Elite Nails

Should’ve listened to the reviews. I’m 39 weeks pregnant and just wanted a quick pedi before a Dr appointment. The polish looks terrible. I complained and she tried fixing it but just made it worse. It wouldn’t be a big deal if I could reach my toes…

Yikes! Stained towels, unclean shop. Indifferent staff. Person giving pedicure cleaned foot bath while I was still in chair, splashing me with cleaner. Stay away…
Minus star.

Vivian, thank you so much for my amazing nails today! Exactly as I wanted them, will be back for sure! Xoxox

Subpar nail salons like this one exist because we put up with them and continue to patronize them. But we shouldn’t. And I would gladly pay more for a better overall experience. This was not a relaxing experience, it was a purely utilitarian one, tinged with a little fear about cleanliness. The plastic liners used in the foot basins hopefully help keep germs at bay, but when the lotion bottle had visible dirt/​funk on the lid, I worried about my health/​safety the entire time I was in this nail shop. The two technicians who worked on my mani and pedi were very rough. Between the two of them, they asked me FOUR times about getting an additional service such as facial waxing. (and eeewww, no way, from the looks of this place I highly doubt that wax is sanitary). The mani and pedi were done very quickly and sloppily. The next day my polish was already chipped because it was put on too thick. I was never shown where the nail dryers were, I was just left sitting in the chair. And then the tech started spraying a cleaning chemical in the foot basin and scrubbing it with a brush while I was still sitting in the chair! Getting splashed with cold water and god knows what else! I was appalled. I have gotten tons of manicures over the years, and this was one of the worst experiences I’ve encountered to date. Bad service, bad ambience, crappy results on my hands & feet. Two days later and I have to get a new mani/​pedi elsewhere because of the chipping and bumpy polish. Don’t go here, it’s a waste of time & money. They need to do a deep clean on this place, and better train the staff. Focus on doing a great job on the services requested, and not pushing add ons.

Gave them another chance, not to terrible however not many color choices for shellac and over priced henna):

Not a super relaxing time at all. My nails do look amazing though. I will for sure go back!

HORRIBLE!!! Liars! They overcharged my poor disabled mother. Charged her 160 $ for a manicure and pedicure! Do not waste your money on these horrible rotten people! I called and asked to speak to management and they gave me the wrong number! BS!

This place is terrible. I’ve gone here numerous times mostly since it is close to my home but I am always disappointed. I ask and expect one thing and they keep pushing to do more so they can get more money from me. I’m never going back again.

My colleague from work invited me to this salon that was close to her home so I decided why not? So I gave it a try and I was expecting a nice place considering the upscale area of Walnut Creek. This place reminded me of a hole in the wall, I think there better places in Richmond, CA. All the nail polish (s) are old, cheap and disorganized. The towels were old and needed to be replaced, they looked like rags you find in a restaurant. I just wanted a regular mani& pedi but they were pushing on the deluxe version, due to the lack of customers on a Sunday. My mani pedi deluxe was awful as I agree with the negative reviews on their work as being sloppy and the nail polish is really thick. I assume it’s old and they just pour some acetone to loosen it up as oppose to replacing the bottles. The total was $ 50 and I added a tip as its not the workers fault as much as the owners who don’t care about quality service. They were really pushy about giving me an eyebrow wax, clearly the look on my face answered their question… it was definitely «No». This place has potential and it’s unfortunate the owners lack a sense of vision considering the location they should be packed and turning people away.

I have only been there for eyebrow waxing, but they have a great price, and I never have to wait too long. They are efficient even when they seem crowded. They are very nice. The waxing rooms could use an update, but for $ 10 and a quick and good job, it doesn’t bother me.

Favorite place to get my nails done. Friendly staff, and they do a great job! They do such a good job, it’s always clean there and they’re very good about getting you in as fast as possible. I definitely recommend it as a place in walnut creek.

Is this the best nail place ever? Probably not. But are they consistently good? YES. I’ve been coming here for at least 10 years. It’s located in the same shopping center as my gym, my local European Wax Center, my eye doctor, my dry cleaner, and several good food places. Convenience is everything.
Out of laziness, I occasionally try other nail places in the general area — Concord, Pleasant Hill, San Ramon, Danville, and of course, other places in Walnut Creek. I’ve found that when I go somewhere else, I usually leave dissatisfied. Some reasons: much more expensive, less color selections, taking too long for mani/​pedis, unfriendly, poor job in trimming cuticles, uneven filing, etc.
I’m not going to lie and say that everything is perfect at Elite Nails. There were a few occasions when I’ve bled from my cuticles being cut wrong, I’ve felt like I was being chastised in Vietnamese for changing my mind about something, or I’ve had to wait too long while sitting in the chair. But I can look past all that because 95% of the times I’ve come here, I’ve been happy. The employees there start to recognize you and it’s nice to have that family feel.
I don’t ever leave here thinking «What a waste of my time/​money» or «Cool, my nails/​toes look like crap». And I’ve definitely felt that way leaving other nail salons. I mostly recently went on Saturday and am still basking in the beautiful job that Johnny did on my nails. He removed my previous gel manicure, cut/​filed/​buffed my nails, took his time removing my cuticles, AND carefully and beautifully painted my nails.
Don’t let all the bad reviews deter you. I love this place. Just don’t expect too much — you’re not at a 5-​star spa, you’re at a decently priced nail salon in a shopping center.

