Parrelli Optical

If you’re looking for the best optical shop in the area, look no further. I have visited this store on several occasions and been more than impressed time, and time again. I have experienced fantastic contact lens fittings both with John Parrelli and Catherine. Each time I’ve been in, they have been diligent to address my concerns and put me in comfortable contacts with the right prescription.
When it comes to picking out glasses, I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Matt. He was laid back but informative, and offered some great tips on choosing a style of glasses that suited me best. He made sure to show me frames that were stylish, while respecting my comfort level. I have shopped for glasses at other stores in the past where it was clear that the salesperson didn’t really want to be bothered to spend time helping me find the perfect pair of glasses.
It’s clear that these people are passionate about what they do, and for that reason, I always recommend them to my friends and family.

Knowledgeable, courteous, helpful, my first and last stop for all of my optical needs. Love the staff, and John is the best at what he does.
Without hesitation, I highly recommend, Parrelli Optical.

Parrelli Optical is incredible. I came in for a checkup and to talk to them about contacts, and stayed for probably another half hour or so chatting with the people there since it was late in the day and there weren’t other people taking up time. Parrelli Optical has an amazing staff, it’s practically worth going just to see the work they do and what kinds of things can be done with glasses, even if you don’t want to buy new frames. I don’t think I’ll ever buy glasses as fancy as some of the ones they have, but it was a ton of fun seeing them and learning about how they were made.
They even provide coaching for learning how to put in contacts which I’ll be returning for until I have a good handle on getting contacts in, and a great deal for trying out different brands to discover what works best for me.
Edit: I just skimmed over some of the negative reviews, and I figured it’d be worth addressing some of the things I saw in them. They did a very good job telling me fees ahead of time, I paid for everything out of pocket so maybe insurance would have confused the issue. They did mention that they learned from past experiences to be more up front with fees, so maybe those reviews are from before they’d gotten good at it. The doctors were great at explaining how things worked, especially when I asked. I didn’t feel like they were hiding anything from me at all, on purpose or by accident.

There is much to like about Parrelli: their customer care is fantastic. Most the people working there are the greatest in keeping the customer happy. But there are two problems: the first is that they really hustle having you buy the expense stuff. So if you do go there do your homework to figure out what kind of eye wear you really need, and what you are willing to spend.
The next is a major problem. I and my family will never go there again because of the unprofessional work of their eye doctor, Margot Seligman, O.D.
She advised me to get my primary care doctor to lie so i could get plastic surgery for a slightly dropping eyelid. She always recommends one small time eye surgeon – I will leave his name out of it for now. She advised me to have eye surgery for a cataract condition that I did not need. She continually takes any eye problem and tells you that it is worse than it is, yet she wants you to have surgery. I wonder how much of a kickback she gets. I wonder how many people have had disasters happen in having unneeded surgery done to them because of her advice.

Do not go to Parrelli Optical if you don’t want to be spammed. Not only have they been spamming my email account, they are making automated spam robocalls to my cell phone, which is illegal.

I’ve been a customer at Parrelli Optical for 5 years now. I have found that they have provided excellent eye care. The contacts that I started using since my first visit still continue to fit me great. i have encountered cases in the past where the wait was a bit long, but this past month I went in again for my annual visit and I definitely felt like they made a really strong and excellent effort to improve the customer service so that my waits were not long at all. I would definitely recommend them to my friends.

Fantastic service! Highly recommended. Really nice, professional staff, also they take Medicare, Medicaid, MassHealth, and CareCredit.
When I visited I was treated with respect, everything was explained to me clearly, the tests were extensive and technologically up to date, all my choices and decisions and caveats were explained… the people at this place covered all the bases, and when I asked them when I visited again (March 19, 2015) they told me they set up the business to treat customers the way they would have wanted to be treated, and I believe them. I really like this pace… 5 stars.

