Cary Tseng, OD

Let me start by saying that I have been going to another large zoo of an eye doctor in Pasadena for the last three years. I’m always there for 2 – 3 hours. I walked into Dr. Tseng’s office and was getting my eye exam within 10 minutes… and that’s without an appointment. The worst part of this was finding parking at Costco. Dr. Tseng was quick and thorough. He gave me good advice to take care of my dry eyes and his front desk girls are really cool too. I have to wait at doctor’s offices all the time, and I’m so glad that is not the case here.
I will definitely be back!

I had a wonderful experience with Dr. Tseng at Costco Optometry. I was a walk in appointment on a busy Saturday afternoon, and still only had to wait about 10 – 15 minutes to see the doctor (and in that 10 – 15 minutes, I did all the prelim stuff with the receptionist and got my insurance cleared!)
Dr. Tseng’s office is very clean and Dr. Tseng is an amazing optometrist. Turns out that I have a slight astigmatism in my left eye, which he was able to fix with some awesome lenses – all of a sudden, I could see so clearly! It also turns out that I was over prescribed before by my previous optometrist, and Dr. Tseng fixed my prescription, so I no longer get massive headaches when wearing contacts. Finally, instead of daily disposable lenses that ran me about $ 600 per year supply, Dr. Tseng helped me discover monthly lenses with Clear Care solution – now, my eyes feel perfectly great (before, I couldn’t wear even two week lenses because of protein buildup!) and I’m only paying $ 78 per year supply. Love it. Love this office.
Five stars for Dr. Tseng and his wonderful staff!

I walked in the Industry Costco without an appointment first thing in the morning because i needed an eyeglass prescription.
After years and years of wearing high index glasses, the doctor at the Industry Costco optometry department (who i believe to be Dr. Tseng since that was the name on the receipt) gave me a new prescription: something with a lower index. He paid very close attention to my needs, asked me a lot of questions and was very meticulous, more than my previous eye doctors.
I did not expect this kind of service and dedication from a random costco walk-​in appointment. I am very happy with my new pair. His prescription resulted in my eyeglass manufacturer giving me lower index lenses, and true to his word, I LOVE HOW IT FEELS. When i go back to my previous pair, it feels like a magnifying glass so i am really grateful that I was able to go there and get this done.
$ 50 bucks well worth spent. (did not have insurance, just accepted walk ins!)
no need for Costco membership too!

This is my first time at the Costco Alhambra Optometry. I have pretty bad eyesight and I wear both contact lenses and glasses. My glasses were over 3 years old, so I finally decided to get an eye glass exam. I never really expect much from the Optometrists at Costco because they all seem to just «do their job».
Dr. Cary Tseng however was very nice, professional, and friendly. I don’t think I have ever been so comfortable at an optometry. Definitely coming when I need updated eye exams. I recommend coming here for sure and make an appointment as it gets busy!

