Dr. Elsa Pao OD, Oakland Located in the heart of Oakland's Chinatown, this small optometrist office is such an awesome find! The staffs are very helpful and friendly, Dr. Elsa Pao OD is an amazing optometrist! She is very knowledgeable and tries her best to be fast even though she has a room full of customers in her waiting room. Sometimes it's hard to get early appointments because her schedule is always full but I think it's worth the wait! I highly recommend her to others! read more

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I hate eye drops.. HATE! I just tense up when things are close to my eyes. Dr. Pao knows it and never makes a big deal of it and makes me comfortable. I still hate when she puts drops in my eyes.. Lol. Front staff is always great. I always give it about 2hrs for my appointments as it takes time, especially getting your eyes dilated. It may be done sonner, so feed your meter for 2 hrs and you should be ok. read more

My family has been going to Dr. Pao for over ten years! She and her team are extremely kind and have been amazing during exams, frames/lens selection, and Ortho-K! read more

Elsa Pao, OD - Optometrists Near Me - Oakland, California

Dr. Pao is a very nice and professional doctor. She is patient and knowledgeable. However, each time I had to wait 30-50mins even though I had an appt. Like today my son had an appt at 11:15 and we were there 10 mins early but we waited until 11:50 to see her for 1 mins. There was a guy who came in @11:30 and he saw Dr ahead of us. I don't know he really had appt ahead of us or the staff doing favor for him. read more

I've been going here for 10 years but recently changed to a closer doctor. The 4 stars goes to Dr. Pao who is extremely kind and knowledgeable. The technology they use at the clinic is top tier. Minus 1 star for the reception staff. I have to wait an hour each time. Additionally, they don't always give all the supplies needed even though I pay for it. The reception staff does not answer my question and ramble on. Although I understand what they are saying in Cantonese, it takes too long to get specific information. The doctor I have now lacks technology (old and inaccurate). They don't test for color blindness, boldness, and other things that Dr. Pao does. I will probably come back here, although the wait is long. read more

Dr. Pao's office provides the top notch eye care. Dr. Pao is the Best eye doctor, so thorough, efficient and kind, most caring and competent staff, extensive selection of frames and contact lens, convenient location and office opens on Sunday! I am so grateful to Dr. Pao's eye care - I will refer all my friends to Dr. Pao's office and they are the very BEST of SF! read more

I have been going to Dr. Elsa Pao OD for a few years now. I like this place. They are very well organized and efficient. They are friendly and know how to handle your insurance. They are good at telling you about your benefits and helping you maximize your options. They also told me they would match the price at Costco for contact lenses. read more

I've been seeing Dr. Pao since 2008, before she left East Bay Vision Center Optometry and started her own business. Dr. Pao is very detail oriented when it comes to eye exam. She will carefully examine your eyes to make sure you get the glasses/contact lenses that accurately match your current prescription. Please do not lie about your answers when she asks you have which prescription is better or worse, or if you can't see something clearly during the exam. She won't criticize and look down on you if you can't see things clearly. She's there to help you on maintaining your vision and overall eye health, so be honest with what you can see or can't see. She's an expert on contact lenses, so I highly recommend that you go to her if you want to get contact lenses, or if you have questions about them. I haven't had any bad contact lenses that make me uncomfortable from her. I do have to agree with some of other reviewers on the appointment timing. The office does get very busy sometimes and I did have some incidents where the appointments were delayed, so I'll deduct a star from this review. I recommend bringing something to work with (a laptop to do your office work, an iPad to watch movie, etc) and allocate more time for every appointment. read more

