Called and we were able to get an appointment for the next day for our 17 year old daughters nose peircing. The shop was open, clean and there are plants everywhere, very fresh feel. I believe our piercer was 'Stabby Abby' if I heard her correctly lol and she was wonderful with our nervous teen! Kept it light hearted and was super quick! Thank you, thank you read more

Nor Cal Tattoo - Tattoo Near Me - Arcata, California

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I had an AMAZING experience with this tattoo shop. Every staff member was super welcoming and it's easy to tell they make a wonderful team. Ted was my artist (he's also the owner) and he did a great job! Such a super sweet guy who walked me through the whole process with patience, understanding, and expertise. The shop was clean, his method was gentle, and the prices were great. I'd rate the whole thing a 10/10. read more

Nor Cal Tattoo - Tattoo Near Me - Arcata, California

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I have come in to Nor Cal twice in the last few months, first to have my septum pierced and yesterday to get a small linework tattoo done. Abbie, who pierced my septum, made sure to check for correct anatomy before anything else, and hyped me up before and after the piercing was done. Maiah, who gave me the toast tattoo, made sure everything was perfect for me, and made sure I was happy with design and placement, but also took care to recommend slightly thicker lines for better longevity. She also cultivated the most comfortable environment I've ever received a tattoo in. The people I've let modify me here so far have been nothing short of amazing people and artists, that you can tell have passion for their jobs. Otherwise, the energy of the shop is always positive and fun and you can also tell they like to have fun. Highly recommend! Thank you Abbie and Maiah! read more

Nor Cal Tattoo - Tattoo Done by Maiah (@tennyotattoo on insta) - Tattoo Near Me - Arcata, California

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UPDATE- Although my husband and I's tattoos did not turn out as expected, the owners of the shop were wonderful and have fixed the situation. They cared to know why and how this happened and immediately fixed the issue. The shop was extremely clean which is a huge deal to me. They have good artists that work there- just go through their page on Facebook and look at artists/their work and choose a specific person. My husband and I got tattoos on our honeymoon and went to NorCal because their reviews were good. We had the worst experience and now have to spend hundreds to get janky tattoos covered up in our home state. The guy claimed to have 17 years experience but our final product made 17 days more believable. DO NOT go here for a walk in, you will be disappointed. I'm embarrassed to even have this artwork on my body and am counting down the days of getting rid of it. read more

Great and professional artists. Really well done and take their work serious. My wife and I got tattoos together and we loved them. Great job read more

Nor Cal Tattoo - Redwood tree - Tattoo Near Me - Arcata, California

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Best tattoo experience I've ever had! I walked in to discuss a piece I had been wanting for some time and they offered to do it on the spot. The shop is clean, tidy, and pleasant to be in and everyone there was totally welcoming and fun. The piece is beautiful- James knocked it out of the park and the price was more than fair. I'll definitely be back. read more

I had both of my tragus pierced with Dani, and she was very thorough in her explanation and right on point. The price was spot on and of good quality. I was very comfortable and informed with an excellent vibe. She's super fun!! read more

Nor Cal Tattoo - Tattoo Near Me - Arcata, California

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Amazing piercings with Dani! All of the workers talk to each other, creating a very casual vibe. She made sure that my comfort was prioritized and communicated every step of the way. Absolutely amazing! read more

Super pleased, my daughter and I both got pierced, very professional, very nice people. read more

Nor Cal Tattoo - Helix piercing - Tattoo Near Me - Arcata, California

I never walk into a tattoo shop without doing research on the artist and shop first, but during my visit in Arcata I randomly walked into Nor Cal and met James. Today I had the pleasure of getting tattooed by him. The whole experience was Awesome, from James live streaming on Twitch to the guys in the shop. We joked around and even talked about Star Wars. Next visit up to Humboldt I might just have to get another tattoo from James, you can find him on Instagram captainkerr707 read more

Nor Cal Tattoo - Tattoo Near Me - Arcata, California

This is the tattoo shop to get quality art and piercings. Michael Joy did an amazing job on phase two of my large lotus flower. Owners Amy and Ted provide a clean environment and use PPE. Their business ethics are first class. Thank you Nor Cal Tattoo! read more

Got a piercing done by Dani and she was awesome! Super kind and answered all my questions. She definitely made me feel very comfortable during the whole process. Would definitely get more piercings done by her. read more

Jeremy did a great job on fixing my leg tattoo. Was able to discuss a plan on creating a correction tattoo we were both happy with. Highly recommend this local tattoo shop and I highly recommend Jeremy as an artist to book your appointments with. Very happy with new tattoo! read more