Short Version:
The slightly cheaper prices are not worth the long wait, and the fact that they hurry to accommodate all the people crammed in the tiny waiting room. That also applies to the Costco Vision Center next door, where you will probably go to fill your prescription. You only save about $ 10 – 15, but you wait an hour, hour-​and-​a-​half more than you would anywhere else. In way more uncomfortable conditions!
Long Version:
I had to spend $ 700 and go back to this location FOUR times in 7 months in order to get a simple correct contact lens and glasses prescription. During 5 of those months, I experienced constant blurriness, and had to strain to make out the words on signs. It was a nightmare.
I kept telling Dr. Tseng that I felt that I wasn’t seeing clearly, and that my eyes constantly felt like they were straining. He would peer at my eyes with a flashlight and announce: «You’re fine!» The first time he did that, I actually asked, incredulous: «How can you tell?» In my 19 years of wearing contacts, I’ve never had an optometrist check my prescription so quickly. He was actually kind of offended, and told me that it was his job to know. As I’ve heard him do to many other clients while sitting and waiting, he switched me to Cooper Vision contact lenses and sent me on my way.
The second time I returned, I felt kind of stupid. So I asked the techs at the desk to check my vision, to see if I even needed to see the doctor. They did the eye chart and told me I was seeing at ²⁰⁄₃₀ with my contact lenses in. Darn. I put my name down and waited the usual hour. But when I saw Dr. Tseng, he didn’t even administer the eye chart test. Again with the flashlight, peering into my eye, and declaring me fine. He said I was seeing ²⁰⁄₂₀. I told him about the techs and asked why they would say ²⁰⁄₃₀. He said: «Your lenses are probably dirty.» Which is weird, because then his results shouldn’t be 20/​20, right?
He asked me what cleaning solution I use. I told him Clear Care. He then said, «That’s good. Keep using that.» Again, so weird. If Clear Care works, shouldn’t my lens not be so dirty that they take me down to ²⁰⁄₃₀?
This time, he switches me to Cooper Vision monthlies. I now know that switching brands helps with things like dry eye or comfort. Not blurriness, eye strain, and headaches. Also, monthlies is a bad thing to recommend to someone who is experiencing problems. Because you waste so much of the contact lens if it doesn’t work out for you early on.
Fast forward two more months. By now, I have headaches and nausea when I try to read. I can’t even Facebook or Unilocal!I am starting to question my sanity because I can’t see clearly, but the doctor said I was fine. I feel like a senior citizen, bc I often have trouble reading signs. I don’t feel safe driving, bc my vision is wonky.
So I go back again. I make an appt for a full exam from the other doctor in the office. (Still waited 45 min). She finds that my prescription is off by –0.25. She showed me the before and after difference. Definitely blurry. No wonder I was struggling. And no wonder I thought I was going crazy!
I specifically waited on buying glasses because I wanted to be sure that the prescription they gave me was right for me. When I went to Dr. Tseng the first time complaining of having trouble seeing, and he so confidently said that my prescription was fine, I believed him and bought glasses.
It will cost me at least $ 300 to fix everything to my new, correct prescription. That’s $ 700 in a year for a simple thing. When I explained to him the entire situation, he did not apologize. At first, he tried to point to his «testing» results and say that I was ²⁰⁄₂₀ when he checked me the last two times. Sure, because he performed a shoddy job and just put me down as that. Then he actually had the nerve to say: «It’s –0.25 difference! –0.25 is NOTHING to us!»
The best he can do? He offered me $ 10 off the exam that finally put my prescription to rights. When I said that was not enough to compensate me for everything, he told me he was not releasing my new prescription, and to find a new provider. Wow.
When you put your vision into an optometrist’s hands, you’re not looking for «almost there,» or «close enough.» You’re looking for as close a fit as they can get. If you agree that «close enough» isn’t good enough for your eyes and your quality of life, Dr. Tseng isn’t the optometrist for you.
Save your time and money and go to an optometrist who has the time and space to treat you right, and the professional integrity to apologize and make amends when serious mistakes have been made.
P. S. — Some of the other happy reviewers seem like NOOBS. Explaining the difference between monthlies & dailies isn’t «above and beyond»! That’s a routine part of an optometrist’s JOB. Free contact case & solution? You’ll get that ANYWHERE. No offense, but those aren’t reasons to choose an optometrist.

I didn’t believe that the COSTCO optometrist would be so great, but she was. I don’t remember who was the one who was my doctor (but the female one, obviously), not Dr. Cary Tseng, OD. Regardless, she was very nice to me. I told her that I believed work was slowly deteriorating my eyes. She helped me check out my eyes and told me that yes, my eyesight has worsened but only by a little bit. :(I used to be –7.50 for contacts. I told her that I use acuvue oasys and she said that they only have contacts in increments of .5s, and she let me try on the –8.00s. I thought it was alright, but it was a little too powerful… I didn’t want my eyes to worsen.
Then she gave me another pair of monthlies, I think air optics. I’m wearing them now and I love them! Plus, they come in increments of .25s, so –7.75 is just about right.
She was so nice, and I was out of there in less than 30 minutes! Make sure to MAKE AN APPOINTMENT!!! :) (I was also a bit late because it was so hard finding parking so make sure you account for that, but they were nice about it too)
It was about $ 79.00 for the contact lens exam – and I got free contact case and solution too :). Moral of the story: don’t overlook your local costco’s optometrist, hahaha: D