I just had my eye exam with Elsa Pao. Like most of the reviewers mentioned Dr Elsa Pao is a very talented doctor, she never push the patient to give an answer and always letting you trying different things out with no pressure. She gave me lots of advice that other doctor wouldn't give and I learned a lot from her during the exam session. Highly recommend her as a professional doctor. - one start deducted due to her staff over booking her. I had my appointment, but I still need to wait for an hour to get to my session. I only able to meet Elsa for 15 mins. While I was waiting outside, there is a family of three having the exam. The staffs did not even know the family made appointment or not. So the waiting time even takes longer for other patients, the front desk staff bad mouth the patients taking too longer. If you don't over book, this situation could have avoided. I will advise at least wait for 2 hours for the eye exam even you have an appointment. - Her staff will try to push you to buy more lens. When I let the front desk staff know, I just want to use my insurance allowance this year, no need to order a full year contact lens for me. Because I still have left over lens from last year. She immediately gave me a bad look. She kept persuading me to buy more lens which I don't need. And I felt like I am being rushed during the whole process. Due to above reason, I took off 2 stars. 3 stars is for Dr Elsa Pao only. read more

Been coming here with my family since I was young and would recommend to anyone in the Oakland area. While it is true that there can be a wait at times, I normally just spend that time looking at glasses. I've only had good experiences here and will continue coming here. read more

1) Clean and friendly environment! 2) quick and efficient with their work! 3) one way street? Easy to spot and parking garage is easily accessible! 4) Good selection of frames 5) Optometrist is fluently bilingual, English and Chinese! Super friendly and easy to talk too! Highly recommend this place. On Friday 12/19 was my first time there. I heard about this place by yelp too! I agree with all these customers reviews! Although it's a small unit, they are efficient in many ways! read more

I have been looking for a place to replace my eyeglasses that got ruined on my China tour in May. And with the same pair of sunglasses for 10 years, definately needed a change!! Went into this place almost 2 weeks ago with my insurance info. and got my eyes checked. The frame styles are very modern. I ended up getting a regular pair of Armani's and a pair of Fendi sunglasses....not cheap and they do discount some.... At least I am not walking around with those old school frames anymore....lol read more

Dr Pao is awesome and super nice and explains in details. But, her staff on the other hand is the opposite end. They always over book her. Every time we come here, we always have to wait a min of 30 minutes pass the appointed time. The front desk receptionist is unprofessional when there is a client waiting for appointment, she is on a personal call speaking loudly. And worst off, they now do not allow their patients/clients to use their restroom! WTF?! They make you go outside into a stinky ass alley to use the bathroom there. We are paying clients!! Unfortunately we have to come here every 3 months because my daughter is doing the ok lens with dr Pao or else we would not come here ever! The one star is for dr Pao. Everything else sucks. read more

Dr. Elsa is always happy to see you! She's the opposite of the stereotypical 80 year old optometrist and I don't think she's ever had bad breath when getting awkwardly close and asking, "which is clearer? 1 or 2?" If you don't feel like small talk, she'll do all the talking for you, and super fast at that. The only reason why I don't like coming here is they never have great selection of glasses. read more

Very nice clinic and the doctor and her assistant were very nice and helpful. I highly recommend this place. read more

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While I'm sure all the 5 star reviews are on point as far as Dr. Pao herself is concerned, I unfortunately have to throw shade on her reception staff. Having moved to Oaktown a year ago, and way overdue for an eye exam, Dr. Pao came up on the list of optometrists under my insurance. After seeing all the glowing reviews here, I scheduled an eye exam for Sunday, 3/26 on 2/13 (I still have the call on my call history), and went through the usual motions of verifying my insurance via social security #, and marked the date down on my calendar. The receptionist said that they would call the day before the exam to confirm the appoint. Wondering why no one called on said day, I called them. When I asked the receptionist to confirm my appointment, she didn't even bother to check and literally said, "No, I don't think so." with a skeptical, emphatic tone in her voice. When I told her 3/26 was the date marked on my calendar, she was now clearly annoyed and again responded with "No, I don't think so." and mentioned that Dr. Pao was out on that date. Now annoyed on my end, I insisted again that 3/26 was the date marked on my calendar, she claimed that because I wasn't in their system (wtf?), she'd have to go through the list of appointments "one by one", and after asking for my phone number, she stated that she would call me back. After ten minutes went by, I realized she never was going actually check. Basically, no f*cks were given, which was par for the course with respect to crap service from the Chinatown establishments here. Fortunately, I was able to schedule a last minute exam with East Bay Vision Center, and props to VSP for maintaining a great provider list on their website. Afterwards, I called Dr. Pao's office again. A different lady answered the phone but I let her know the previous lady's behavior was not cool. Unfortunately, no f*cks were given that time either. Finally, even if I wrote the date down incorrectly, the fact that Dr. Pao's office never called me after the initial scheduling tells me they either never scheduled an exam in their system, or completely botched it. It's frustrating to know that I waited a month for an eye exam that was never going to happen. Dr. Pao, I'm sure you're an excellent optometrist and a friendly person, but IMO the shade I just threw on your staff is well deserved. read more

