Eric Ishibashi, OD

I’ve been going to see Dr. Ishibashi since 1999. But no more. He’s great. Very nice, I’ve always been happy with the contact lens, I got, etc.
But as long as I’ve been going to him, his office staff has consistently been THE WORST of any doctor’s office I’ve ever been to. Not «bad», not «one of the worst,», «THE WORST.» And I’m sure that the people there now have not been there for nearly 20 years. He and Dr. Blechman just seem incapable of hiring competent staff or enough staff even though there always seem to be a lot of people working there.
I have never called to set up an appointment or to see if lenses had come in (before you could order online) without being put on hold forever. This is over the course of 17 years.
I’ve been told that I’d have to pay to get a copy of my prescriptions– and then told that I must have misunderstood when I pointed out that charging to get a copy of a prescription is illegal in California.
This year I hit my breaking point when I waited 45 minutes from my appointment time to see Dr. Ishibashi— my appointment time was 9:30 am. I’m so glad I didn’t book it for 3 pm.
I must be a glutton for punishment because I decided to order my contacts on the new website that the office had set up. When 3 weeks had gone by and I hadn’t received the lenses that were supposed to be shipped in 48 hours I called the website phone number— only to be told that my order had been cancelled because when the website called Dr. Ishibashi’s office to confirm the prescription the office had declined it!
I switched the order to 1−800-CONTACTS, who called the office to get a confirmation and even though I made several phone calls to both 1−800-CONTACTS and Ishibashi’s staff, they still didn’t manage to confirm it within the 24 hour deadline.
It seems silly to stop seeing a long time doctor because the office is so bad, but that just shows how bad it is.

My children and I have been Dr. Ishbashi’s patients for over ten years, and after all those years, I have recently decided we can no longer be his patients. For one, the staff in the office is so impersonal that every time I go, I feel I am treated just like a new patient. There is no «hello» or «how are you.» Second, my children have been wearing Ortho-​K contact lenses at the recommendation of the doctor for a number of years. Because my youngest one loses contact lenses so often, I bought spare ones, because even though the doctor put an order under «Expedite,» I had two occasions when the contact lenses arrive after two weeks. Well, the youngest one lost his contact lens again, and I happily pulled out a spare one, thinking I am ready for the emergency. However, he complained that it didn’t work, and when I took it to the doctor, he confirmed that the company made it with a wrong measurement. However, there is a policy of guarantee return within 90 days, and because the spare one was made after 90 days, I had to pay another $ 250 to get a new one. So I ended up wasting about $ 500 because the policy was not clearly explained to me. On top of that, one can hardly expect a prompt return call from either a doctor or from the staff. One time, I placed 7 to 8 calls over a week before the doctor finally called me. Lastly, when my older daughter requested her file to be sent to another doctor, it didn’t get sent for a whole month! Finally, I went in and paid $ 15 for each of my family member’s file so that I could personally deliver the family files. I had never left a doctor before, but after over 10 years, instead of feeling confident in the doctor and the staff, I am leaving with a great sense of disappointment.

Unfortunately, I’m in the market for a new optometrist. Dr. I is cool and very knowledgeable, but his office is ALWAYS super busy and parking is a hassle (cash only folks). Also, the ladies at the front desk… well, customer service is not a top priority! Expect no call backs, you’ll have to do all the leg work. Sorry Dr. I, I’m seeking greener pastures…

I started going to Dr. Ishibashi back in 2008 after he came highly recommended. He was great. He took the time to talk to me and didn’t rush out like most other doctors. Over the last 2 years, I have noticed things going completely downhill. The front office has the WORST customer service I have ever experienced. Sometimes I wonder if they have any kind of degree or training, let alone for a medical office but even simple people skills. I get put on hold for 15 – 20 mins every time I call. I never get a call back when I leave a message. Whoever answers the phone is very short and rude and never has anything intelligent to say. I have been called and told I need to pay for contacts when they are already covered under my plan, however the person calling has no idea what that even means. How do you work in an eye doctor’s office, and not even know what VSP is? Parking is a pure hassle. I definitely do not recommend this office.

