Borel Eye Doctors

Dr Lam is amazing; I have nothing negative to say about her, but their administrative department needs a lot of help. It’s hard to get a hold of the office, and they don’t communicate with one another. I called on a Monday to see if I could move my appointment (thankfully, they picked up). The gentleman on the phone said that I couldn’t get in sooner, so I confirmed my original appointment via phone. I then showed up at my scheduled time that Friday, and they told me my appointment had been cancelled as I hadn’t confirmed via email or text when they sent out notifications a few days prior. Yet I had ignored them thinking my verbal confirmation was sufficient. Clearly, it wasn’t. And clearly their staff doesn’t make notes in their system or make notes for one another regarding patients. I don’t work in the area and had to work from home for the appointment. Needless to say, I was very upset.
Thankfully, they had the doctor meet with me in between patients so I didn’t have to come back in to the office on a different day, but it took much longer than it would have if they hadn’t made an error on their end.
If anything, they need to step up their administration game. They need to be more attentive to phones, need to make notes in their system and need to communicate with one another.
For those who go to borel– be warned that you need to confirm your appointment in a multitude of ways to avoid cancellation. Verbal confirmation is NOT sufficient.

Dr. Lam is the BEST optometrist I’ve ever been to!!! She is so sweet, knowledgeable, and truly cares about her patients! She is fast and efficient yet doesn’t make you feel rushed. I told her I was going out of the country soon and she did her best to squeeze me in. She found ways to improve my vision and the health of my eyes. Highly recommend Dr. Lam!!! I live in the South Bay and drive all the way to San Mateo to see Dr. Lam and it is totally worth the trip!

I was extremely pleased with my experience at Borel Eye Doctors in San Mateo.
Scheduling was very fast. I did not have an insurance card, but they were able to look up my information over the phone with basic information such as my social security number, birthday, etc. I also liked that they texted my phone to remind me of my appointments and when my glasses were available to be picked up
It has been years since I have had an eye exam and Dr. Lam was able to assist me with exceptional care. Not only did she make sure I got the correct prescription for my glasses, but she also tested the overall health of my eyes with a comprehensive exam which involved an zoomed-​in and enlarged photograph of my eyes.
They also were very helpful in the selection of my new glasses allowing me to try on almost every single pair of glasses and giving me 2^nd and 3^rd opinions about which ones looked the best on me based on the shape of my face, and which frames would hang on my cheeks instead of my nose.
Overall I left with a peace of mind that my vision is in good hands, and glasses that make me look «smarter» lol.

I wear contacts and glasses. I have to renew my contacts Rx every year and it’s always a frustrating experience. Between my company changing vision coverage every year, eye exam hidden fees, ridiculous office practices, ridiculous in office contact prices etc… (ref.
) it just became a once a year unnecessarily expensive experience that I cant avoid.
My visits at Borel Eye Doctors (eye exam and contact lens fitting follow up) could not have gone better. Dr Terri Mark is amazing. She listened to me when I told her I hated my previous contact brand, worked with me to find thinner lenses and went through my vision history like no eye doctors has ever done before. My insurance covered everything but $ 60 (co-​pay eye scan). Dr. Mark also didn’t question my decision to get my contacts online and printed my Rx right away. I would definitely go out of my way to return to this place.

As a family, we have worked with Janet for some time. She is INCREDIBLE at what she does. She helps us choose glasses that will look good, she talks us through the range of lens options, she orders the glasses, and when we pick them up, they are always PERFECT. In the past (at other places), my glasses always needed adjusting after wearing them for a while. This has never happened with Janet. Anyway, I’m not sure about other people in the practice, but I recommend Janet completely. I would change eye doctors before I switched from Janet !

They won’t pick up the phone during scheduled operating hours! It is so frustrating when you call a place during their advertised business hours and they don’t pick up the phone. It just gives you voice mail and then they don’t check it and call you back. This has happened to me 3 times in the past two months. While they seem like good eye doctors, they need to answer their phones. If you don’t answer your phones, at least move to the modern world and accept online appointment scheduling. This technology is widely available.