I struggled with this review, but I feel others need to know. Elsa is friendly and talented optometrist. If Elsa terminated her staff and the location change, I will be a customer again. Her staff overbooks appointments so I every time I visit Elsa, I'm there for a loooong time. They always try to sell me things that I may not need and they push me to get it saying its only another $80 or another $100 when I have already stated I dont want it. I think the staff works on commission on how many items they sell to customers. There is street parking, but often its occupied so you'll need to find paid parking. The selection of glasses here is ok. I think they dont have the latest glasses though. The staff may smile at you and appear friendly, however that is not the case. I'm biracial. However, I look mostly Caucasian, so most people would not think I understand Chinese. This is case with the staff at Elsa's office. They talked horribly about customers while I was there because they thought I didn't understand Chinese. This is the straw that broke the camel's back. Im not coming back here anymore. The trash talk that they did about customers are so horrible. If you think Trump talks shit, you haven't heard anything until you come here. Elsa is a good OD, but Im not willing to be a customer with the current trash talking staff. read more

The staff are super helpful. My husband had to get nose pads adjusted on his glasses, which his own optometrist's staff were unable to do successfully, despite several attempts. Dr. Pao's staff were friendly and expert and made several adjustments until the glasses fit wonderfully. They didn't charge us and said to come back if there were further problems. Superlative service! read more

The best! All the team treat you like if u where part of the family. A real gem of the bay. She has been taking care of my eyes for the longest and she has been doing better than anybody else. read more

Very attentive optometrist. However, there is no respect for patient's time. What is the point of scheduling an appointment if you make us wait 30-45 minutes. Very asian appointment booking, overbooking, appointment meaningless, squeeze in as many patient as they can, make everyone wait, expect a two hour visit with only 15 minute face time with the doctor. She is good but there are many good optometrist out there. I'm surprised so many patient of hers tolerate this nonsense. read more

I love this office staff and Dr Pao, first of all they are super helpful and friendly. Parking can be a challenge, but save yourself a headache and go park in the underground parking a block away. I love that they carry T.C. Charton frames and sunglasses (asian fit) and if you have not tried this line... life changing for fit!!! read more

Greedy office! Money hungry office! Watch out for this office if you are getting Ortho-K here. They will charge you a lot and take advantage of you. read more

I have known Dr. Pao for 12 years. Despite living out of state for the past 6 years, I always come back for my annual eye exam. That is how much I adore her. She is always friendly, peppy, efficient, and genuine. Even though she talks super fast, I have never felt rush. She makes sure that you have all the information you need and is very thorough in her eye exam. When she noticed that I was trying on frames and couldn't really see how I look in them (I have a very strong prescription), she offered me contact lenses! She definitely goes above and beyond! I always look forward to my annual appointment with her! Her front office staff is also very friendly. Whenever I pop in for a glasses adjustment, they're quick to accommodate me. The only thing I would like is a larger frame selection, but that's just because I'm super picky with frames given my high prescription. read more