My friend recommended that I try eyelash extensions w Vivian and I was super happy that I did. She’s super sweet and professional. My appointment was 11am and I was out of there by 11:30am. I love my new eyelashes and plan on going back for a fill in a few weeks!

I’ve never had any issues with this establishment and actually walked out with a great pedi and mani today —
Watched some spoiled little brat throw a tantrum about being cut and the gal doing her nails not stopping. I mean common sense would be to ask her to stop etc… but apparently she didn’t she just kept quiet.
Towards the end she didn’t pay and even threatened to call the «board» like really kid?
None the less… i always see this place packed and they are always booking up with appointments. Don’t let any bad reviews keep you from coming.

How does a business like this stay open in Walnut Creek? Worst gel manicure I’ve had to date. Came for the convienence of parking. Left with uneven nails and smeared polish. I just wanted to get out. This place is unkempt with no air conditioning. One of the staff was sleeping at his desk with his bare feet propped up and snoring. I guess you never know until you try a place.

Ok so they are not a 5 star place but definitely not a 2 and a half star either. Have to do my part in evening out the odds.
So most of the bad reviews I saw on here are all your typical nail salon things. Most places do a decent job and 90%of all places I’ve been (I’ve been to ALOT) Apply nail polish about the same. They all try to up sell you (hey they have to make money some how) and at least here If you asked them to fix something they would… I asked for warmer water and wala I got warmer water. Pretty much if you don’t like something ask them to work on it before you go home. I’ve been to places where they simply do do a bad job. Here though the seem to try…
Another reason why the higher stars is, come on for the price what do you expect. Like when I go to HELLO nails I pay like 80 bucks here I’m paying half the price. So yes I shouldn’t expect 5 star service…
Any ways I’m all for rating a place low if they deserve it but I really don’t think his place is a 1 or 2 star place. Yes they are not 5 stars but they aren’t as bad as other Unilocaler made it seem…
Ps there was a lady getting her nails done next to me… she is getting married this weekend. If you trust someone that much it must not be that bad

Sadly they do not know how to treat customers. I got a shellac manicure and pedicure for a wedding two weeks ago and by the fourth day my toes went from hot pink to a dull beige. A few days later my manicure started change to a light pink color. When I came back from my vacation I went to have it removed and they told me that they put mood color on me and that someone should have told me. They said all shellac is mood color. They try to continue to sell me more services and I said I don’t want more services because I had already spent extra money and it only lasted for two weeks. I said thank you and maybe I will get a manicure next time and then they charged me $ 10 for the removal. I said so I spent $ 80 last time I was here and it lasted for less than a week and you want to charge me to remove it? She said she would ask the manager for a discount and it took him so long to decide I just paid my $ 10 and said I would never come here again. I do not recommend this place at all. She was a very nice lady but horrible customer service. They would rather make money then retain customers. Should have listened to the other Unilocal reviews.

Great experience here tonight for a French gel mani and eyebrow waxing by Hannah! I made an appointment for 5pm only 15 mins ahead of time and was done in less than an hour. The owner who answered the phone was very nice, and Hannah was so sweet and did phenomenal work on my nails and brows! I live and work in Oakland, but I will be coming back to Elite nails because of the friendly and well done service. Check out my photos for proof! Thanks Hannah!

The manicurists are nice and do an adequate job. I’m sitting here right now and a tv is blaring with a home video of a family members Vietnamese wedding. So annoying and eliminates any relaxation I hoped to have. What a drag.
It’s also not very clean.

Decided to walk in to try the place out for a basic pedicure because it’s location is next to my gym & tanning salon. I’ll start with the positive:
–good selection of polish color. several brands both fancy like Essie & generics.
–decent prices $ 20 for basic pedicure in a spa chair.
–no «service charge» for using debit cards or cc.
–very quick service 20 – 25 minutes tops for a pedicure.
–very friendly gentleman, may have been the owner.
–clean tools were unwrapped in front of me.
On to what can be improved:
–the temperature of the pedicure water, it was lukewarm at best.
–attention to detail; I asked twice for the employee to clean out some grime on my big toe… I ended up taking the tool & doing it myself.
–attention to detail; employee cut down & filed my nails, sadly they are uneven.
–employee put the least amount of effort humanity possibly to exfoliate my heels… my heels don’t need a lot of scrubbing but it’s still nice to have them exfoliated.
–foot & leg massage was the worst. To say that he gently caressed my legs would be an accurate description. Each foot & leg only received 1.5 min, so 3 – 4 minutes total for the foot & leg massage.
–finally; quality of polish application was subpar. I chose a lavender Essie color. The employee did a very sloppy job especially near the cuticles. After I was escorted to the fans, the Polish had started to bubble. furthermore, the wind caused the polish to ripple. When I asked the employee to correct it, his solution was to add another layer of polish to the already to thick coat. He did not bother to start fresh by removing polish. So this left my big toes looking awful.
Overall, I kept looking at other customers manis/​pedis & some did look nice. So perhaps this employee was new. None the less, there are too many other nail salons for me to settle on mediocracy.
* I posted evidence of my poor quality pedicure; be your own judge