Well, this was not a pleasant experience. I hate writing negative reviews, especially since this salon could be as wonderful as the highly rated reviews make it seem. The BAD: First, the owner needs to calm down. She projects a negative energy and is frankly pushy. She started screaming at an employee for not doing a good job (saying she does not want to ever see this again, or she will be fired), right in front of customers. The first cardinal rule of good business practices is to never humiliate your employees, especially in front of clients. My main concern coming in for the first time is they use really loud air blowers to dry the dogs. Why dog hair salons use those is beyond me, it's so stressful to many dogs. When I stated how my dog was fearful of any loud noise, she grabbed him from me and put him in the cage closest to the air blower! Are you freaking kidding me!? Then, I repeated my concern, and she said he will be fine. When I saw him visibly distraught (and I am not being ridiculously oversensitive here), I told her immediately that I'm not leaving him there, so please give him back to me. She said she can't do that, they have already started to cut his hair (true, they had just taken him out of the cage while we were talking). I insisted, so instead of giving him back to me, she turned off the air blower. Thank you! Even my ears were feeling relief! I have other concerns as well. Even before I started expressing my reservations, there were two dogs left alone wet and half bathed (but leashed). One of them was there for the entire time I was there, about an hour! Is this for real!? They were trying to escape to me through an observation window, obviously not appreciating their time there... more importantly, this is totally unsafe! Should a dog fall over, being leashed, he would quickly die from hanging himself! Finally, the owner did not bother telling me it's cash or check only, so I had to get cash from a local ATM (for a fee obviously). When I told the owner she should tell people about it in advance, her excuse is that everyone coming to groom their dogs there knows already (I had told her on the phone it was my first time). Really!? The GOOD: they did a fairly good job, although not great. Two dogs with summer cuts, but finishing around head and legs was poor. The cuts were actually expensive by Los Angeles standards, at $50 each (I pay usually $40). Lisa was also accommodating taking my two dogs and doing their grooming quickly. I think she's taking on way too much work, and then is not able to deal with it calmly. Hint: refer to someone else, or delay the work to a later date... the customer's satisfaction and feel good vibe are more important in the long term than trying to please everyone short term. This was on the weekend before July 4th, so they were busy. However, safety and concerns for the customer should be first. Even if I lived here, and I do come to town often, I will never be back! read more