Sometimes I wind up only reading Unilocal reviews for a place when I’m writing one. After the fact. Too late. Thankfully, my visit wasn’t a disaster, but I see some reviews here that I definitely agree with.
First, Dr. Ishibashi. So far, 5 stars. He was efficient, polite, just a normal, regular eye doctor. I just went for my first visit, and am wearing my trial pair of lenses. My next appointment is in 4 days, so if need be I’ll update this review.
One thing I am a little wary of… many of these complaints are about fitting toric lenses for people. I know that can be difficult, as that is what I’m in the middle of doing. They are my first pair, and I haven’t ever needed them before. Is he in the habit of pushing toric lenses on people, or is it just coincidence?
Anyway, I like him.
Front desk? What a joke. I call, give them some info, schedule an appointment. They call back, say they can’t get authorization of insurance from my last eye doctor. I call my last eye doctor. Office closed– for a long time. I call my insurance. They take care of it, but I just want to make sure. I call the Ishibashi’s office back, they answer the phone, «Hello?». Seriously? I thought I had the wrong number. I said that I thought I was calling a doctor’s office, and they said, «yeah, you are». Answering the phone is basic.
If you’re doing anything in life, especially a job helping people, try to think about how you would like to be treated. Maybe try to anticipate questions or information that is helpful to first time patients. EXAMPLE– Not only is there no free parking, the parking garage is CASH ONLY. What? I didn’t mind parking in the garage, so that I’m not late, but I had no cash! Tell a first time patient this! Duh. EXAMPLE– When a first time patient asks how much for a contact lens exam and you tell them $ 20, they expect to pay $ 20! Duh. NOT THE $ 50 it wound up being because they «were a different pair of lenses». Say IT STARTS AT $ 20.
Basically, the situation is this– if I’m feeling lazy next time I need my eyes checked, I’ll stay here. If I’m feeling like doing my homework, I’ll find someplace else (and make sure to read the Unilocal reviews first!).

Do not recommend.
I went to Dr. Ishibashi for a routine eye exam. He was preoccupied and rushed, but fine. I’m not there to make friends. He diagnoses one of my eyes with a stigmatism. I already know this, I’m 40 years old, I’ve had innumerable prior eye exams, but doctors have always said the stigmatism was so slight, it’s wasn’t worth addressing. Dr. Ishibashi wants to address it. He prescribes me a torque lens.
So off I go into the world and within the hour, I’m miserable; I can barely read the newspaper, I’m always shielding my eyes or squinting. I go back. I tell him I’m having a hard time reading, and he responds «How old are you?», implying that the problem is likely me. I tell him «I’m 40 years old». So he instead prescribes me another brand of torque lenses.
Off I go again, with the same results. Miserable. I barely even wear the lenses during the trial week, and I go back in there and tell him; I can’t read. He responds, «How old are you?» I tell him AGAIN and he gives me yet another brand of lens.
Off I go again. Still miserable, still uncomfortable. I end up just wearing my glasses the entire trial week. I go back and tell Dr. Ishibashi again that I cannot read with these lenses. He asks, «How old are you?» Dude. It’s not me. It’s these torque lens, will you please LISTEN to me. He abandons the torque lens and gives me a regular lens and we’re finally done with each other.
I take off for a European vacation (something I’ve always dreamed of doing) and I’m miserable the entire time; these lenses simply tire me out. So I wore my glasses, which I hate doing, while touring Italy. This was a big disappointment.
After I return, I finally go to different doctor in the area, he gives me yet another exam and he simply says, «Your prescription is way too strong», and gives me the correct lenses, I can finally see again !! and I’m on my way.
It wasn’t the torque lenses. It was the wrong prescription. A wrong prescription that could’ve been harmful to my eyes, and nearly ruined a long-​planned dream vacation.
Here’s the problem. It’s a simple one, but significant. Dr. Ishibashi would not LISTEN to me, the patient, when I was complaining about symptoms of a wrong prescription. I didn’t know it was the prescription, I thought it was the type of lens, but I’m the PATIENT, and I don’t know anything. It was up to the doctor to spot the problem, and one of the possible problems that he seemed incapable of digesting, was that he made a mistake. He was wrong. And instead of entertaining that idea, he kept assuming it was me; «How old are you?» That’s just arrogance.
And when it comes to the health of my eyes, I don’t have any room in my life to accommodate Dr. Ishibashi’s stubborn idea of himself.