I need to edit my review several months later:
I was so angry when I reviewed previously, based on the patient care of the doc that I saw, and the fact that I felt like contacts that I didn’t want to purchase based on price were being forced on me, despite describing my budget options.
I was unaware until today that contact brand is a part of prescription. I tried to order my next 6 month supply from 1800-​contacts, with the brand that I was using prior to my last eye apt in February. The doctor fit me at Parrelli with CIBA, and I had great satisfaction with Bausch and Lomb, and I really just wanted to go back to my original contacts, I can barely wear the CIBA for 10 hours, kind of irritating when I work 12 hour shifts at work.
I had planned on just renewing my contacts online, and seeing a new eye doctor when my insurance would cover it… however, clearly this was no longer an option.
So I CALLED Parrelli Optical, and I outlined my poor experience to the poor guy who answered the phone, not even the store manager, but he deserves a raise because I was a little wound up. This guy was extremely professional, and he listened to ever grievance that I had and told me that he’d be contact with the store manager and the owner immediately. He called me back in 10 minutes to tell me that the owner, Dr. Parrelli would see me and take care of my grievances. I am so impressed with the patient care experience that I received today that I’m having a hard time putting it into words.
Previously I had stated that I will never return to Parrelli, but if they are as impressive next Monday when I see the eye doctor, as they were with dealing with my irritation on the phone today, I will be returning.

They refused to let me browse the glasses when I walked in…
I called this morning to ask if they offer eyeglasses covered by MassHealth, how wide their selection was, and how much my insurance would cover. The woman was helpful in describing that they have 2 drawers of glasses for MassHealth patients. She asked if I already had a prescription, and I answered yes. Later that morning I took the 1 hour commute and walked in asking to be led to the MassHealth glasses. The front desk woman told me they usually require appointments, but would check if an optician was free at the time. I said that I just called this morning and no one told me that. She asked if I wanted to just browse or be fitted. I answered that if I find something, then I’d like to be fitted. She reached for the drawers, but hesitated, and then walked to the back to ask if an optician was available. She returned telling me that I must make an appointment, and that there was no availability today. (There was not a single customer in the store.) I asked if I could just look at the glasses. She said no. I told her again that I had already called this morning and took an hour to get there, and she just said, I’m sorry, who did you talk to?
I left and called New England Eye Center, who told me that they have MassHealth glasses and don’t require appointments. I received excellent service there (and they actually had other customers).

Last time I went, I commuted 45 min to get there (I moved away but liked them enough to go back) and they waited until after the appointment to tell me they no longer carry my vision insurance. Not cool. Now I’m stuck trying to find a different place to order glasses. The staff is still really nice and knowledgable though.

I’ve read the positive and negative reviews here and they left me a little confused.
I don’t have much to say about the eye exam. It was everything I would expect: thorough and professional. Frames, on the other hand…

Have you ever gone to one of those optical shops that give you the I-really-don’t-care-so-pick-whatever-frames-you-want attitude as they motion you to the 753 frames on the wall? This, I do not want. Ever.
One constant for me in the optical experience is that picking out frames for my beatific mug (by myself) has been, is, and always will be, a mistake. It’s just not on my list of superpowers. I can pick out frames for any one of the 7 billion faces roaming this planet, but not my own.
I wasn’t sure what to expect at Parrelli, so I told Matt, the optician, what I wanted. My list included: First, be honest with me. My bullshit radar can detect the slightest hint of craptastic nonsense. Don’t tell me a frame looks good on me when it doesn’t. Second, I want you to select a variety of frames and try them on me. Third, narrow it down to a few frames that I will choose from. Last, make me look good in glasses. I found Matt experienced and competent. While he was selecting frames, he explained the nuances of picking the perfect pair which I appreciated very much.
Once my glasses arrived, I went to pick them up. When Matt fitted my new glasses it was such a shock to see so clearly that when I saw his face I said, «Oh, wow! That’s what you really look like (hot/​handsome)»! It must be one of those job hazards working in optical. These new glasses look incredible and make me look at least 15 months younger, which is certifiably super-​fly.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I wasn’t so happy with this perfect vision thing. When I got home, it gave me quite a startle (a WTF?! moment) when I saw myself in the full length mirror.
I’m off to search Unilocal for «gyms»!

