Ava Nails

I normally do not go, but my regular salon was closed for the holiday weekend. i walked in and asked for a pedi, gel manicure, and a brow wax. the guy who did my toes did a great job and gave the best massage. When the pedicure was about halfway done i asked if i could have my wax before my manicure so i wouldn’t leave the salon all red. He said sure, but forgot. Move onto the mani. The manicure was okay but I’ve definitely had better. I was pinched a few times but nothing serious. They tried to hurry me to the counter to pay and i had to remind them about my wax again. I got waxed and then went to the counter. 63 dollar total. Which was rather hefty because i get the same services at New Vision for cheaper and it’s 100X better service and quality. I handed the manager my discover card when she informed me that they do not take discover. I told her there was a sticker in the window indicating that it said «Discover Network» and she laughed it off and said something along the lines of «that’s old, i need to go change it out» I don’t keep much cash ever, and keep the bulk of my money in a savings account so I don’t ever have much on my debit account. Needless to say I was pretty pissed off. Thankfully, I had 25 dollars in cash and could pay the rest on my debit card. I can’t bring myself to go to a place that’s too lazy to change out the credit card stickers in the window. Will never go back. I wasn’t aware ownership had changed until I read another review. Overall experience was sub-​par– don’t go!

Went Mother’s Day eve, 5:00 I was very disappointed. I felt completely rushed, still have cuticle around my nails and it’s already chipped? Never left the pedi chair for my manicure. There was two people in the salon other than my daughter and myself and 7 workers. Won’t go back.

Awesome!!! Best French manicure I have ever had!!! Tammy did a fantastic job! Super cheap too!!! Deff coming back again! Thanks Tammy!

The new management now does gel and acrylic nails. Tammy has done my nails twice and I have been very pleased. I have had a pedicure here as well that I thought was very good. My husband had his very first pedicure today and was very pleased. The staff is very nice and the service very good.

STAY AWAY!!! NEW OWNERS!!! The new owners are RUDE and disrepectful!!! They gave my wife nasty looks at their counter. I called prior to going in about a gift certifcate I gave my wife at Christmas and since then they have changed owners they would only honor half of the value or the gift certifcate. SO of course she waiting they knew who you were and just glared at her. She felt like they were glaring at her while she was waiting. She will NEVER go to this place again. There is several just a mile away!!! I told her that I was going to let social media know about her disrespect and she yelled back at me in chinese! Sorry, it’s just how it is now a days Ava Nails!!!

I have only been here twice, and both times I got the gel/​shellac manicure-​and have been beyond pleased with the results.
I like to go here because I can drop my son off next door (@ RTK) and get a chance to relax for a moment.
Today I arrived a little before 10, and I was the only one in the shop. I was greeted warmly, and seated to begin my manicure. While I was getting my nails prepped the older woman (Ava?) was cleaning all the foot basins on the pedicure chairs.
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Things were going along nicely when my phone rang. Awkward, as I usually silence it at a salon. But it was the ladies next door, apparently my child was wigging out and having a hard time calming down. I actually had to leave before my nails were done to get my child.
I was expecting to have to come back later (at night) to get them finished (if possible) or redone. While I was discussing this, the older woman told me to just go get him and bring him in, they would finish my nails. I explained that he was just a little guy (2ish) and could not be relied upon for good behavior. She waved her hand and said nonsense — go get him.
Two minutes (or less) later we entered the shop again. My boy was visibly upset, crying softly — being pretty pitiful. Ava had him sit in a chair right next to me, and began saying how cute he was. He gobbled that right up, and with technological
intervention — he calmed down.
My technician inspected my nails for any damage to the polish I already had done, then proceeded to finish my manicure. Ava never left my son’s side. She wasn’t supervising him (and I would never have expected her to) she was just there. Maybe incase he needed something? Or just to be nice to a little kid who was having a rough day.
When my nails were done, I thanked both of the ladies profusely for their patience while I dealt with the problem. Ava said that next time just to bring him with me. I am touched that she offered. Though I’m not sure how other patrons might feel about that. I left a tip that showed my gratitude and they helped me get our bags picked up and situated.
On to the details (you may not be interested in the story)
Each time I have come the shellac has had to be removed from my nails. The first time my finger tips soaked in acetone with a towel covering the bowl. Some fumes were present, but I have smelt worse odors in a nail shop.
The second time the acetone was applied to a small piece of cotton that was put one the nail, then wrapped up in a small foil tip.
I much prefer the wrapping method over the soaking method, it seem to not dry my skin out as badly. Both of the removal methods had to use scrapers, but my nails looked better with the non soak method.
Each time the nail tech worked on nail beds, cut down, and shaping with a boaard. Until it looked the way I wanted it to.
The technicians did a great polish application that lasted forever with no chips missing.
I will keep going to this place… Of course I will always call ahead to be sure if I can bring my son.

