Was tattooed by Lucky today. Had an awesome experience being tattooed at Iron Lotus. Lucky knew what he was talking about, had great tattooing style and kept my mind off the pain. So happy with my newest tattoo! If you're in the Charleston area - look no further and run your ass to Lucky at Iron Lotus! read more

Awesome experience! This was my first time getting inked; I picked the shop based on online reviews, the friendly reception, and my general first impression when I walked in the door. Lucky was hilarious, kind, and he was dedicated to my image. I'm extremely happy with the outcome and I can't wait to show it off. I would recommend this shop to my friends, and I will return! read more

So hugely happy with my experience at iron lotus today!! My roommate and I went in this afternoon as walk-ins after trying to get in to a bunch of places all week. We were both getting pretty small pieces... Him for the first time... Both of us are so thrilled with the outcomes! He was getting a custom piece and I got a pretty simple geometric piece but Lil' Round delivered above and beyond! The shop has a great layout and all the artist are super friendly! I can easily say this is my favorite tattoo by far! Can't wait to go back! read more

I've gotten one tattoo here and also accompanied a friend to get one today and I just love this place !!! The facility is so nice and CLEAN ! Chris was the artist that did mine and my friends' tattoo and he is so talented and friendly ! When I'm ready for my next one I will certainly be back here for it !! read more

Stop by yesterday and booked my session with @LilRound for next Wednesday ( finally finishing my sleeves ) so #Stoked incredible customer service. #LovejoyTheBarber read more

I have had the general idea for my first tattoo for a while, after looking through all the reviews I decided to check out this place. After walking through and talking to the guys, I decided to just go for it. Dave took some time to sketch up my simple design and came up with some better improvements. The place is extremely clean, and had a nice vibe. I couldn't have found a better place and experience for my first tattoo. If and when I get another one, I will go back for sure. (Cost was very fair, however...cash only.) read more

I had an amazing experience getting my first tattoo here! I had a great time getting tattooed by Hutch. I came in without an appointment, told him what I wanted, he drew it up and started tattooing! He was really awesome to talk to during the process. I vocalized quite a few times how nervous I was but he reassured me that I was in good hands. Hutch is a great guy and I'm really happy with the tattoo. This would have been a 5 star rating but it lost a star on the aftercare instructions. I've been mostly relying on the Internet for the aftercare because he didn't tell me a lot of instructions. All I got was a little business card with a few points on it and what he told me (which was the same as the card). With that aside it was a great experience. The place was clean and private. read more

When we travel my wife and I like to get tattoos in the city we are visiting. On this occasion I decided to get the SC state symbol, Palmetto tree and crescent. I was born in SC so I thought it would be a nice memento. We Yelped Iron Lotus and read their outstanding reviews so we decided to visit. From the moment we walked in the staff was very nice and helpful. The owner was there and was also very friendly and inviting. My last vacation tattoo experience, in another city, I had a bad experience and had to have my tattoo re-done upon returning to Texas. Needless to say I was a little nervous this time around. My tattoo artist was Adrien Moreau and even though I wanted a seemingly simple tattoo I was still uneasy. He was very patient, very nice and reassuring. He did a great job and I got exactly what I wanted. My wife loved hers as well from Jose. We will definitely be back on our next trip to Charleston and highly recommend this place. read more

My husband and I were in Charleston for our honeymoon and wanted to get tattoos to commemorate the experience. We researched tattoo shops before we even got into town and found that Iron Lotus has the best reviews. From what we observed, they have the best reviews for very good reason! We stopped in on a Wednesday night to meet the staff, who were very friendly and informative. We were greeted immediately, and were very impressed with the way we were treated. The shop is spotless, so clean and just so different than what we have experienced in the past. The first thing we smelled when we walked in the door was rubbing alcohol, not incense. That alone set this shop apart! We explained what we wanted, were quoted prices, told that it wouldn't be a problem. My husband and I left to think about it, but it didn't take long! We went the next day and put down our deposit and made our appointment for Friday. Side note: we were advised to make our appointments on Friday and not any other time while we were there because they knew we would be on our way out of town. They told us that would be the best because we would be able to enjoy the sun, sand and beach before we got our tattoos. My husband and I both have tattoos anyway, so we knew we wouldn't be able to play in the water or on the sand after having just gotten tattoos, but the fact that they took the time out and made sure we were getting the most out of our trip was awesome. They wanted to make sure they did the best work they could for us, and advised to avoid sunburn on the areas we wanted tattoos because tattooing on sunburned skin wasn't good, either. The areas we wanted tattoos at weren't exposed to the sun anyway, so it wasn't a problem, but it was another example of them making sure we got good quality tattoos. We made appointments with Hutch, who is awesome. We hit it off right away and felt more than comfortable with him and his style. He kept up a conversation during our tattoos (I got one, my husband got two), and we were done in less than three hours. Hutch was professional, clean, friendly, talkative and better than we could have asked for . He took so much time making sure to get the font exactly right for my husbands second tattoo, it looks fantastic. The other tattoo that Hutch did for my husband was definitely a challenge (a thimble), but Hutch definitely took the time to make it look great, and put his own spin on an picture that we showed him. It turned out so much better than we thought it would! Bottom line: go here. Amazing experience. read more

I love this tattoo shop. The staff was friendly, the shop was clean and the price was reasonable. Will definitely recommend this shop!!!