I have gotten a tattoo her and today I got my nose pierced here. Each time it was a great experience. Ted fixed a tattoo that someone else had given me that I thought would be unsalvageable. He did a great job! I will definitely be going back to him for all my future tattoos. Today I got my nose pierced by ahi's daughter. Sorry I totally forgot her name. She was so professional. She explained literally everything she was doing. She pierce a total of 4 of us. She is super friendly and good at what she does. Highly recommend. read more

Unclear communication, playing favorites with some customers, more about their hype than their business, showed a huge lack of professionalism - They recently held an event where a huge crowd was waiting in line in the pouring rain to get flash tattoos and piercings. The shop knew they would only be able to serve a certain amount of people. Instead of cutting the line off and letting people know they should go home, they instead took videos of the crowd for their promotional Instagram story and left people to get soaked in the rain, only to be sent home anyway. Many people still donated to the cause, so it would have at least been nice to have been informed so we could have at least dropped our donations off and not been standing out in the rain for 4 hours. The event had been advertised as starting at 1 pm, but there were customers on Instagram who were seen as early as 9 am that day, who were able to skip the line and still received a tattoo or piercing. It had also been advertised that during the flash event customers would only be able to get a small tattoo OR a piercing, but there were several customers on Instagram who received both (which was frustrating to customers who arrived at the advertised start time and were then turned away). Why set rules during advertising if they will be broken anyways? When they began to send people home, representatives claimed they had known ahead of time they would only be able to serve 100 people first-come-first-serve for the event. They could have easily advertised that, and put that on their social media pages before or during the event, so people would have known not to stand in the line, or they could have cut the line off at a reasonable spot hours earlier. It was all very rude and alienated many potential future customers. There are plenty of tattoo and piercing shops in Humboldt County who treat customers and potential customers with much more respect and have clear communication. Go somewhere else. read more

well i was on travel and wanted some ink, locals sent me here. i called 3 or 4 times with no answer, left a message. didn't get no response, (until 4 or 5 days after i left Arcata) since i have never had a tattoo in humboldt county, i can wait till i get back to my home to get a tattoo, it was spur the moment. a lot of people liked it, i'm not ripping on their work nor am i questioning their skills. from the pictures they look like great tattoo artist. the communication could of been better with phones, read more

My friend just got a tattoo from this place and got completely ripped off. It was just a name with a very small rose , all done in simple black line work. The artist charged her $150 for this. A complete joke. I have many tattoos all of which are large have color and lots of shading and the most I paid for my largest tattoo was only $125. Her tattoo is less than a 2 inches and like I said just a name in black. No color , no shading , nothing. It took less than 30 minutes to complete. You tell me .... Does this sound like a good shop. I think not. Save your money and go somewhere better. These guys are a joke. Artwork is good but price is in fantasy land read more

I had a great experience getting my helix pierced by Dani! She was super sweet and knowledgeable. I really appreciated her recommendations as it was my first piercing. I'll definitely be coming back to her for more! read more

Pending any issues with my piercings in the next few weeks (just got them a day ago) they are well-placed and were relatively painless (RELATIVELY - it's still a hole in my ear, so...) Amy did all of them quickly and with a great deal of friendliness and professionalism. Since I had 3 of them done, she checked in between each of them to be sure I was still feeling OK. I can't really speak to the tattooists since I'm still tattoo-free, but if you're looking for a piercer in Arcata, Amy's the one! read more

Extremely unprofessional and the worst communication. I tried making an appointment several times and the tattoo artists either never answered or booked the appointment and never showed. I called off work and made my way through pouring rain and I didn't get notified that the tattoo artist would not show after 40 minutes of waiting. I wanted to get a tattoo in honor for my late mother's birthday and getting this tattoo was so important to me and now I won't get it in time. read more

I love this tattoo shop. I've gotten two done here. Very chill, awesome comfortable atmosphere and the staff is soo funny! I had a great time during my sessions. And my tattoos are beautiful. I definitely recommend any HSU students who wanna get something done to come here,it's so close by!! I literally got a tattoo in between classes. Quality work and nice prices. Again, Love this place. read more

Amy is the best!!! Went here to get my nose pierced and she is phenomenal, patient, and has a great personality. Learned a little bit about this family owned business and plan on returning here soon for a tattoo. :) read more

I went to Amy for a walk-in nipple piercing, and she was amazing. She made a point to make me feel very comfortable and did it super fast, at my request. Being somebody that had nothing but ear piercings, I was shaking in the waiting room, preparing myself for the worst and although it was a very painful piercing it was completely manageable. The whole process was over in 10 minutes and her pricing was very reasonable, much cheaper then other piercers in the area. Will be returning for future piercings/tattoos! read more