I recentley took my daughter in for an exam and Dr. Ishibashi was great! He was very informative and patient with the 1000 questions I had. I am scheduling an exam for my other daughter.

Worse service ever. It’s been over 2 and a half week and I still can’t get my own record.
I moved and needed my records transfered. The receptionist told me it would take 7 — 10 days. I waited patiently. Then after the time is up, they keep saying that they will call or have the doctor look at the charts, but it never happened. They never called back. I’ve been calling them every hour today, but still nothing. I just wanted my records FAXED TO MY NEW OPTOMETRIST!
They are suppose to keep your files for 7 years and release it upon request. I will be filling out a complaint form to the California Optometrist Board if this doesn’t get resolved by end of day today:
Here’s the complaint form for anyone else having problems:
I will continue to call and hopefully we won’t have to deal with that. Stay away from them.

I’ve been going to Dr. Ishibashi for a few years and I was initially delighted with the service provided. Last year, however, I noticed that the service started taking a turn for the worse.
I was getting conflicting information from the staff; the follow-​up was far from excellent and the professionalism just wasn’t there any more.
Its time for my yearly checkup, but I think its time to find a different optometrist office.

Worse than Disappointing Service
I have been a patient of Dr. Ishibashi for two years. Dr. Ishibashi’s professionalism and exam was fine; however, the staff and management of the office was horrible.
The first time I went to his office, my contact lens exam ended with: «We will call you when they come in». Weeks later, I called to find my contacts had been there for some time. OK. Not a big deal, mistakes do happen.
This year it was the same story. Exam… trial pair of contacts… We’ll call you to make sure the prescription is correct”. No call. Much later, when I realized I had some new contacts coming, I called Dr. Ishibashi’s office.
After being on hold for 18 minutes, I was told that my contacts were there and that I needed an appointment to make sure the contacts were correct.
I made an appointment to get my new lenses, which were supposed to be there.
I arrived. No lenses. No explanation. No service.
Dr. Ishibashi showed me my medical record that documented that his office had called me to let me know my new contacts were in. I had never received a call.
I checked my cell phone billing history on my phone and showed Dr. Ishibashi that I had never received a call from his office on the date listed in my medical record. My medical record was false. Dr. Ishibashi said that he would look into it.
I have nothing against Dr. Ishibashi, but his staff and organization is sadly unreliable.
My complaint with Dr. Ishibashi is that if he is part of his office management; he has failed. Horribly.
I asked for my prescription and was ready to leave. Dr. Ishibashi’s only parting words were: «I’m sorry».
I’m not going back.
I created a Unilocal account just so I can post this. I am guessing that the high star ratings are; if anything, employees, friends and fake posts.
It’s a shame.

I’ve been Dr. Ishibashi’s patient for ~3 years. First I will say that my consultations with Dr. Ishibashi himself have gone well. He has answered my questions and provided good service.
Unfortunately, a large part of the experience at a doctor’s office is the quality of care provided by the office staff. Over the past years I have seen the quality of service go downhill fast. As other reviewers have noted, it is very difficult getting a hold of someone over the phone to schedule an appointment. Messages often go unanswered, and when you are lucky enough to get a receptionist on the line, you should be prepared for holding a very long time. When I have needed the office staff to do some office task (check my insurance, fax my prescription, give me a receipt) it has generally taken multiple attempts and follow up calls to remind them. It seems they are very understaffed.
A smaller issue is that they selection of frames that they have has been significantly reduced. They used to have a great optician (male, don’t remember his name) who provided great service, but the people filling in have not done such a great job. After a not so great experience glass shopping with them I had to find a different optometrist office where to get my glasses.

