So, we all know a good barber and a good barbershop is hard to find. Sometimes you end up getting one but not the other. In the case with Empire Barbershop, it does offer a nice friendly environment and overall friendly staff. They tend to keep the conversation positive, the shop itself is pretty clean, and there's usually always something worth watching on TV in the background. My particular gripe is with a barber, Ray, to be exact. While Ray is not a bad guy, he is also not a good barber. My first visit at Empire I sat in his chair and basically all I wanted was an even all around with the sides and back tapered and a simple mustache and beard trim. He did a decent enough job and at the end of it I was charged $28 which I didn't necessarily mind paying but I also thought it was a little on the high end. I tipped an additional $5 bucks which I usually do which brought my grand total to $33 for a haircut that should have probably been no more than $28 out the door with tip included. I took his info since I was looking for a new barber and figured that sometimes it takes a barber a couple of cuts to get use to someone's head before it's perfect. . . Needless to say, I ended up going back which ended up being a mistake. Second time around I schedule an appointment with Ray and he casually walks in 10 or 15 minutes late as if he forgot he had an appointment. At this point, I'm frustrated and already sitting in another barbers chair since I have other shit to do and don't have time to sit around waiting. He finally walks in and I respectfully get out of the other Barbers chair and into Ray's chair. We have our usual banter and I pretty much request the same haircut I had requested before. He does his thing and about 45 minutes later I'm looking in the mirror to check it out. This time, however, same haircut but I am charged $23 rather than the $28 he had charged me for a haircut on my first visit. . . Why? Is it because you knew you fucked up my hair or is it because you factored in a tip on my first visit in case you didn't receive a tip?!? My haircut looked fine at the time but I noticed that during the whole time he was cutting my hair he kept messing with the lining (edge up) as if he could not get it right. He would edge it, edge it again, look at it more, then edge it. I felt as if he were pushing my hairline back which he severely ended up doing! As my hair began to grow back it became more noticeable and I had to have another barber in Riverside fix his mistake. It's been about a month now and my hairline still hasn't fully grown back to where it was naturally but it's getting there. Who does that? For this reason, I'll never go to this shop again. I don't know where some of these barbers get their credentials but being a barber is an art and if you're a shitty artist then it's probably time to switch crafts. Oh, one last thing. . . This shop doesn't accept credit so be prepared to be inconvenienced by having to pay cash. I'm not sure why this would be difficult to implement. Any smartphone with a square app or even PayPal can allow you to accept credit or debit payments. Step it up you guys, every other shop is doing this already! And work on your edge up!!! read more