Very happy with my tattoo! John did an amazing job -- even better than the picture that I showed him. Very reasonably priced. Would definitely recommend!! read more

Clean studio with professional artists! Definitely would go back.

Bad experience from the get-go. Before anyone even asked what I wanted, I had to schedule an appointment and pay $60 non-refundable deposit. This should have been all the red-flag I needed since it was my 4th tattoo and had never been asked for a deposit before. All I wanted was some color added to an existing tattoo. Second flag, the tattoo guy (refuse to say "artist"--he wasn't) took 50 minutes to draw the stencil (again, just adding color to an existing tattoo and I brought in the stencil of the outline!) The color he added to the stencil and what he did on my arm were not evenly remotely related. My beautiful jellyfish tattoo ended up looking like a kindergartener with a sharpie got it. Took 2 trips to a REAL tattoo studio in Savannah to fix it. The final nail in the coffin for any positive review of this place is that the one lousy bit of work they did cost as much as the original and fix combined. Would recommend anyone looking for a nice, PROFESSIONAL tattoo by an artist--not some half-wit with a tattoo gun--get in your car and drive far away from Iron Lotus. read more

Dave is amazing I have had multiple tattoos done by him and they are amazing. His lines are perfect. He is versatile in his his work anywhere from traditional to his dot work I have brought many referrals to iron lotus because they do the best work in charleston hands down. I have had many tattoos done in other shops in the area and my skin didn't heal as well nor did they make quite the pleasant experience as the guys here. If you want a great experience come here !!!! Thank yal you are amazing! read more

Dave did my tattoo. I gave him a generic idea of a nerdy tattoo and he came back with two separate outline ideas both more nerdy and felt personalized to me. I had a hard time choosing because I loved both ideas. Final tattoo is very clean and saturated -- it's perfect. Great customer service, great artwork, reasonable pricing. read more

Perhaps I am singular in my experience at this establishment, perhaps not. The place looks clean and swanky and I was really looking forward to my visit. Then I met my artist - let's call him 'fortune.' He was late and half-cognizant. I described my very simple design and he tried to convince me that $300 was a deal for 6 thin stripes on my ankles. When I explained that he wouldn't need to spend so much time because I needed the design to look uneven and possibly amateurish, he wasn't offended. Rather he quoted a policy that for every so many inches he HAD to charge x amount of dollars. WHAT A CROCK. I think an artist should be paid what they're worth, but if the customer requests something sub-par, parroting a policy is the dumbest way to lose business. They were kind enough to hand me back my deposit and everyone else at the studio seemed to be having a good experience, so who knows. I think we just disagree philosophically. read more

Had a bad, weird experience with this place. One of their artists, Jason Wells, was recommended to me, so I went there and we worked out the details on a relatively large tattoo. The receptionist was friendly and so was Wells, who repeatedly told me to call if I had any more questions. He quoted me $500 for the work, I scheduled my appointment and came back a couple of weeks later. I made the $50 deposit. I came back on March 16th and he did the first 3-hour session, which turned out pretty good, despite some minor mistakes. He told me he would require two more sessions to finish the job. I asked him how much I should pay now, he said "How about $300 now, and the rest the next time?" I agreed, making my total $350 so far. I then scheduled to return two weeks later. When I came back for my second session on April 1st, I was told that he had left Iron Lotus. Nobody bothered to call and tell me this. They gave me his number, so I left a voicemail and two texts. No response. I find out that this guy just up and vanished into thin air. I spoke with the manager on April 3rd and asked for a partial refund. The cost of the work was $500 over three sessions, which is $166 per session, basically. I paid in $350 already. When I asked the manager for a $150 refund, he became very upset, swore at me a bunch and told me that the artists are independent contractors (and even mentioned someone whose work was so bad that people had to have laser surgery to correct it, which they weren't responsible for). I told him that if money is paid for services at an establishment, and those services are not provided, they should provide a partial refund or complete those services. He told me that the shop had nothing to do with it. I calmly said he could either pay me $150 to resolve the issue or I would give him a bad review (or I could file a small claims suit, which I specifically stated was something that I really didn't want to do). After some more yelling, he said he would pay the $150 and asked that I never come by again. Today, April 4th, the manager called me back and apologized for yelling and his behavior, saying he was angry at the situation and not at me (which is understandable, given he's probably had many of these calls about this artist). He then said he wouldn't pay me anything at all, because this would establish precedent for all of the other people who were burned by Wells to demand money. I'm glad he called me back and was calm and collected, but I'm still frustrated that I paid for a lot of work that was never done and this business will not take any responsibility for work under its roof. So, I would be cautious about dealing with money there. Make sure to get receipts for everything and don't pay for anything until it's done, no matter how small of an amount. They only accept cash (or so I was told at the time), which makes it even shadier for things like this to happen. Keep in mind that the management doesn't treat this like a shop, but rather as random people working under one roof who are completely disconnected. I would hope that $150 would be less important than the reputation of an entire business and everyone there, but, again, I can only speak about what happened with Wells. An overall unfortunate experience. read more