Their piercer is great! Came in to get my cartilage changed to a hoop I had and she reopened some old holes I neglected as well. Would come again! read more

I love love love my ink! It's hard to go to tattoo shops with the experience I had with one of the guys who tattooed my chest. I felt comfortable from the moment I walked in and it was appreciated! read more

Know several people that have gotten tattoos by Ted and they have been less than worth it. Make sure you pay close attention to the details in the tattoos he puts in his portfolio. I've seen portraits that he's done that are crooked, pieces that scarred over, things that you shouldn't see coming from an artist who's been around so long. I've heard that he only really takes care of pieces that he's actually interested in...if he doesn't like what you want, he doesn't care about giving you a good tattoo. read more

I am EXTREMELY happy with my tattoo i got from Ted marks. I got my husbands portrait with his ashes in the ink and when Ted was finished it literally took my breath away and i cried happy tears, it could not have came out any better. Ted is AMAZING and staff there was making us laugh the whole time we were there. If you want an AMAZING portrait tattoo i HIGHLY recommend Ted marks. I can't wait to go back and get another tattoo... read more

My friend and i decided to get our noses pierced and decided on Nor Cal Tattoo as the place to go. When we got there everyone was really nice and even though it was a small place, it was VERY clean and the guy walked us through everything. He is one of the only licenced piercers in this area and knows a lot about jewlery. it is also the least expensive places to get it done and it includes the jewlery. its been almost a month and neither of us have had problems with the piercing. he uses the best kind of jewlery that is the safest. i would go back.:) read more

These guys have a real clean shop. Very professional and put together. These guys are serious. It's set up nice. Not some big generic room. More personal feeling. read more

James was my artist for my first tattoo, which was small. I immediately connected with him and he has since done a large rib piece and is now half way through my left sleeve. James is not my artist anymore, instead he's one if my best friends. Check the place out, you'll see what I'm talking about. Careful, James is a hugger with contagious positive energy. read more

Awesome atmosphere and really nice people! My friend and I came here for nose piercings and really liked the whole experience, especially the price(only $40!) Would highly recommend! read more

If you need piercings, this is a good place to go to. I got my nose and medusa there and they both turned out great! (-:

Very bad experience getting my nose pierced. The piercer was out of shop so the main tattoo artist did my piercing, he said he trained the piercer. He did not get it right the first time and it felt and looked (as blood was running from my nose) that he had no idea what he was doing. He was also rude. Do not recommend personally. read more

Got a cover up done by James Kerr. I really like the work he did and I will be going back to him for more tattoos. James is super friendly and funny and makes the experience enjoyable. I would recommend this shop. read more

Went to Alex today to get a tattoo in memory of my grandparents, both my brother and I wanted to get a tattoo and on a Sunday with no appointment. He took care of it, and did a perfect job. Super stoked. read more

Alex is Awesome! Great Artist!! We met the family and felt right at home! Great Family Business! read more

Just got a tattoo done here. It was very reasonably priced and extraordinarily done! James and Zach were incredibly friendly and amiable and kept me laughing the whole damn time. The shop itself is clean and well kept and they are definitely experts at what they do. I would recommend them to anyone! Those guys and their shop are the perfect mix of professional and friendly. True artists those two! read more

Wonderful people! Got a tattoo done my Michael and plan on getting a piercing soon. My roommate also has an appointment with Jeremy to get a tattoo. read more

Got a piece done by mat and was really disappointed. It took 2 hours and he didnt even finish the line work. The piece is less than 3 x 4 inches. When I wanted to finish the piece I called and messaged but got no response so I went into the shop. Though some artists were professional, one made an extremely derogatory comment that made me uncomfortable. The piece Is in a fairly personal place (underboob/ sternum) I was already nervous and they made me feel extremely unconfortable and frankly disrespected. When I asked if someone could get a hold of him to finish the piece on my chest, his retort was dripping with sexual innuendo when he said "oh don't worry we'll finish on your chest" that lack or professionalism is what gives tattoers a bad/ sleazy stigma. Poor quality work, unprofessional artists and unacceptable treatment, thats what Nor Cal Tattoo seems to offer. read more

Great price and good work. Too much talking to random people. Was told "free touch ups for life". Called 3 times for my "free touch up", each time I was told someone would call me back to set an appointment. No one has and I'm tired of calling them. Too bad too, I recommended all my friends to them. read more