Aloisia’s Pet Grooming

I have been a customer for about 20 years and have had nothing but a good experience with two different pets. She is always courteous and loves all her animals! She always schedules her appointments in a way she can take proper care of each animal. She loves everyone of her customers!

Desperately searching for a new groomer after an awful previous experience elsewhere and came across Aloisia’s shop each time I drove by Lighthouse on my way to school. I was surprised by the low ratings on Unilocal and by how long ago it was posted and decided to give it a try regardless. Aloisia is older and from Austria, she does wear a garbage bag as an apron while she works, she speaks with a heavy accent & she is old school (no high tech fancy computers of such sort in her store), but it is obvious she is kind to animals as she was infatuated with my dog at first sight when we walked in. It was such a pleasure to meet another schnauzer lover with all the schnauzer memorabilias everywhere throughout her shop, including the logo at her store! Even the other dog she was also working on was another schnauzer so I knew right away she knows what she is doing. She was attentive asking me what my dog and I like/​dislike, looked at previous photos of my dog I showed her, taking down notes while interacting with my dog who usually doesn’t like strangers. I felt comfortable leaving him there knowing she understands my dog’s needs. She only works on one client at a time and is very patient with them, she is also very thorough with the cleaning which includes nail trimming, ears & anal which explains why she does charge a bit more. But with the extra cost, I felt it was worth the money spent as I picked up my handsome & happy dog afterwards (see attached photo as proof). The shop is located behind a coffee shop & there is free parking in the back.

The worse place ever! DON’T TAKE YOUR PETS HERE! I took my pets here for the first time and after 7 hours I picked up my pets. They were horrific! It was like she used a weed-​whacker to cut them. Save your money and your pets from this place. Worse place I have even taken my pets!

Aloisia is the nicest lady we have ever met. She takes care of our Maltese as if she were her own. Abby, our dog, has a bad hip and Alosia is the only person we trust will not be rough with her when grooming her. Only place to take your pet on the peninsula!

My husband and I live in Monterey and foster Cavaliers for Cavalier Rescue USA. We were contacted to pick up a Cavalier from the Santa Cruz Animal Shelter that had the «highest level of flea dirt they had ever seen.» We wanted to pick him up right away, but needed him groomed before taking him home to the rest of our own dogs. When we picked him up at the shelter he was a complete mess and had obviously been kept outside for years before being ultimately abandoned by his pathetic previous owners. Aloisia was willing to get him in the same day I called and worked extremely hard to make sure she got all of the flea dirt out of his fur. He was a new dog when we picked him up! It was obvious she really cared about his well being and only asked for a nominal increase in the price to cover the extra time she spent on him. We only wanted him cleaned and not cut, so I cannot comment on that aspect, but we were very happy with her work. Now the old boy is doing great and is on his way to finding a forever home!

I don’t usually write negative reviews, but after seeing that three 1-​star reviews, with experiences similar to mine at the hands of this groomer, have been filtered and don’t appear in the top-​level reviews, I thought it best to weigh in.
While visiting from San Francisco, I recently brought my dog to Aloisia’s for the first and only time. She quoted a reasonable price when she saw him. When I came back to pick him up, some 4 hours after she had promised, his normally soft, silky fur looked like it had been chopped indiscriminately. Still sporting the black Hefty bag she wears while grooming, she was visibly upset and said the final bill would be $ 90, more than ¹⁄₃ higher than what she had quoted me upon taking him in. When I expressed my dissatisfaction over the price hike and how he looked, she said, «Do you want him or not? I’m not giving him back to you until you pay me $ 90.» Needless to say, I paid the $ 90. And now, I am writing one of the only negative reviews I’ve every posted. If I could post zero stars, I would.

Aloisa is great! The price tag is very comparable for the service and my dog seemed super happy. Looking forward to visiting Aloisia again soon!

$ 65 to get my Westie white and pretty. She looks like an ad for Lil Ceasers dog food. I am very pleased with the service and the price.

Rating a 3 for informational purposes:
Called in to see if they could take my Lab, but they only do dogs about 35 to 40 lbs max. Only open Tue-​Fri.

Aloisia’s place might be a little hard to find as it’s tucked back in a little shopping plaza on a busy portion of Lighthouse Ave. I called her up on a Saturday morning wondering when her next available appointment was, and she managed to schedule my dog for a bath/​haircut that same afternoon!
My dog, Nigel, is a 12.5 lb Pomeranian/​Cairn Terrier mix. He is usually pretty good about being groomed, but he is nervous about getting his nails trimmed. Aloisia did everything she could to make sure Nigel would have a good experience. When I arrived to pick him up, Nigel was his normal, happy self and did not seem stressed at all. Not to mention he smelled AMAZING and his haircut was very cute and well done.
It cost $ 50 to get Nigel bathed and trimmed. That also included his nails, ears, and anal glands. Very comparable in price to other grooming places in the area, and I would much rather hand over my dog to Aloisia than PetSmart.
Aloisia mentioned she has one customer come down from San Francisco every 5 weeks to get her dog trimmed, and I can certainly see why! I will definitely be taking Nigel to her to get groomed for the duration of my time in the Monterey Bay area.
Note: Aloisia only accepts cash or check.