I came here recently because i desperately needed to spend some FSA dollars. Since I haven’t gotten new glasses in 6+ years I figured it’d be nice to get new ones.
Having acquired vision insurance recently, i figured I would get a good deal.
I came in, told the receptionist I had a prescription and wanted new glasses. She then sent Troy to help me out. I explained to him what style I was looking for and what I didn’t like. He was very helpful in finding many choices for me. I appreciated that he didn’t try to push ridiculously expensive designer ones on me. He gave me his honest opinion on how each one looked on me and helped me settle for my pair through his own process of elimination.
With my insurance (VSP) the frames were practically free. He gave me various options for the lenses as I have a VERY high prescription. I settled for the thinest available which were a couple hundred dollars. He said it would take about 2 weeks for the glasses to be ready, but they were ready in exactly a week! They came with a 2 year insurance and he said I can come in at any time to get them adjusted.
Overall, I really liked the quality treatment I received and appreciated the fact that I wasn’t pressured to buy anything I didn’t want. I will definitely come back here again in the future for my eyes’ needs.

I am delighted to write a review for Boral Eye Doctors as last week was my first time walking in the door and the staff made me feel really comfortable! I was greeted by the lovely lady at the front desk (Christine). I arrived early so I was able to look at the frames and & the great options they had. I came in find of having an idea of what I wanted and of course I was going for name brand MK glasses! But once I smoke to a lady named (Janet) Certified Optician I was able to realize that I actually should get glasses that fit my face (mind u its my first time getting/​picking out glasses. Janet syaynwuth me for about an. hour and explained the bill to me and plus I was able to get the glasses I wanted! Yayy. I was able to get some feedback from the staff members working and I can really tell that they were being honest and not just trying to sell a dream ;). Thank you staff!
Now that I saved the best for last, I want to definitely recommend Dr. Joy Lam! She is amazing and it shows that she cares! She examined my eyes and explained everything in detail. She made me feel very comfortable! I couldn’t imagine a better experience! Thank you Boral Eye Doctors!

I have used rigid gas permeable lenses as ortho lenses for decades. My previous practitioner is now too far away, so I went to Borel and worked with Dr. Mark.
Dr. Mark is knowledgeable and patient, and willing to go the extra mile. She made contact with my prior practitioner, who understood my situation completely, and provided her with all the information they had. With Dr. Mark, I made one adjustment to the final perscription, where her willingness to hear what I had to say and help me was of great value.
After the lenses came in she spent plenty of time in the fitting process to make sure everything worked as desired. She knew I was coming in from a long way off.
After most of a year of experience in using the set of lenses she made for me, I can say with certainty that this is as good an outcome as one could possibly expect, and I say that with decades of excellent results behind me.

I love reviewing businesses that I really believe in, and Borel Eye Doctors is one of those places.
I’ve been seeing Dr. Mark at Borel for more than 12 years. I used to work nearby, which is how I found them, but I still drive all the way from San Francisco to Borel. They’re that good.
They always have the latest technology for eye exams, which I appreciate. Dr. Mark is very friendly and very thorough, explaining what each test is for and what the results mean to my eye health.
Their frame selection is good, if somewhat higher end. Janet is the one who has helped me for the last 10 or so years to pick out frames that are right for my face shape and color. She helps direct me to frames that are good for me and isn’t afraid to make a face and shake her head «no» when I pick out something crazy…
They’ve consistently delivered my glasses on time or earlier than promised, and the glasses have always been right the first time.
5 stars for Borel — my eye place for as long as I live in the Bay Area!