Friday: My eyes are getting worse, I know it. Time to do something about it, so I check my insurance website and it looks like this office is covered. Good deal, I’ll call and schedule up and if there are any insurance issues they’ll let me know.
I give the office a ring and Nicole schedules an appointment for Tuesday, ready to roll. She says she’s going to verify my insurance coverage and get back to me today, no worries. I’m on my way to seeing clearly again, feeling good.
Monday: Hmmm, Nicole called and left me a message Friday saying she is having issues getting into the website to check my insurance. It’s Monday now, but at least she assured me she’d have it resolved today so I know I’ll get an answer before I waste my time, good enough.
Late Monday: Nicole left me a voicemail saying she needs my zip code so that she can pull me up in the system to verify my insurance. Cool, no problem. I call the office around lunch time; straight to voicemail. I call a bit after lunch, maybe 5 or 6 times, and it’s busy every time. A little later I again call and get voicemail, so I leave Nicole a message with my zip code so she can check it out and confirm my coverage. I’m sure a freaking doctor’s office will check their voicemail, no worries.
Tuesday: (on my way to the appointment) Nicole never called me back, I guess it’s because she got my voicemail with the zip and all is well. I mean it’s a professional doctor’s office, they must have something as simple as voicemail checking under control. Even if Nicole didn’t get my message she would have called me again to get my zip, no professional office just leaves people hanging.
Tuesday: (at the doctor’s office)
Nicole — «Oh hi, I need your zip code to check insurance.»
Me — «You mean the process that you told me was going to happen on Friday, you’re asking me now that I’m already here? I left you a voicemail yesterday with my zip code.»
Nicole — «Oh yea, I just got your message, I’ll check now. Sorry I didn’t get back, we’re just so busy here!»
End result, I’m covered only in portions at this office and not the portions I need, all things that should have been covered during my first call on Friday. I did see Dr Ishibashi for 2 minutes, just long enough for him to tell me he doesn’t accept my plan. Perhaps he should stop investing in fancy ties, shirts, and hair gel and spend a little more on reception staff that know how to check voicemails or better yet, answer such a simple coverage question in the first place.
The thing that irks me the most was Nicole’s pitiful response of why she didn’t think to call me again or check her voicemail, they are «just sooooo busy!» Guess what, I’m pretty busy too yet I took an hour away from work this morning for you to completely waste my time at your office.
Horrible customer service, if you are going to give this office a shot prepare to get jerked around for days. I know I certainly was.

Worst service ever.
I went into Dr. Ishibashi’s office for a contact lens exam and was given a pair. I was told to call back if the prescription was good and to order a box.
About a week later, I spoke with a receptionist and was told the Dr. would call me back about ordering more contacts and low and behold, he never called. This went on for 3 months (I called about 7 times).
Finally fed up, I called the office to have my prescription faxed to me so that I could go elsewhere. Of course, I had to call back again for them to send it.
Needless to say, I don’t recommend Dr. Ishibashi to anyone.

My old opthamologist sadly passed away two years ago prompting my need to find a replacement. Dr. Cathy came up through my insurance provider’s website so I visited her last year to get my prescription lenses replaced. She was fine — very sweet and thorough. The lenses weren’t quite right but I have an admittedly difficult prescription to fill and toric soft lenses are notoriously hard to fit for astigmatism.
This year when I called to schedule my annual visit I was told that Dr. Cathy was no longer with this office but I could see Dr. Ishibashi. WOW. He was over a half hour late for my appointment, rushed me through, and then promised that my trial pair would be ready in a week. He also said he would fax me a copy of my prescription so I could buy a new pair of glasses. TWO WEEKS LATER I called in to check on my trial pair. First I was put on hold for 8 minutes and then disconnected. When I called again I was told by Julia that «made-​to-​order» toric lenses can take up to 3 weeks. She then argued that she had to check with Dr. Ishibashi before she could fax me my prescription.
I was so disappointed because of the positive ratings given to Dr. Ishibashi by my fellow Unilocalers. Maybe I’m spoiled but I’ve never had so many problems with my eye doctors before.
RATING: POOR. I can never get through on the phone lines and I have to wait weeks to make appointments. There’s no cheap parking in the area and the doctors are so rushed they can’t spend the time to get your prescription right!