These guys are absolutely amazing. I have a complicated situation. One eye is very myopic (near-​sighted) and I’ve had cataract surgery in the other eye, so it is corrected almost 20 – 20 for distance. In that eye, though, I need lenses to correct at short distance because the artificial lens has a single focal length (long distance, blurry up close). So, it’s as if my eyes are from different people with opposite eyeglass needs.
I had been suffering with a pair of progressive lenses made by a chain shop. I think the reading prescription was so off on those lenses that I was only using one eye to read for about a year.
The folks at Parrelli really helped me out. They are expert craftspeople who took great care at every step of the process — getting my prescription right with a thorough optical exam, thinking through different progressive lens options, and then building glasses that actually work. For you glasses geeks, both lenses are progressive, but the myopic eye lens has a «slab-​off» procedure so that the images from each eye will line up on my retinas (decreasing image shift) both at distance (when I’m looking through the top of the lens) and up close (when I’m looking through the bottom of the lens). Not easy to do. I was very impressed.
Mr. Parrelli did the exam himself, and the guy who oversaw the lens order comes to Parrelli optical from Zeiss lenses.
They do cost more than the chain, but they are real craftspeople. I could not be happier with the work that they did.

I’ve been coming here since the early 2000s. This place used to be great, but recently they’ve changed things and I’m considerably less happy.
First, my doctor is always late. She used to be somewhat on time, but she’s significantly late every time now, and since I usually book the first appointment of the day, it’s not generally because of another patient.
Second, the glasses selection used to be good — broad range of prices, decent styles, etc. — but now everything seems the same, and not good. Also, expensive.
Third, there used to be really good technicians at Parrelli. Rachel and Mary could always fit my glasses perfectly, and were great at helping me pick out frames. They’re gone, and no one who is there comes close. I’ve had my glasses adjusted and readjusted monthly, and they’re still not right.
Finally, they’ve gotten cheap. I buy one or two pairs of glasses about every 18 – 24 months — spending close to $ 1,000 a pair. They used to give me these nice wipes and a spray bottle of cleaning solution with each pair, which was a really nice gesture. Last time they wanted to charge me $ 15 for that — I spent $ 1,200 on glasses and you can’t throw in something that cost you less then $ 5? That just seems wrong. Also gave me a cheap, crappy case — not even the same brand as my glasses.
I’ll might keep seeing my doctor here, because I dread the thought of changing. But I’ve just bought my last pair of glasses here. Bummer, because it’s really convenient for me, but they clearly don’t value my business.

I actually found Parrelli Optical thanks to Unilocal and it was close to my house and they had an appointment soon (maybe I know why now).
Holy price Batman! I don’t know of anyone else I’ve talked to that paid $ 75 for eye exam/​contact consultation. It had been awhile since my last one, but I don’t recall paying that much.
I got to the location and ended up dealing with 3 different people — one did the basic eye exam, one lady looked at my glasses prescription then a third did the contact evaluation. Maybe that is why it cost so much — so many folks?
The three people I worked with her nice enough. Not too much conversation about my background for my eyes, but they did fix my glasses that were broken for awhile by replacing the little screw for free.
Thankfully with my appointment they were timely and courteous unlike some other people’s reviews. My appointment was at 3pm on a Tuesday so maybe I caught them at a slow time.
It did seem odd that it also took 3 people to figure out how to bill me for the price of the contacts the guy had quoted me at. Ummm okay. Odd.
But in the end I was in and out in a timely manner with few headaches.
Will I go back? Decision still pending.

