This is my first experience with Pillen Optical and for sure my last. For starters their selection is subpar at best. There is no waiting area and staff seems clueless and spacey at best. Had an appointment for eye exam at 3:45 showed early, did paperwork and waited for almost an hour before called back. This is where I really regretted making my appointment here. Dr. Jonathan Nebelsick is very quick with his exam. Not giving me enough time to make selections between numbers. He seemed very rushed and like he had something better or more important to do. Which I thought was very rude and not doctor like at all. And my wife agrees as her appointment was rushed. I was prescribed progressive lenses. I just received my glasses from GlassesUSA, as I refused to go back to Pillen for picking out glasses. Needless to say this "new" prescription is no better then my single lense prescription from last year. They claim to be the cheapest in town. Which I'm sure they are. But I recommend taking your business elsewhere. read more

WOW, what are great company!! The people are friendly and helpful. I went with the two pair of glasses for $100.00. I think it's a great deal with my eye exam, it cost me $200.00. Because I didn't have my prescription it was a little more but beneficial. The eye exam was comprehensive and he shared a lot of knowledge with me. read more

I don't know what happened to this place, but it's not what it use to be. I am a long time customer, in fact I have never gotten glasses or eye exams anywhere else, sadly to say, I won't be back. The staff are the rudest people I have ever met. I think the younger ma that works there works for his mommy and daddy because he's beyond rude and talks to people however he wants. The old lady who screams at people and calls them names is pretty horrific too. All I know, she's lucky I wasn't there when she pulled some shit with my grandmother who's dying from cancer. This place is pathetic! I do not believe it is ran by the same doctor it use to be ran by. :( read more

I had Pollen put new lenses in 2 pair of glasses in August of 2025. I bought the original frames and lenses 2 years prior. I January 2026, the lenses on both pair were starting to show pits. I took them in to have them looked at, the employee sprayed them with cleaner and saw some spots, said she would have another girl look at them. She sprayed a "special cleaner" on them and said it looked better but the spots that remained were just normal ware. She told me their warranty only covered frames, makes no sense. What damage to frames would be defective? The lenses aren't covered for scratches. Apparently the coating that is put on the lenses is prone to scratches from normal use. Lenses on both pair, which I don't wear all the time, developed "normal wear" in just 6 months. The must use a poor quality product that would ware out in 6 months. They will not stand behind the glasses they sell, customer satisfaction is not a priority. I paid $200 for both sets, don't know what their cost is, but I would think for that small amount of money they would make a customer happy. I guess you get what you pay for. The quality of product and service is not worth your time. read more

I've relocated here to Rapid City. I searched around for eyeglasses. I'm so thankful I came across Pillen Optical. The staff is fantastic! The selection is the best I've seen. Phoenix, AZ couldn't beat them. Not only did they have exactly what I was looking for, the price is unbeatable and I got my glasses in one day not 2 to 3 weeks. They get an A+. read more

I love this place. The prices are great, the people are friendly, and the exam was through. They are always willing to adjust my glasses whenever they start sliding. This is definitely a place I highly recommend and tell others about. read more

I have been a patient for a couple years. The optometrist is great and all the staff was great other than one front desk lady, heavy-set with short blonde hair, she was not helping us, thankfully. We over heard her being completely unprofessional and rude to multiple customers. There was an elderly couple that seemed a bit confused, instead of helping them understand, she spoke in a very condescending tone and made me and multiple other customers visibly uncomfortable. It's a shame that a great doctor is losing business because a "customer service" employee, in fact, does not know the first thing about serving customers. If she had been helping me I would have instantly walked out and never came back. I do recommend Doctor Jones, but highly recommend avoiding this employee. read more

I had the best experience with everyone in the office. The front desk ladies were very helpful and nice and the eye doctor did a thorough eye exam, making sure my prescription was just right! read more

Between July and December 2019 my husband and I bought 5 pairs of glasses from Pillan and were pleased, but we had never had an exam there. The problem came when I scheduled a contact lens exam. I was quoted $130 on the phone when I arrived, they added an additional $20 for monovision and said I would get a trial pair of lenses. Then when I went to pay for the exam, they charged me another $20 for the trial lens which they said would go towards my contact lens when I bought them. I have worn contact lenses for over 40 years and have never been charged for trial lenses. My $130 exam cost me $170, which would have been fine if they had been honest about the cost, to begin with. When I expressed my displeasure at the misquotes I was just brushed off the employees. I did not purchase the lenses at the time because I didn't need them since my prescription had not changed. I went back today to buy the contacts and asked for my $20 discount and was told it expired after 30 days. I certainly don't feel like a valued customer and will avoid this business in the future. read more

