SD Tattoo

Have to say that Brandon Beach was awesome and made this ear piercing experience easy as can be. Really appreciate the top notch team from start to finish at SD Tattoo!

I got so lucky finding this place and my artist. I walked in for a consult and met with Irina. I was explaining what I wanted as this was a cover up. She is so talented that she hand drew this design and I was scheduled with her that evening. She gave me what I asked for and then some. She drew the butterfly on my arm and then then started tattooing. No stencil!!! So original! I can't wait to see her again. Everyone at the shop is really nice. The place was super clean. Very impressed with the whole experience!!

Best BodY Art in San Diego done here ask about my AmiGO $COTtiae Aka
Tha BeST THaT eVeR InkED BodiEZ

aka

"ScottIE DaggER"

They do amazing work but they are a little pricey. Artists, piercers and front desk staff are all very polite.

Apparently MY SKIN is TOO DARK for colors like yellow and orange, it’d be a waste of my time and money😂

Attached is a picture of previous art with another artist at a different shop with colors orange, yellow and red.

BLACK PEOPLE! Go to a shop that is EXPERIENCED with your skin color😎

The owner Chris reached out to me within 24hrs to compensate me for my experience with 1 free hr of tattooing with 1 of his experienced artists after leaving this review. Thank you.

I’m from out of state, and was only in town for a few days. I went in for my appt and was told the artist was late, so they called someone else to come in, after waiting with no update I finally asked to just cancel and receive a refund on my deposit. The gal at the front desk was very nice but it was obvious there’s no communication amongst the staff.

I went over to Funhouse Tattoo in Pacific Beach and they were able to accommodate me as a walk-in and at a much lower price.
I was originally quoted $200-$300 for my piece and at funhouse I was able to get a quality tattoo for half the price.

Don’t waste your time here.

**REVIEW FROM 2ND VISIT AT BOTTOM**

Original review:

Kyra is a wizard!

I bought a double stacked loop for my conch off of Amazon and wore it for about a week before my ear was killing me. I kept sleeping on it which irritated it and caused my ear to swell to the point neither me or my partner could get it off. I figured a professional was my best bet - Kyra had it out in seconds with minimal discomfort and swapped for my old jewelry I had brought with me.

I’m new to the area and will most definitely come here for future piercings! The studio is huge, clean and all the employees were friendly.

**UPDATED REVIEW**

After a second visit my thoughts have changed.

I decided to get a couple piercings and a little tattoo on a whim for my birthday. I arrived at 10:30am as a walk in.

I let the front desk staff know what I wanted, talked pricing, filled forms, etc and then sat down to wait. A few minutes later, front desk let me know the tattoo artist who could accommodate me would be in at 11am and piercer at 12pm. I said that was fine and continued to wait. I figured I would probably be out of the shop by 12:30 - 1:00.

The tattoo artist arrived a little late (11:10ish) and piercer at 12:40, both citing traffic. There were other clients waiting and the front desk staff continued to thank everyone for waiting.

My tattoo went fine and was done by 12pm, I went back to the lobby to wait for the piercer. There were a couple people ahead of me for piercings who were still waiting. Even after the piercer arrived it took over 20 minutes for the people ahead of me to be called back. I ended up going back for my piercing around 2:00 and left the studio around 2:50.

My piercer was friendly and at the time I felt I was in good hands. One of my piercings is a daith. The piercer asked if the front desk had let me know they only pierce daiths with a curved barbell, they did not but I said that’s fine (post-piercing, I now know this is not common - a CBR, hoop, or horseshoe is recommended by virtually all safe piercing practice sources).

The curved barbell used is way too short and I’m disappointed a professional did not see this and swapped to a longer one. I’m only on day 2 and it’s already too swollen for this jewelry.

Take-aways:

- The shop strongly advertises walk-ins and opens at 9am but does not have a piercer available until 12pm (at least on Saturday). This seems like an oversight and could confuse or frustrate clients. As I mentioned, many people were waiting and some kept asking the front desk how much longer things would be. There was a couple with a baby waiting who arrived around the time I did and were still waiting when I left. 3+ hours in a waiting room with an infant cannot be enjoyable.
- I understand delays due to unexpected traffic happen but the front desk staff kept insisting the piercer/tattoo artist would be here “in x minutes” and much more time would pass.
- I also understand different shops having different policies surrounding piercing practices, but to have a policy that goes against virtually every other source for safe piercing practices does not seem to have clients best interest in mind. People come to a professional piercing studio for a knowledgeable, safe piercing and place their trust in the studio to do what is best.
- I’m disappointed to have spent $390 dollars for the services I received and feel I did not receive quality work. I have scheduled an appointment with a different shop to have the daith assessed and jewelry changed. I am in the position to afford this but if I were not, I would be much more upset.
- I do not plan to return to SD Tattoo for future services.

Absolutely amazing experience. Everyone was so nice and I was comfortable the entire time I was getting my naval pierced. The inside was very clean and had a great vibe to it. In general everything was a 10/10, I would definitely go again.

Ngl Went here for my first tattoo, and it was absolutely the best experience ever! I brought the rough draft of the design I wanted and Adam (The Artist) did a wonderful job drawing exactly what I had in mind, and was super supportive during the entire process.

Everyone was super friendly and everything was spotless. They have been following all the CDC reccomend practices, and I felt 100% safe the entire time. It was one of the best experiences I've had hands down.

Its no wonder SD Tattoo is known as the best tattoo parlor by so many ppl. No cap 10/10 will come here again

Very impressed with the customer service at this place. They had some scheduling conflicts and weren't sure if we'd be able to keep our appointments but since we were from our of state the lady helping us did everything she could and got us in for our appointments so we didn't have to miss out on getting tattoos on our vacation! Gustavo did great work on my tattoo; very clean lines, and didn't dig in too hard. I would recommend them to anyone!