Dr. Ishibashi is excellent! I had a great experience and I recommend him to everyone, friends and family and fellow Unilocaler’s. Best eye doctor ever. I came on a day they weren’t open expecting to get my glasses, oops, however, I caught Dr. Ishibashi in the elevator and he personally went back to the office (even though they were closed for 2 hours) to get my glasses and contacts. What doctor does this? I was blown away.
He was so nice, and I had such a great experience I wish I could find a dentist or physician in this city with such a great bedside manner.

I’ve been going to Dr. Ishibashi for two years now and am happy to share him with anyone else looking for a good optometrist. He is very diligent. Answers all of my questions and is very thorough.
The optometrist on site — Marlon is wonderful too! He’ll help you pick out the right frames for your face and he’ll tell you the truth if it doesn’t look right. That’s service with a smile and honesty you can’t find that too often around here anymore.
As mentioned by the other reviewers, parking is a bit inconvenient. Bring quarters for the meters. Office hours are flexible too, especially on Wednesdays for the after 5pm crowd.

After reading the reviews here I was expecting this office to be a magic place full of starshine and awesomeness. Sorry to say that is not the case.
I have been trying to get contact lenses for over three months. Granted I do not have the easiest prescription to fill, and they have to order trial lenses for my difficult to fit right eye. I have had to make several calls asking the status of the next trial lens; there don’t seem to be any notes in my chart because the person on the phone doesn’t know what’s going on and after saying they’ll talk to the doctor my calls go unreturned.
The doctor is caring, professional, and they’ve been very good once I am at the office, but the lack of communication is intolerable. I will have to go to another office, pay for another examination, and hopefully get some contacts.

I’ve been seeing Dr. I for 16 years… great service… awesome dude. He’s been doing my family and I (and my extended family and friends) a great service.
If he’s taking new patients, he’s worth a visit… and if you’ve been going to him for year, you know he’s 5 stars all the way!

Recently visited his office for new prescription. He really cares about his patients– and he does it right– I have bad astigmatism and have to wear toric lenses, and his first trial fit me perfectly. I was amazed. And he wants to make sure that they fit perfectly in 1~2 weeks so will visit his office soon.
Usually when I go for an eye exam I feel rushed because they tend to cram people in and get this «how off can your prescription be pffff live with it» kind of vibe from the doctors but Dr. Ishibashi is seems genuinely concerned about the health of the patient. I have an existing condition and when I told him he took extra time to make sure my eyes are all right– Usually I would have to ask for that kind of stuff. Very happy and impressed!
Highly recommend.

When I find good dentists and doctors, I usually keep the info to myself… I don’t want them to be too busy for me!
That said, I cannot keep my mouth shut about Dr. Ishibashi. I’ve had glasses since the 4^th grade. In that time I’ve seen a myriad of eye doctors of different types.
Dr. Ishibashi is the best! I’ve been going to him for over 5 years now and have recommended him to my closest family and friends. He is a wonderful, caring doctor who will explain everything to you and patiently answer all questions.
The staff is also nice and very helpful. His office takes a number of different types of insurance (mine is VSP) and the optician in the office is wonderful. (Yay! Marlon rocks!)
The only negative about this place is that there is no parking in the surrounding areas, so you should definitely park in the building and be prepared to pay. It’s not as bad as parking at Cedars Sinai, but it’ll probably cost you about $ 5 for the duration of your visit. I consider it a very small price to pay to know that I’m getting the very best care of my eyes.