I haven’t had my eyes checked in years so I decided it was time and made an appointment at Borel Eye Doctors. They were able to get me in during the time frame I requested and I was thankful they had the availability. When checking in the kind girl at the front said my name wasn’t in the book, but she said they would see me anyway. A little confused why I wasn’t marked down but I mentioned the gentleman’s name who I booked the appointment with. I saw Dr. Lam and she was so sweet and so knowledgeable. I felt very comfortable asking questions and she was very informative and explained everything. I really felt like she gave me an in-​depth eye exam and that she spent quality time with me which I really appreciated. A lot of times doctors will rush you in and out and I didn’t feel like that at all. I have already recommended her to my family members for their next eye exams.

Dr. Marcie Arnesty-​Olian seemed like a good doctor but too much of my exam was conducted by her assistants who did not seem qualified to be doing what they were doing. Frame selection not very good and prices ridiculously inflated so that you’re paying as much with insurance there as you would without insurance elsewhere. Really nothing about my experience except maybe location would make want to go back.

I don’t live in San Mateo, but good and trust worthy doctors are very very difficult to find. Dr. Lam is professional, knowledgeable, and patient. These qualities are enough for me to make the drive to San Mateo for my exam. I have recommended her to many friends already, so I will not hesitate to also recommend her to you.

An A+ for customer service! The staff at Borel Eye Doctors is the patient and kind! My 84 year old mother’s glass frames broke. They were able to replace the frames within 2 hours and get my mom back to seeing again.

I saw their doctor years ago. Good checkup. In the past five years my vision has changed so i went back. I bought two pairs of glasses– sun glasses for driving and general purpose glasses.
They really did a fine job on the second check up. I was impressed that with the general purpose glasses they replaced the lenses in the progressives with no questions asked. The second set of lenses worked much better.
All in all a great experience.

Two things you need to know about Borel Eye Doctors.
1. Dr. Joy Lam is awesome!
2. Amazing service from the staff.
I just wish they had better collection for frames, but that’s okay. Definitely Dr. Lam is my optometrist while I am in the Bay Area.

Great eye doctor! This is the BEST eye doctor I have ever been to! Friendly staff who do they jobs well and efficiently. The best part is the doctors though. They know what they are doing and make going to them an enjoyable experience. Dr. Marcie Arnesty-​Olian is my doctor and I highly recommend her!

Dr. Lew and her staff are great and I strongly recommend them. Dr. Lew was through, patient, explained clearly, friendly and seemed knowledgable. All that one can ask of a doctor.
They have a convenient location, too. Dr. Lew also fixed my sunglasses for free, which was above and beyond my expectations.

High level recap of Borel Eye Doctors: Great optometry experience, staff dropped the ball on multiple occasions and screwed up my prescription.
Getting glasses at Borel Eye Doctors made sense since I worked up the block and they had a decent Unilocal review. Had an appointment with a younger optometrist who was great and order a pair of glasses. The staff gave me an ETA of a week. Two weeks into waiting, I hear nothing from the store. Two and a half weeks after the initial visit, I called the store and the receptionist assured me that she would follow up on this issue the next morning since the lab was already closed – NEVER RECEIVED A CALL OR EMAIL BACK.
We are hitting week three after placing my order for these glasses and I finally call the store to complain about what is going on. The very next day, they leave a message to let me know my prescriptions has finally arrived. At this point there is an amazing sour taste in my mouth – to top everything off, THEY SCREWED UP MY PRESCRIPTION.
At this point, they offer me a ~30% off the cost of my glasses as an apology but I declined to take them up on their offer.
Management was notified of this issue, and they quickly refunded my for my glasses and writing up a prescription to get my glasses else where.
In short, I am giving this place TWO stars, one for the great exam experience and one for management handling this with such pose.
I do want to warn future patients that doctors are great here but multiple staff gave me poor customer service by NOT giving me a proper ETA on a frame that could be on back order, NOT notifying me when there was a delay in the glasses, NOT following through on a calling me back with a status update, and NOT properly assuring my prescription was correct.
I did not expect Spa quality service from an optometrist, my only expectation was to get an exam and receive a pair of prescription glasses (which I paid for). In the end, Borel Eye Doctors did not deliver.