I love this office! Dr Pao and all the staff are superstars! I found Dr. Pao through Yelp, when I was looking for a optometrist who could also provide orthokeratology lenses (the hard contact lenses you wear to sleep, and when you wake up, your vision is corrected for about a day or so) I've been wanting to get lasik eye surgery for a long time, but then I realized I could not do it, because of all the horror stories I had been hearing. I think they are only a small case of people with issues with it, but I just couldn't do it. So I did a little google search and found out there an alternative option is ortho-k lenses. So when I had a visit with Dr. Pao, I asked her about it, and realized I was just going to do it. Dr. Pao got me fitted that day on my first visit, and I paid out of pocket right away. It was a hefty price, but I just knew this was the right option for me. It has been about 4 months now, and I am extremely happy with my lenses. At first, it was a struggle to have to come into the office almost every week or every other week, when I first started wearing the lenses. But it is definitely for good reason. Dr. Pao wants to make sure that they are being worn properly, and that you are not having any issues with them early on. She definitely cares about her patients, and so do the rest of the staff. Dr. Pao is an excellent optometrist and her staff is amazing. For keeps! read more

Here is the verdict! Dr. Pao was professional throughout the whole process. When i got the first lens, they were a bad fit for me. After I gave her a call about the halos and the double visions that I was experiencing, she immediately call me back and reassured me. She got me a new set of lens and made sure everything fitted comfortably. She even assured me that she will try her best to find the best fit, with no additional fee and will keep on making improvements!! I can tell you guys that I can see so much better!! I used to barely see the big E on the chart without my glasses, I was around 20/400. Now after wearing the new lens for one week, my vision is now about 20/30. My left can see 20/20, my right got scratch somehow, and its in the process of healing ^_^ . But besides that this is amazing!! Dr. Pao was so pleasant to work with, and the receptionist always tries her best to give the appointment times that I like. Who would have thought, a gem hidden in Oakland Chinatown. Nice and clean little office filled with friendly and efficient staff and a lovely doctor!! read more

Excellent. Dr. Pao took the time to examine my eyes and thoroughly explain everything. It's a very friendly office, but also a professional place where things run smoothly. Bonus: She solved a problem I didn't even know I had; things will be better for me now. I've never had an optomerist take so much time and show so much concern. There's a nice selection of stylish frames in a range of prices (including some cool Lamonts from France). And the location is very convenient. P.S. They accept VSP insurance (maybe other plans, too, I don't know about that). Highly recommended. read more

I don't think I've had my eyes checked since middle school. Recently however my insurance kicked in for my new job and so I was out to get everything check, medical, dental and yes vision too! And great luck an eye doctor within walking distance of work that accepts my coverage. I was very happy with there warm welcome and efficient process to book an appointment and then again when I came back for it. The good doctor did a thorough examination with cool 3d pictures! I don't remember those from when I was a kid. She checked the health of my eyes, dilated them, puff air into them... the works. When all was said and done- and yes she did speak very fast but that was to make sure everything she was doing was being explained- she gave me a clean bill of health. She said I didn't need glasses and if I got some it would be a very minor prescription. So she sent me off after the exam and I payed my ten dollar copay. I look forward to coming back when I do need a pair because I know in the future I'll probably need some considering the work I've just gotten myself into. Until next time. Cheers read more

Finding a great optometrist is difficult, right up there with a good physician and dentist. Our family of four has been seeing Dr. Pao for at least a decade and that's saying something. Dr. Pao is great! She takes the time to explain your condition and let's you know what expenses you should forego and what you shouldn't. She is warm, funny and she cares. Her practice has grown in recent years and there have been more staff rotations, but I've never had a bad experience. Some are less experienced, but no poor service. We simply adore Bing Bing! She knows her stuff and is a hoot whenever we stop in. We have relocated to Southern California and recently tried a new optometrist that was rated 5 stars. We've had to stop in multiple times and though the optometrist was really nice, the overall office visits left us feeling like transactions instead of patients. If we could swing continuing to see Dr. Pao, we would. Now we just talk about how much we miss her and Bing Bing. So, we are on a quest to find another optometrist that will hold a candle to what we're used to with Dr. Pao. read more

Yesterday I took an appointment for exam and the lady who pick up the phone, she make these appointment for patient her voice like yelled at me and she didn't have patience with customer. I don't like the staff read more

Receptionists are always friendly, and greets us with smiles, and as always, Dr Elsa Pao is an awesome optometrist!

