My daughter needed a corsage for prom so I started calling around. The 4-5 star rated places around for whatever reason have moved down to Carmel Valley, way to far for me to drive for such a tiny thing. So I called Javier's flowers since they were about a mile away from home. They had a few ok reviews on google. A gentleman answered the phone and told me "yes, we do make corsages. The price is anywhere from $12 to $25". "Good" I thought! Close to home, cheap... let's go for it!
So we all got in the car, got the dress with us to match the color, and went there. Surprise, surprise! I expected a nice store, a parking lot... Well, nope! That was not the case! It is a stand, little shed smacked right on the side of Twin Oaks Rd, with no parking, just a dirt area in front of the shed where you can stop on the side of the road. So I parked my rather big car in front blocking almost the whole front. At this point, my picky, spoiled self, already very skeptical, started doubting my decision. I nice woman with a very thick Mexican accent asked us how she could help us. We explained, got the dress out of the car to show her. Instead of spending time with us, she gave us a book with pictures of different corsages to pick from, and went to take care of another customer. Now, to be honest, I expected that the florist would offer something and would take care of the whole thing, it's their job! If I knew how to do that I would have been a florist myself! But... nah, again I was wrong. She wasn't very helpful. The only thing she helped with was to pick a ribbon in a color complimenting the dress. I told my daughter I was not very happy with the stand, my husband saw me getting grumpy and offered to start calling around again to see if we could find something more "civil". At this point we kinda had something picked. So we both got in the car and started calling around but we couldn't quite find anything that satisfied my picky self and at that point I was way too grumpy to try anything else. So I went back to my daughter and told her to go ahead and get the one she like.
The woman working there thought that we were not happy with the price (which was not the case) because instead of $25 for the model my daughter picked she charged us only $20. $25 sounded fantastic to me but $20 - I didn't complain!
She asked us to write down the order in English (I guess her written English was close to non existing), I paid the full $20 (she asked for deposit only) and we were supposed to go pick it up today.
Again, I was a bit skeptical but amazingly - she did a Good job! I liked it! I'm happy! My daughter is happy! YAY!
Bottom line - if you need flowers for your better half (or for whoever else) and are not very particular or know exactly how you want the arrangement to look - this is the place for you! Just a quick stop and good prices.
But if you need a real florist and advise on what you need, professional opinion - this place is not for you.
I will be back if I need a bouquet. For something more complicated - I would try someone else before going back to Javier's. read more