I’ve been seeing Dr. Sylvia for 6 years, and I’m finally fed up enough to move on. Dr. Sylvia (Porter Square location) himself is great — he’s professional, courteous and helpful. The problem is the hundreds and hundreds of dollars I’ve wasted unnecessarily.
The first time I went, I was billed for a year’s worth of contacts without so much as being asked (and of course they were twice the price you’d pay online).
The second time they included a procedure that wasn’t covered by my insurance, again without so much as mentioning it until the bill arrived.
Just today, I went there and was told that I was under the 2-​year limit and would have to pay the whole thing out of pocket. Of course they didn’t check this when I made the appointment. They didn’t check it when I signed in. And they didn’t check while I was waiting for 25 minutes for the doctor to arrive (despite the fact that they took my insurance information 3 times!). But they explained the situation immediately when I went to pay — once it was too late.
I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for any one of these fumbles, but overall it just leaves me the impression that they want my money and don’t really care about anything else. Maybe if you’re a wealthy Cantabridgian and don’t even bother to check your itemized receipt, you don’t care either. But my money is limited and I’m not wasting another penny here.

Im a new patient. Ill give Parrelli an A+ for their knowledge and thorough exams, and for their staff. Great staff! They are top notch. but Ill give them an F — — — — — for their fees. I get routine eye exams EVERY year. I have eye insurance that has not changed. My cost after insurance has ALWAYS been between $ 40 and $ 45 at every other place Ive been to, and Ive been to a few. At Parrelli my cost out of pocket, after insurance is already at $ 160 and climbing. THIS IS AFTER EYE MED INSURANCE. its as if I had no insurance at all… Plus theres now some hangup where Parrelli charged my eye med for somethig only medical covers. Why I have no idea? Did I sign anything agreeing to all these whacky fees? no, did they tell me upfront of all these whacky fees? no. Im sure ill have to eat another $ 200 when this is said and done. something just feels fishy
Yes theyre friendly, thorough and give you great service, but I had test after test after test after test (3 weeks of appointments) only to conclude that my eyes are the same theyve always been. I could have told them that but theyre pockets are a lot heftier for not listening to me. I tried to tell them that, but they want to give me expensive tests just to make sure.
Yes my eyes are special, I know this, yes i can see perfectly fine with contacts… but they needed to charge me an arm and a leg to see for themselves.
If i went in there knowing up front it would cost me 5 times as much as normal, I wouldnt have gone. If they simply conducted a routine eye exam and not hit me for all these crazy side tests that amounted to absolutely nothing (then charge me after the fact without telling me theres additional costs upfront). I would have given them 5 stars. I just feel like I got royally screwed. thus 1 star. If you have plenty of extra money youre willing to throw away. Id highly recommend them. Otherwise, stick to a place that doesnt rob you blind. pun intended.
edit — -I also would like to agree with some of the other posts on Unilocal,they do seem to «push» specific brands of contacts, like salesman. It felt more like buying a car than contacts. I also think I may have been duped. I was given a ton of daily contacts to test. and surprisingly the cheapest ones felt awful and the most expensive fit well. After some research I noticed the ones that didnt fit well, the cheaper ones, were not sized correctly for my eye. something they didnt tell me or notice. yet I went through extensive eye exams to know the exact dimensions of my eye. coincedence? maybe. but after reading people who had the same experience. It may not be coincedence. They may have taken my money, but they no longer have my business, or referal business.

The first time I went there was for a checkup and new frames. Checkup was just fine. Frame selection is good but the designer frames are expensive (note: they have a large range of prices clearly marked by color). When you get your new glasses they give you a whole kit to go with it, a box of lens cleaning clothes, a good sized spray cleaner, and a case. It’s a little thing but I appreciate it a lot.
The second time was because there was an issue with my glasses. They contacted the manufacturer and gave me a temporary replacement pair. When they could not resolve the issue they went out of their way to make sure I had a pair of frames I liked. Very good customer service every time, and I feel good supporting them as much as they supported their customers.
Edit: I also see that other people have written up specifically for Rachel. Kudos to her because she is the one that helped me as well!

