Linda and Charlie, the co-owners of Lakewood Nail & Spa, had a location on 112th in South Everett, equidistant between home and work. They had sold their business and moved elsewhere when the lease had increased exponentially so the landlord could renovate and expand the small strip mall into nearly twice as many units. I was NEVER able to have another experience as enjoyable as my trips to Charlie for my nails and manicures (he is THE BEST) and Linda for my pedicures. I had, by sheer serendipity, found them again through the recommendation of a former coworker. She had been going to "the most wonderful nail place" and for my birthday, she'd treated me to a pedicure. It was like old-home week when I saw Charlie and Linda, after nearly 5 years and yes, they sure remembered me. I tend to tip well. TIPS does stand for "To Insure Prompt Service" after all. Linda is simply the best, the fastest and the most thorough I've ever found outside of a true "spa experience" with the three-figure price tag to prove it. Linda and Charlie use an autoclave for all of their instruments, not just soaking the implements in a colored bleach solution like many places I've been. They use hot rocks and hot towels on my legs and feet as well as a new grater they used on my heels. I'm from the South, were many a reformed tomboy used to run around barefoot and well, calluses grow. Their massage chairs make the hot foot soak very pleasurable. I love it when Linda does my pedicures and I make sure to request her, even though I have been well-seen-to by a couple of the older gals. She always asks, "Happy Toe!?!" after she's cut out an ingrown piece of nail bed and all of a sudden my toes feel fantastic and relaxed. The too-young and the over-spackled ones, I don't care for all that much. I also get a kick out of teasing them. When Linda and the gang start off in their sing-song language, which to me, sounds like someone threw a bag of silverware down a flight of concrete stairs, I like to speak over them and say, "Hey! What do you mean Michelle Obama was a man?!" or something like that in a not-too-subtle way of reminding them it's rude to talk in another language in front of the "Mi Chang" or their way of saying "White People" with as a derogatory slur. When I first used Linda and Charlie's service off 112th, they loved my two little boys. They'd make sure I could come in after 5 PM, would provide snacks and a portable DVD player for my then-3 year-old and a comfy-quiet room for my sleepy infant. My husband and our boys love going there as a treat but as for me and my gal pals...we wouldn't go ANYWHERE else. Linda is THE BEST at waxing, too. I have very sensitive skin and usually look like I lost a drunken bar fight if I went elsewhere but Linda does my waxing first, using a wonderful, hypoallergenic cooling lotion and by the time my toes are dry, I'm not begging Nick to cut me so I can get back in the fight. (Yes, that was a blatant shout out to Stallone). Go there, don't be shy. Don't expect them to hold your hand, you big girl. Tell them what you want and what you expect but also listen to their advice. They aren't there to kiss your backside.

This place chewed up my fingers. I had them the taken off the next day at a different nail place in Monroe. Terrible experience!

This place was the rudest place I have ever gone; she did the same thing to me that the others said. She was nice until she wanted to put on acrylic nails and I said no. She said it would last longer. When I politely refused she huffed off, passed me off to another and ignored me the rest of the time. She went off in her language into a tirade and spoke English enough to put in the word"one week" (which is how long she thought my French nail polish job would last). If that wasn't rude enough, they all left me there not knowing what I should do next. I finally got up to pay and everytime I go by there it is empty. No customers. Gee wonder why?

I wasn't happy with the color I chose so I asked them nicely to take it off and I would pay them to give me a french tip. The woman helping me got huffy and handed me off to another woman who did a horrible job of painting my nails. They were bubbly and streaky. I asked nicely if the woman could put a translucent color on top of my french tip and she said loudly "NO UGLY, THAT WOULD BE UGLY!!" I don't really think that was good customer service. Who cares what she thinks. It is what the customer wants. I would never go back, nor would I recommend it to anyone!

My daughter and I went to this salon to give it a try. We made appointments for 4:30. My daughter wanted a pedicure and full set of nails and I was just getting a full set. When we got there they only had 5 people on staff and we found out after we got there they were expecting a party of 7 for pedicures. There were 2 other ladies waiting as well, one with an appointment and the other was a walk in. They put my daughter in a chair for a pedicure and took me for my nails. I waited for 15 minutes before someone came over and my daughter waited 45 minutes and when no one came over she got up to leave. Once she did this everyone wanted to help her. We had an appointment at 7:00 and seeing how long it was taking for my nails she didn't want to have a pedicure and a full set. She declined all services, but the gentleman wanted to make it right so I encouraged her to get a full set of gel nails. It took until 6:50 to get out of there and 2 days later she had several nails fall off and lifting on the others. I have lifting on 2 of mine. I had glue under and around most of my nails. I appreciated the fact that they tried to correct the wrong regarding their staffing issues, but the quality was not there 2 days later. They refused to fix at their expense saying 2 days had gone by. We have a friend that had a similar experience and when she tried after 3 days to get repairs at their expense, they told her no. The prices are a little bit more and it was not worth the wait. I would not recommend this place. There are a lot of places wanting your business in this tough economy and by not being willing to fix lifting nails will not help you retain business as a business owner. Do right by your customers all the time.