Borel Eye Doctors gave me the worst and weirdest optometric experience of my life, and I’ve been wearing glasses for over 50 years. Just about everything went wrong. The glowing Unilocal reviews led me to try Borel, now I wonder about them.
My eyes were examined on August 31, 2011 by Dr. Marcie Arnesty-​Olian. The exam seemed to go well. I then chose frames, assisted by Troy, who seemed knowledgeable. At that time, I also ordered reading lenses to be put into a frame I already had; Dr. Arnesty-​Olian examined me for that prescription as well.
On September 9, I returned to the Borel office to be fitted with my new glasses. I was looking forward to having them, as I was leaving town for a week on the following day. However, when I tried on my primary prescription (assisted by Troy) it was evident that something was very wrong with the right lens. The same was true with the reading glasses. The vision was simply horrible. Troy examined the lenses, compared them to Dr. Arnesty-Olian’s written prescription, and told me they matched. Obviously, there had been a slip-​up. I made an appointment for another exam on September 23, the first available slot after I would return from my out-​of-​town trip.
I saw Dr. Arnesty-​Olian again on the 23^rd, and she told me why my right lenses were so bad: she had incorrectly transposed numbers from one form to another, making an «01» into a «9». So, the right lenses on both pairs were incorrectly ground.
She then re-​examined my eyes, and it was a rather strange experience. She seemed rather flustered, which could have been partly the result of an incident earlier that afternoon, when a robber had come into the Borel office, snatched expensive frames off the display shelves, and fled.
It was during this second exam that I got to try on the defective glasses for a longer period of time, and it became evident to me that the vision in the left (supposedly correctly-​ground) lens in my new primary pair was not as clear as my old pair. I was able to compare them at length, and the new pair was actually slightly inferior to the old. By this time, I started to wonder what I’d gotten myself into.
Dr. Arnesty-​Olian then employed a measuring device which fitted and looked like a pair of thick-​rimmed glasses with adjustment knobs on them. She asked me to read projected letters on the wall while she turned knobs and did other things with the device. The exam seemed to kind of stall out, and she asked me to turn the little knobs on the device to make the images of the projected letters as clear as possible. No doctor had ever asked me to do such a thing before, and it seemed a bit odd, but in a way I didn’t mind because I felt that I had a shot at getting exactly the right prescription.
After the exam, Dr. Arnesty-​Olian accompanied me to the counter where glasses are fitted, and with the assistance of a young lady, proceeded to double-​check my new frames. It soon became obvious that the frames were not the correct size. It occurred to me then that I did not recall Troy measuring anything at all on my initial visit. Dr. Arnesty-​Olian and the young lady made necessary measurements, and I left hopeful that next time I went in, my new glasses would be perfect. Still, I had decided by that point that I would likely find another eye doctor in a year or two, when it was time to get checked again. I had never experienced anything like it – but it wasn’t over yet.
On October 19, seven weeks after my initial visit to Borel, I received a phone call from them telling me that my glasses had arrived (again) — but upon checking them, they discovered that they had been incorrectly ground by the lab. They said it would be about another two weeks for lenses to be made — again!
At that point, I had had enough. I told the young lady who phoned that I had expended all the time and worry on the matter I was going to. I said I’d call back after I talked with my wife (her insurance was covering a portion of my prescription), and decided what to do.
Later that afternoon, Dr. Arnesty-​Olian phoned me, and more or less apologized for the whole thing, suggesting that I let them try again to get it right since, as she put it, we’d worked so hard to get the prescription right. By then, I had no confidence that I would ever receive from Borel the quality of corrective eyewear that I have routinely gotten elsewhere. I told her I was done, and that all I wanted was to not be charged for anything, and for our insurance to be credited; in other words, put me back like I was before I walked into Borel.
In a few days, I received in the mail my old glasses (which were going to be made into reading glasses), and a slip showing that my wife’s credit card had been reimbursed for the over $ 700 we spent on nice frames and the extra lenses. Our insurance has also been credited.
I’m not telling anyone to not go to Borel Eye Doctors, but this is what happened to me.