European Shoe Service

Adam has done a great job with resoling my husband’s shoes, and he also repaired a belt & the stitching on a windsurfer harness for us. I’ve used his cobbler services about five times now and have had excellent experiences every time.

I dropped off 3 pairs of boots (2 of them were Via Spiga) for repair; toes, hills, color and condition and one pair were coming apart in the back.
He explained to me that he would have to stitch up my boot and it would be a little visible.
I left the place without checking any prices (big mistake on my part).
When I stopped by to pick up my boots I looked at my gray Italian boot and saw the ugliest stitching EVER done on a pair of shoes. My hart broke, I felt like crying and what I was told was «this is the best we could do».
Then it came time to pay for the boots and my total came to $ 346, I was speechless. The owner came up and started explaining charges; to replace 1 inch of leather (it did not look like leather) on the toe area was $ 27 per shoe, to replace plastic (rubber) hills $ 20 per shoe, and then ungodly amount for conditioning of my boots to bring it up to $ 346. I should have gotten new pair of boots.
Please, do not assume that reviewers have no experience with cobblers. Read reviews, check prices and do not go to this cobbler.

European Shoe Service in Menlo Park has been my go to place since I moved to MP 15 years ago. Adam never fails to find ways to fix my shoe problems and does so promptly and with high quality and real caring. I’m lucky to have this resource in my neighborhood.

Before coming here, I checked this place out on Unilocal and was surprised by all the vehement 1-​star negative reviews. I figured that Unilocal is not known for cobbler reviews so those must have been related to a few bad experiences, but overall service was fine. I was dead wrong.
I needed to get a fabric briefcase bag stitched in two places (maybe 2 inches of stitching in total). When I explained the circumstance, he said he couldn’t make it look like it did before (i.e. the stitching would be obvious), and that it would cost $ 30 (which sounded quite expensive for the type of job required). Fine, I thought. I had seen that many Unilocalers complained that their soles came apart a week or two after he fixed it, so I asked if I’m paying that much, can he guarantee the quality. He responded: «guarantee, what guarantee?» I explained that perhaps if it rips again a week or two after the repair he could fix it free of charge. At that point he got very aggressive, complained that I would stuff the bag too much or throw it around to try to break it, and he’d get stuck with doing the job again. I said clearly that’s not the case, I just wanted to make sure the quality is good if I’m paying $ 30 for two stitches. After some back and forth, he literally KICKED ME OUT of the store.
I’m usually a complacent guy who tries to avoid conflict, so this came as a huge shock and was literally the worst customer service experience I’ve ever dealt with. If you look at the recent reviews, it’s clear that the service and quality has been rotten lately. I would encourage you to save time, money, and headache by avoiding this place.

I had 2 pairs of shoes where one of the heel caps had popped off. I thought this would be an inexpensive repair. Set me back $ 52, which is way more than I expected. The workmanship may be good, but these were not expensive shoes and I’m not sure I would have bothered with the repair had I known how much it would cost. Lesson learned — ask the price up front and what the repair will entail.

Dropped off a pair of boots, just needed to change the heel, I asked the price he said $ 12.50. Went back 1 week later now he said $ 22.50 plus tax, on his receipt I saw that he changed the number, so I questioned him and told him you changed the number. He said no maybe like 100 years ago you pay that price that now, I said that’s what you told me and you are the one changing the price, he insisted ! I said he should not cheat people and that now a days with Unilocal he should be careful. After a couple of minutes he said fine, pay me $ 12.50, that’s what I did, I was very upset, disappointed, never going back there again!

Took a pair of shoes and a pair of my wife’s boots. Came back s week later to pick them up and they look great. The gentlemen refinished, polished and repaired the heels.
A little on the expensive but well worth it to maintain quality footwear.

Not so sure about some of these 1 star ratings, but our family has been taking shoes to Adam’s shop for years now and received nothing but the best service!
My husband’s Aldens, Ferragamos and other dress shoes are all re-​soled and serviced here. Adam has repaired and restructured sandals, heels as well as many of the kids leather goods and backpacks.
His workmanship is of the highest quality and we’ve never had any issues or problems with his work. When we needed something turned around quickly for a business trip, he stayed late and finished it on time. Great, old-​school work ethic and dedication to his craft.
We don’t mind paying more for his services. He’s treated us with respect and takes time to talk with our kids. We wish him the best of health and hope to have his services in Sharon Heights for many more years to come.

very expensive. most of the work I’ve been happy with. there was one time though where he probably should have told me my boots couldn’t be fixed because when I picked them up, they looked bad. honestly I think there were unfixable but he tried anyways.