I don’t think I’ve ever felt more comfortable at an optician’s office. Dr. Tseng is nice and professional. He also went above and beyond and explained the difference between daily contacts and monthlies. I never knew. Now I’ll prolly wear monthlies. It’s also way cheaper. It was actually an ophthalmologist who suggested I wear dailies. But Dr. Tseng’s explained that dailies are not made for comfort. They are made more «cheaply» and therefore are not made for comfort. Monthlies are designed for comfort, etc, etc. Really appreciated he took the time to explain vs. just telling me that monthlies are more comfortable.
He’s also very quick to smile/​laugh and make you feel like a friend rather than a patient all the while being professional, of course.

Dr. Tseng has been my optometrist for literally the past 10 years! Best Doctor at this location. Enough said.

I have been a patient of Dr. Cary Tseng for over 15 yrs. but because of the bad and rude treatment of his staff I have moved on to go to Walmart Vision that has the exact same prices and NO ATTITUDE. It is a shame because Dr. Cary is a sweet and nice Man but I am done. Tanya is rude and lazy. First she tells me No walk-ins…then she informs me no appointments for 2 weeks while there is an empty reception area and there is a female doctor just sitting there. This is unacceptable.

Let me start off by saying Dr. Tseng was awesome.
However, the receptionist not so much. Dr. Tseng transferred me to the receptionist in which I told the guy that I had insurance. After verifying my insurance and specifying my appointment time, I went in and thought all was cool. Nope. After the exam I was billed the full exam amount. I paid thinking nothing of it since I thought my insurance was applied against it but after visiting costco at night to buy something on another day and seeing the pricing of the exam it dawned on me that I was overcharged. Dumb of me I should have verified but I didn’t think that I would have to since costco stores normally double check everything. I guess it’s not the same for the optometry stores inside costco.
I was going to recommend people here but after this receptionist’s inability to keep the information of people who are coming in for an appointment (like bringing up the fact that they have insurance and even verifying with last four digits of social/​birth date/​etc), I’m just hesitant on what this guy might fail to do next.
FYI: He was a hispanic male, slightly heavy set.
Because of this guys mistake, I now have to go through the hassle of dealing with my insurance company for a reimbursement. Thank you for the troubles you…
I like the fact that after I called the receptionist (I recognized his voice), that he pinpointed that I didn’t tell the receptionist I had insurance when I came in. *claps*. Thanks for shifting the blame. Worst customer service ever. What’s the point of making an appointment, telling someone you had insurance, giving them all the information to verify if it was valid if you are not going to keep that information for the incoming patient?

I like Dr. Cary Tseng because he fixed his peer’s messed up work.
I saw the female doc, think her name was Lily or something. I keep telling her. way too strong. way too strong. Sure enough, when I got my glasses, I was like. dude it feels like I’m cross eyed. My depth perception was messed up. But they said give it a week. I did– still way strong.
I went back in. Luckily, different doctor. Luckily, the MAIN doctor. Luckily, Dr. Cary.
He’s like. whoa, she made your prescription way too strong. He retested me. And he fixed the prescription. yay happy.

Dr needs to find a receptionist with a better attitude. Myra or whatever her name is was not friendly, at all. Perhaps she was having a bad day but please don’t take it out in me, I am a customer!
I was truly disappointed and really do not want to return…

They say your eyes are the windows to your soul, so why not take care of it?
My bf had finally decided to get his eyes checked out after 10 years because he was tired of my nagging. So we made an appointment at Costco for the next available time. They also accepted walk-​ins as well. My bf wanted both contacts and glasses, so he got the $ 89 eye exam, which examined for both. I thought it was a good deal since the examination for the eye glasses alone was $ 49. The optometrist and the receptionist were super nice and friendly. They allowed me go into the examination room with my bf to keep him company. I really liked their fast service, We were in and out in about 15 minutes or less. They gave my bf a free pair of Acuvue Oasys contact lens that would be good for 2 weeks and a bottle of contact lens solution. Its was a great experience for my bf and he was definitely glad that he came here because now he could see things a lot clearer.
Overall, I would recommend Dr. Cary Tseng Optometry to everyone.
Note: For good eye health, It is highly recommended that you get your eyes checked out every 2 years.