Staff are bad but Dr. Pao is okay. Staff didn't let us know when our glasses were ready. Staff already calculated in extra stuff for glasses before I consented to getting the extra add ons. Staff didn't seem like they wanted to help me pick out glasses they just sat at their desk they didn't come over and unlock any of the cabinets. Staff called me a stupid pig because I didn't like a pair of glasses on me because they were round and she said they're a new style. They also closed early at 5:35 and they're supposed to close at 6. read more

I love Dr.Elsa, she is such a warm and friendly woman. I've only been a patient for a month but she's like a second mom to me. She's pretty, smart, and caring! And the whole staff there is wonderful. They're like family. They recognize you by your face after the first visit. And will always be flexible and accommodating with your schedule. I enjoy my visits there everytime. - Vy read more

Dr. Pao and her staffs are awesome! My appointments are always on the weekends and weekends are the most packed out of all days. As a student, I only have weekends available for appointments. I know for sure that Dr. Pao's weekend schedule is more busier because of us, students. Even when it's the busiest day, Dr. Pao and her staffs are always being warm and welcome to all of us. I've been in another office with a min wait of 1 hour and was presented with a rude and impolite service. This place is definitely my favorite doctor's office, five star for Dr. Pao and her staff! read more

Doctor Pao is AWESOME! Pleasant experience. Right in the heart of Chinatown! Get some Peking duck while your there! read more

Elsa Pao, OD - In the heart of oakland's Chinatown! - Optometrists Near Me - Oakland, California

Dr. Elsa Pao is absolutely the best optometrist that I've ever had & her staff is also friendly/welcoming!!! She is extremely knowledgeable and always does a thorough exam, unlike other optometrists who just want you in and out of their office right away. She actually explains everything to you and helps you understand what's going on instead of "here's your prescription, go get your contacts/glasses" and they offer a course for putting on your contacts correctly. After my contacts exam, she explained my options and discussed what is best for me in terms of pricing and products w/ a follow-up! Thank goodness for doctors who actually know what they're doing out there :) I would definitely recommend Dr. Pao for your next eye appointment!! read more

Dr. Pao and her staff are awesome! I went in there to solve some recurring eye problems, along with the standard contact lens prescription. Best exam I've ever had! Dr. Pao is cheery and thoughtful, and actually listened to what I had to say before making her suggestions. I felt like her care was completely thorough and personal, and her prescribed regimen has already greatly improved my eye issues. Five stars. read more

love Dr. Pao. I followed her from East Bay Vision Center and was her patient up until I got Lasik last year (so yes, a very overdue review). She is knowledegable, suuuuuper nice and just overally a very pleasant person to be around with. Her staff is wonderful, efficient and so helpful. You won't regret coming here! read more

I can't even tell you what a relief it is to have such a great eye dr. Seriously! The staff is friendly, the office is nice and clean, and Dr. Pao is sweet, down to earth, and a great eye doc! read more

Dr. Pao is efficient, caring and genuine. She carries fun conversations to make me feel at ease. The staff in the office are fun and friendly. The ladies work hard! The only disappointment was they provided the wrong prescription for my contact lenses reorder. It turned into a nightmare dealing with insurance company and Costco. read more

Dr. Pao talked a mile a minute about properly caring for my contact lenses (amoebas! bacteria! oh my!), retinal detachment, ski trips and contrast. Her front desk team was really friendly and knowledgeable, and the first set of frames they had me try on was my favorite. That never happens! They knew my style and I'm happy with them. It was a little hectic with people coming in and out with errands and the phone ringing, and since I don't know Cantonese it was a bit overwhelming. But I was in and out with an exam, new frames chosen and paid up within an hour. Dr. Pao also helped me step down an Rx in my contact lenses -- I'm seeing just fine and not having the mild headaches I'd had lately. I had a great experience here! read more