A pretty bad place… I ‘ve gone here several times, because the location is so convenient. I don’t mind paying high prices for great work, but his prices are really high, and the work ranges from just OK to really bad. I just had plastic tips replaced on a pair of heels– $ 18! And they don’t even look like they are tightly attached. From now on I’ll drive to Cinderellas and have it done right-​for half the price!

I’ve used European Shoe Service for 10 – 12 years now. He’s not just shoe repair but a real, live ‘cobbler’. I originally took some riding boots and equipment for repairs — I was a nervous customer given the cost of some of these items but the repairs turned out very well. I listen to his advice on what will be a lasting repair, good value, etc. He’s successful with repairs that other shoe repair services won’t even attempt. As with any business, just ask the approximate price before you give the go ahead.
Whenever I go to the shop, I see luggage, leather jackets, purses, you name it — he does all sort of repairs. He recently salvaged my favorite pair of sandals with a decorative patch that could be applied to both shoes (even though only a single shoe needed it …)

Ok, I went one time before and this guy was SO RUDE I thought I would never go back. He told me he couldn’t do anything for a pair of expensive Louis Vuitton sandals, basically waiving me out of his store. I thought, well maybe he had a bad day. I tried one more time with 3 pairs of shoes. 2 boots and a pair of broken flip flops. He again waived off my flip flop sandals saying he couldn’t do a thing for them. Now its not that he said that, it was his attitude. Rude is not a strong enough word. He did do a nice job on my boots, but he was expensive. One other thing, if you don’t like cigarette smoke, which I personally hate, don’t go there. Even with doing a good job on my boots, they wreeked of cigarette smoke, YUCKKKK

It’s taken me TWO months to cool down enough to write this review. I took in 5 pairs of shoes and it cost me $ 240. I freaked out at how expensive it was given most of them were simple re-​capping of heels. I argued with the guy for like 20 minutes about how ridiculous his prices were and he kept saying you get what you pay for.
Now I went home and thought about it. I don’t shop at stores with bargain basement prices. I could probably buy clothes more cheaply at Banana Republic, but I like fancy stores and nice designers. So maybe this guy is the Neiman Marcus of shoe repairers, right? WRONG!
The quality was TERRIBLE! The heels came off a pair of Lacroix’s literally 20 minutes into wearing them, and the rest don’t look too hot either.
I think this place is a rip off, the guy is a crab to boot and I have no clue how he stays in business. STAY AWAY!

How cool is it that cobblers still exist in 2008?
I’d worn a hole in the sole of my old Cole Haans… and while I’d normally just toss them and move on, the shoes themselves were in good shape and it seemed nutty to throw out a $ 200 – 250 pair on that basis. For $ 69, the nice gentleman at European Shoe Service resoled the shoes inside and out, and fixed/​replaced the heels as well. Good as new!
So I don’t have any way to judge how this price compares to that of other shoe repair options, but I was more than happy to pay for the fast & friendly way to save me from buying a new pair.

I brought my brand, spankin’ new Louboutin pumps to European Shoe Service to have them zipsoled (red rubber applied to the soles for protection, and to maintain the red color). It cost $ 38, which included the rubber. I think this is a little on the expensive side, even among «high-​end» cobblers. I don’t know how complicated a process this is, but it seems fairly straightforward to me.
The shoes were ready at the appointed time (two days later), so props for that. For my precious first pair of Louboutins though, I think the attention to detail was slightly lacking. The rubber was cut to different lengths for each shoe, and slightly covered the logo on one sole. The sides of the rubber have to be colored black to match the leather uppers, and the application of this ink was a little sloppy, as the edges of the red soles are black, and part of the leather uppers look colored too. This isn’t really noticeable if you’re wearing them, but still… $ 600 shoes!
I think next time I’ll try a different place, and buy the red rubber soles on eBay if necessary. There’s a seller on eBay who supposedly has rubber soles which match Louboutin soles more closely. The standard Vibram soles have a bit of an orange tint to them. Also, no need to get your shoes zipsoled before wearing them, as the cobbler has to grind down the sole slightly to provide grip for the glue anyway (which reminds me that I can see that my soles were ground slightly beyond the area of the rubber).

4.5 stars
Ladies who love Louboutins… Adam has the red vibram soles to protect Monsieur Louboutin’s beautiful shoes!
I also had a pair of Manolos that needed to be fixed and Adam did a great job.