AVOID AT ALL COST! This was the absolute worst pedicure I have ever had in my life and I have had many! I just moved to the area from South Florida and having had the same nail technician for the past 3 years I was pretty skeptical to begin with… The owner was the one who did my nails, or at least I believe she was the owner… she was an older lady but I think it’s time she retired from actually doing the nails.
Her hands were very shaky the whole time and it looked like she could barely see what she was doing, sometimes having to get her vision very close to my nails to see. She did a terrible job cutting my toes as they were all uneven. Then she filed them. If you can even say file. She literally place the file against my toes. Didn’t even really run them back and forth across my nails and half the time missing my nails altogether. At this point I was cringing.
Then she «cleaned» my nail beds. Ha! She didn’t even really get into my beds and pull anything. Didn’t cut back my ingrowns which I get a lot of and cause me a lot of pain which is why I get pedicures often. And would start to pull a cuticle and then stop and leave them in my nail beds. By this point I did not want to even pay for this service but the lady was so nice but unqualified.
Then the paint job. Or the hack job if you will. The whole time she was painting she was on the phone. She got paint in all of my nail beds. There were pieces of cotton stuck on every toe that she couldn’t even see well enough to remove. When she was putting my shoes on she smudged both my baby toes. Did not think to fix them.
I had intended to get a gel manicure as well but told her I no longer had the time because frankly I was not willing to waste any more of my money at this establishment. She charged me $ 23 for that terrible waste of my time. I didn’t say anything to her about it because there was no one else in the salon who could have fixed it and she sure as heck wouldn’t have been able to fix anything. The job she did on me looked like all she had in her.
I quickly paid and left without saying anything because I have a hard time being me. But that was a complete waste of $ 23.
I then proceeded to drive down the street to New Vision Nail Salon and asked the poor technician there to re-​do the terrible pedicure I just had. She was great! And did an amazing job fixing the first ladies mistakes! She even discounted me on the pedicure because she knew I had just paid for one down the street.
Avoid Ava nails, go to New Vision or anywhere else. Unless you don’t really get pedicures often and then I guess you wouldn’t know the difference between a good one and a bad one.

What actually had a lovely experience at Ava Nails. The shop is relaxing and roomy. They were very accommodating for two pedicure walk-​ins. The basic pedi package is quite nice and includes a lovely leg/​foot salt massage as well as a complimentary beverage. The chairs have a user-​controlled massage feature, the big screen quietly plays UNC-​TV.
This is only the second pedi that I’ve ever had in my life, so when my cuticles started to bleed from the clipping I was a bit concerned. My daughter had an even worse snag than I did from a different pedicurist. Not sure that this is standard procedure but I must admit that the soaking bowls appeared to be cleaned and sprayed after each visitor. After a bit of research, I guess this can be serious: I’m not sure if it’s typical. So, there’s the caveat to my review.
Regardless, the ladies were super nice and set right to work. Our polish was beautifully done.

Ava’s is your typical nail salon, but I think it the best one in this price range in Wake Forest.
The ladies are very nice, and the color selection is great. If you don’t feel like being there for hours, they will do your manicure the same time as your pedicure… love that.
Very reasonably priced, clean, and friendly.

Been trapped in the house for a little over a month while the husband recovered from some pretty major surgery. During this time, I had nothing better to do than to wish I was out getting a pedicure. Today was the day. I broke out my flip flops and got my gnarly feet into the salon.
I’ve been to just about every nail salon in WF and had not found one that I was in love with yet, so we decided to check out the newest salon up in the Gateway Commons Shopping Center.
We walked in and were promptly greeted by everyone inside. I confirmed I wanted a pedicure and picked out my nail polish from a good selection of high quality brands of polish. The owner quickly started the foot water baths and got the massage chairs set into motion. I plopped down and enjoyed the back massage while my feet soaked.
The owners were friendly and chatted the entire time. We talked about Thailand (where Ava is from) and I tried to convince her to open a Thai restaurant in WF, although her husband wasn’t going for it just yet. (I will keep working on the idea.) They were super friendly and accommodating.
The pedicure was thorough and I was in the chair for about an hour. My feet were soaked, were cleaned, scraped, toenails shaped and clipped, legs massaged, wrapped in hot towels, and all polished up for $ 25.
It was a very good experience and I will definitely return.
*The only reason for 4 stars and not 5 is that there is a tiny bubble in the nail polish on my big right toe.