Very professional Doctor that knows his stuff and is very friendly and considerate.
Been going here for years and I rec. it to all my friends and family.

Wow! Adding another star for customer service! Dr. Cary called me personally to apologize for my bad experience and offered to make amends.
I won’t say exactly what he said or offered, but let’s just say it was really kind of him to even do that. I suppose it made up for the late appointment and I’m adding another star, because he offered me the kit, that he gave the woman before me 4 of.
Thanks Dr. Tseng!

Once I found out I didn’t need to have Costco membership to get in, I ran over. In and out in 15 minutes… no apoointment! $ 89 for contacts lens exam and a free trial pair. Efficient and friendly service!

The poor receptionist had to juggle phones, new customer paperwork, and preliminary eye exams (quick stuff, checking eye pressure, etc.), but she did so without a hitch. I only mention this because I saw some bad customer service reviews, and I’d imagine this is why. They are a bit busy (an illusion really, because of the small office), but everything moved along much faster than and other optometrist I’ve been to, and never did I feel shuffled through.
Dr. Tseng is fantastic; polite, knowledgeable, and most importantly, he answers any questions you have, and some you may not have thought of. He explained all options to me, even options that other optometrists hadn’t thought of. He spent quite a bit of time with me, as I was pretty picky about getting my prescription perfect.
I wasn’t too optimistic in going to Costco for an eye exam, but overall a great experience.

Wearing glasses for all my life. Around age 26 I wanted to try contacts.
Dr. Tseng helped me out. (Honesty I’m not sure if it was Dr. Tseng. There was an attractive lady-​optometrist who helped me out.) She helped me but didn’t introduce herself and I saw the degree of «Dr. Tseng» So she will now henceforth be known as Dr. Tseng!
She checked out my eyeballs for diseases which were none. She told me I had some football eyes called astigmatism. I was like Yeah! Sports! Football! Then I asked a bunch of questions like: «What’s an astigmatism? Will it kill me?» Of course she did her optometry job well cause she put me to ease.
On to contacts. Again, it was my first time so I told her my impression of contact lenses. I told her I was worried that the glass might cut my eye and blah blah blah. Again, of course, she did her optometry job well cause she put me to ease.
Total cost was about 120 $ for a regular glasses and contact lens prescription and it came with 1 month free lens and solution. I got to go back and get more lenses.
Downside. It’s not as personable as I would like it to be. I’d like to know my doctors and call them up when I’m having girlfriend troubles like how they do on T.V.

My eyes were burning, my last pair of contacts were going on fumes, I was in danger of having to play basketball in my glasses like George Mikan. With all due respect to the great Laker, my idea of retro style is more like wearing a pair of old sneakers.
I called up Dr. Tseng’s office and the doc himself answered. Asked him if I can do a walk-​in ASAP and he said, «Sure, we’re here til 6.» Snuck into the premise thru the merch return door (no Costco membership) and walked out in less than 40 minutes with a new pair of sample lens in eyeballs and a new prescription in hand.
$ 89 for regular script, $ 99 for astigmatism script. They take plastic and straight up cash-​money homie, no insurance.
Dr. Tseng wrote my very first prescription more than 10 years ago. I stopped going to him during the experimental years, some would call those college years. Resumed my yearly visit last year and even though I have eyeball insurance now I still rather go to Dr. Tseng. He is as professional as they come.

While working for Costco this was the only eye doc we were allowed to go to (and still get full coverage). Id been to many places, but Dr. Tseng always took care of me. Always through and asks/​suggests tests before actually doing them then charging you/​insurance.
I owe 7 years of my eye health to this man and his colleges at the Alhambra Costco. Thanks a bunch.