Great experience. Thorough exam.....until you have to deal with the rest of the staff. They are indifferent, unhelpful, and rude. I had new lenses put in my old frames, which was a two step process. They never called when my lenses were ready! Two different times I had to call them, after the time frame seemed way too long, and asked if my lenses were ready. Of course they were! The second time I called, they said the lenses were back and I could come in, leave the glasses about and hour, and they'd be done. I drove right there in 10 minutes. "Who are you"? And, "who told you to come down"? And most disturbing..."the tech just went to lunch"!! 3 hours later, I had to call again. "Yes, the glasses are finished. The girl spelled your name wrong so we didnt know who these glasses belonged to"... Never again. BTW, the heavy-set woman with short, blonde hair is the rudest of the bunch. read more

My daughter and I needed to get our eyes checked so we thought we would give a new place a try. Our optometrist was great. The location is near downtown Rapid and very convenient. It was my daughter's first time getting contacts and had issues. They couldn't get us in for 2 weeks so she could try a new pair. I just wanted to run there quick and try a new brand. Our optometrist said we could do that but the receptionist would not allow us to. That made this a terrible experience. Solely because of a front desk gal, named "T" I don't plan on going back. She was very rude and condescending. She told me our optometrist was too busy to speak with us and didn't want to take the time of day to help us out in any way. Due to my luck I had to deal with her 2 out of the 3x I had to go there. If she for some reason wouldn't be working there I would return. read more

The front desk staff were courteous, prompt, and helpful despite being busy when I arrived for my appointment. They were helpful in their glasses recommendations (keeping both my style preferences and price in mind) as well as helping me understand how my optical insurance would apply towards my eye exam, frames, and lenses. Dr.Holloway is the best eye doctor that I have had. He was very attentive to detail, went the extra mile in creating a prescription tuned to my stigmatism, and explained every step of the process as well as my ocular health. His office also fixed my glasses before I was a patient....they've won my business. read more

My eye exam was completed by a eye doctor that goes between there and Walmart. He was nice. however he Got my script wrong twice. The staff in the store are rude and act as though they are bothered by questions. The hefty big makeup lady was rude and seems to lack social skills. I had lenses remade and still not right I went to a different place no issues. read more

Word of advice for the front desk staff... Mainly the older ladies- BE NICE to your customers or they will take their business elsewhere. Every experience I've had with them has been negative. They are rude and condescending. The doctors are great, as is the owner, and the younger lady at the front..but the bad attitudes are driving business away. I paid out of pocket cash, for everything, as my insurance was out of network. But I really liked the doctors and the convenient location. After my experience yesterday, I will no longer be a customer. I will take my business where it is appreciated and I am treated kindly. read more

Wonderful staff and excellent customer service. I dropped my frames off first thing to have my new lenses put in and got them back the same day! The staff was very knowledgeable and friendly. Each person who saw me asked if I was getting helped out. You guys went above and beyond to make my experience a positive one! When it's time for new glasses I will be back! read more

Really fantastic place. Was in town for a few days from Texas and they were able to do my exam one day and frames were complete by the next. Excellent customer service, all the staff were very helpful. Was a fast, easy, comfortable trip to the eye doctor :) read more

I would give this negative stars if possible. Let me preface by saying the front desk people are kind, this is solely off of so many mistakes and misquotes it's not even funny. Firstly, I made my appointment with Daniel Holloway, not his wife (they both work there). When I arrived, they gave me her instead of him. Not really thinking it to be a huge deal (although it was strange as I made it with him), I went ahead with it. Frankly I didn't find her to be that personable, but as long as the job was done properly I went with it. Upon leaving, I was informed I had to pay a $20 fee to even get my trial contacts. What?! I have never, in my 25 years of having lenses and multiple eye doctors, experienced this. They say it will go toward your contacts purchase, so basically, they are trying to force you to go through them to order. It's a non-refundable fee, no fee, no trial contacts. They also wont' release your prescription without the fee. By the way, they did mail me my prescription, and they didn't pay postage, so the post man made us pay the small handling fee! Well, after I got the trials and determined them to be fine, I called Pillen to get a quote on their lense rates. They were actually really great, but I still wanted to look online. After determining I could not beat Pillen's price, I called them to order, only to be quoted OVER A HUNDRED DOLLARS MORE than I had just been quoted. I told them so, and they said there was nothing they could do. Fine. I decided to order online. However, I noticed my prescription seemed weird....so weird I couldn't get ANY online website to even offer what I needed. I called one of the websites who told me, this prescription seems weird, you need to check it's accuracy with your optometrist. I called Pillen. They wrote me the WRONG PRESCRIPTION. This could have damaged my eyes had I ordered what they initially wrote me, and then I also would have been out a lot of money on a wrong prescription. They have since sent me the corrected prescription, and I ordered my contacts from another provider. All of this to say, this was SO MANY THINGS THAT WENT WRONG, and they never offered me a thing for quoting me wrong prices, giving me the wrong doctor, AND writing me the wrong prescription. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. read more

My family was very disappointed with the customer service at Pillen Optical. The employees were rude to my wife, not helpful, and rude to each other. I hope we don't have to work with them again. read more