I went to this location because it was super convenient (I’m always in Porter Square) and I just needed a routine vision exam to make sure I didn’t need a stronger prescription. The woman I scheduled the appointment with was FABULOUS! Very nice and funny– I was optimistic about the actual practice before going.
When I arrived– 15 minutes early for my 10am appointment– I was asked to fill out some basic paperwork which is routine. I had signed to not do a procedure involving some laser image of my eye– I knew insurance wouldn’t cover it so I didn’t want the added expense. It took the EMPTY office until 10:30am to take me in– please note that my appointment was for 10am and I arrived at 9:45am. No explanation as to why they were so late– as far as I could tell, I was one of two patients there and they were waiting as well.
The actual optometrist was RUDE. Didn’t explain anything and brushed off any questions or comments I had. He didn’t explain any procedure he was doing, just told me to move from place to place. He also wouldn’t allow my eyes to rest after some poking and prodding before doing another vision test. Then he informed me that he did the laser image of my eye that I SPECIFICALLY SIGNED OFF THAT I DIDN’T WANT. I was beyond livid. He didn’t even ask.
Then I proceeded to have to pay for this procedure which was not inexpensive and despite my vision difficulties lately, he said I did not need new lenses and to just keep with my current.
I AM NEVER COMING BACK HERE– its not a legit business.

I just wanted to write this specifically for Rachel. Our toddler has had glasses for over two years now and we typically go to another optometrist to get his glasses and adjustments. The place is so far away and as you can assume a toddler (and his friends) aren’t the most gentle with the glasses. Because of the frequency of broken nose pieces, bent frames, and routine adjustments, it became incredibly difficult to take the two buses to get to our old place.
We started going to Parelli and Rachel gladly fixed our kid’s glasses and even gave us replacement nose pieces (free of charge). She even adjusted his glasses tremendously that we rarely have to get them adjusted again. My glasses were giving me trouble too and after being frustrated with how my glasses could never seem to be adjusted correctly, I was so relieved that she took the time to adjust them properly and even explain to me the problem before. She warned me that the adjustment would cause my vision to be a little off for at least an hour or two, but after that it would be fine. I haven’t needed an adjustment since (this was 4 months ago).
Anyway, I say all of this because we haven’t even spent a dime at this place and we felt like regular customers. Then, finally we ran out of nose pads for my kid’s glasses and I returned to get them fixed. I was apprehensive that they would reprimand us for being free loaders or something. But, Rachel, was right there calling my son by his name and immediately fixed the nose pad and gave us some more. Well, we looked at the kid’s glasses that same day and realized that 1) the glasses were more stylish than the other place and 2) the price was incredibly reasonable. We are now waiting for this second pair of glasses to come in. We are finally paying customers and we have Rachel to thank for it! She put our needs above any bottom line and we are customers for life.

I don’t think I’ve ever had as thorough of an eye exam as I did at Parrelli.
With my eye exam and contact lens fitting, I was in there for over an hour. Probably 10 minutes in total was spent waiting. The rest was spent checking my eyes and thoroughly fitting me for contacts.
I saw Dr. Jost for my eye exam; she was great. Friendly, good at explaining things, answered questions well, etc. I did the retina camera instead of the dilation; I always appreciate that as an option. Insurance will apparently cover it if you can come up with any reasonable need.
I saw John Parrelli for my contact fitting. (I was actually scheduled to be with Jonathan, but I was running early and so they put me in with John so I wouldn’t have to wait– amazing!) He was extremely thorough, clearly knew his stuff. He was the first person I ever saw that put contacts in my eyes AND THEN RECHECKED MY EYES and adjusted the prescription accordingly. For astigmatism, this is apparently key, and no one has ever done that before. He also talked to me about the brand of contact solution to use, and talked to me about how different brands of solution can interact differently with different brands of contacts. (See chart here:
– avoid yellow & red intersections.) No one has EVER mentioned this to me before! He actually explained how different brands of contacts worked, how they differ, how that would affect me, etc. Much appreciated.
Front desk staff (Sandra in particular) is very friendly, greeted me right away, and generally reinforced the professional, friendly, and competent vibe of the place. Overall, they’re great, the service is great, the price is fair, and the location (right across from the Porter T) is fantastic. They even have late hours on certain days. 100% recommended.
Insurance covered my eye exam. Contacts fitting was $ 155 and covers all follow up. Got free lens solution for the brand that works best with my contacts.