaints on here seem like people are expecting to walk in and get serenaded on their arrival which seems like a pretty silly complaint. In any case, we were greeted immediately when I arrived for my appointment and my appointment started on time.

I was a little worried about coming here based on some of the bad reviews, but a local recommended it so I figured I’d give it a shot and I’m glad I did! We walked in and we had to wait about 2.5 hours, which is understandable on a Saturday night. The shop manager and artist were both so nice. The price was also reasonable, a shop down the street quoted me $ 50 more for my tattoo. The tattoo also came out exactly how I wanted it! I would definitely recommend this place.

I came to town to visit my sister and to get a tattoo with her. I called ahead to ask if they accepted walk-​ins, and the guy said they had someone doing walk-​ins all day. We drove straight over and arrived at 3:15. I told the guy what I wanted: a short, seven word quote on my arm. A simple script in a straight line. I was told there was one person ahead of me and to return in an hour. To kill time, we grabbed some food down the street and came back. When we got back, another guy asked how he could help, and I explained I was a walk-​in and had been instructed to return in an hour. This guy looked annoyed and told me to hang on. He went to a back room where I could see him speaking to the man I originally spoke with. When man #1 came out, he looked worried and avoided eye-​contact. I overheard him ask a tattoo artist if she was free and she wasn’t. He then came over and asked again what I wanted. He told me to wait again and went to speak to another artist. After five minutes of this, he came and told me that «best case scenario» it would be an hour and a half before I could be seen because there was someone else ahead of me (despite telling me the same thing an hour ago and asking me to come back). He also asked if he had given me a price, which he hadn’t. He walked away for a few minutes and then gave me an estimate of THREE HUNDRD DOLLARS for a small, six inch quote on my arm. It was pretty clear this guy has messed up and was overpricing just to get me out. So while I can’t speak to their talent, I can tell you I wasted a day because of their disorganization when I could have gone somewhere else or just done something much more exciting with my family.

Mark is the man! Amazing work and while everyone else is chatting and interacting, Mark is super focused on his work.
Chilly handles the vinyl selections (good choices).
Everyone is friendly and professional.
Oliver, designs for Vans and you can purchase a pair of exclusive «Oliver» Elm Street vans.
Love this place!

So I had been wanting to get a script tattoo for the longest time, but I just could not find a artist good enough. I came across Elm Street Tattoo on Unilocal and found Mark Galvan, I immediately knew this was the person I wanted to do my tattoo. So I called them up and asked when he was working. I was soo nervous/​scared to go in shop because some of the reviewers on here have said bad things about the place (and I really wanted him to tattoo me). When I walked up to the shop he was outside standing in the front. So I approached him, he was so nice and helpful and seemed genuinely interested in my tattoo. he was throwing around ideas and showed me pictures on his phone. I made a appointment to come in the next day which was a Friday night. I wanted to give him time to draw up the picture (he was willing to tattoo me right then and there). So friday nite came and he had two sketches drawn for me to choose from. The place was not crowded at all. We went over the sketches and I had him change a couple of things, he didn’t seem to mind at all. He tattooed me so fast! The environment was fine, the other artist stayed to themselves which was fine with me. I love my tattoo and have gotten compliments on it. They didn’t accept cash so he let me go and get money from the atm with no problem. go see mark if your wanting a tattoo, he is a keeper. The only thing I was upset about was he didn’t take a picture of the beaut to put on his Instagram!

Personally no complaints. Fast. Take walk ins unless they’re booked up and busy (duh) the whole crew is great. Not one person I can say I can’t recommend. Professional clean staff. They price correctly. If they’re overpriced, you’re just cheap. Keep going to your unlicensed neighbor then. One of less than a handful of the best of dallas.

As soon as we walked in the building we felt very unwelcome and not wanted. They stared at us like we didn’t belong. After a couple long seconds of staring, the two guys at the front said «can we help you», in a very rude tone. First tattoos are scary enough for most people and feeling comfortable is important… but EST definitely didn’t care about that. I’m assuming because we were three 18 year old girls who didn’t look like the the «typical» people to have tattoos, we were treated as kind of a joke. Last time I checked, a customer is a customer so you should treat them with respect.
We quickly left and went to another tattoo place down the street (Taboo Tattoos) who treated us like real customers the moment we walked through the door.
I wouldn’t recommend EST to anyone who wants an enjoyable tattoo experience. Their customer service is a 0.

One of the best tattoo shops in the whole world. Everyone who works there is well respected and known in the industry. Fun people, good tattoos, good music, clean and trustworthy environment. Elm St. is one of the best in the world so why the fuck would you go anywhere else?! Linda, Carl, Oliver and James have all tattooed me and will again.

Not only was the tattoo artist, Brian, rude and disenchanted, but his line work is atrocious. I paid $ 100, at what I thought was a reputable tattoo shop. My very simple tattoo looks like I got it in someone’s garage. Im pretty heavily tattooed, but this one sticks out like a sore thumb. I would not recommend this place, or Brian. Unless you want to throw away $$$ to someone who hates their job and it shows in attitude and line work.

I have had two tattoos here with last one done by Josh… great work and great human being. I’ll be back for sure.

Quite disappointed. I called them numerous times to see if we needed an appointment to have piercings done. Each time it rang continuously, not even a voicemail. So we planned our evening around going there and made the trip downtown. Imagine our surprise when we walked in and inquired about piercings only to be told they don’t do them there. Really? Because your social media account says you do! Had they taken a moment to pick up the phone when we called they could have told us this. Or, they could update their online presence to reflect that they no longer do piercings. Instead they wasted our time. Not very professional.

i was sent to this shop by a friend and I had a great experience. I don’t know about the «Deep Ellum» look… I was in scrubs and sneakers with a ponytail and look more like a suburban uppity 40 something than alternative or whatever their look is supposed to be.
Everyone was extremely laid back and very cool… If you don’t act like an asshole they wont either…
I ended up waiting for about 2 hours … maybe it was because I knew what I wanted and it meant something and didn’t say «like» and OMG every 2 seconds.
I got a great claddagh on my inner wrist… I definitely wanted that since it was on my moms headstone.
James did exactly what I asked for and I told him to do what he thought would look best for placement, size, and on the ends of the claddagh hands…
They are artists, and I must say he did the tattoo in about 20 min, was extremely respectful of my memorial tattoo and has left me with a great but emotional memory of my time in Dallas!