Ara Spa

Cindy did a great job on my manicure. She spent a lot of time on my cuticle and buffed my nails beautifully. I will return to have my nails done at this salon.

Love this place. It’s very clean. The pedicure includes a leg massage and they use hot rocks. The massaging chairs are also very nice. I’ve never had a bad experience the several times I’ve been here. Sometimes it is a little hard to understand the ladies, but they do great work.

After leaving another nail salon in Davis last year (see my other Unilocal reviews) I was delighted to see a familiar face at this salon! I have gone to Kim for pedicures for a few years and she knows exactly how to make my toes look perfect.
Up until yesterday I had only had pedicures from Kim or Jenny at Ara but I needed my nails done as my current lady (in Sacramento) is on maternity leave. Jenny was absolutely amazing. She fixed and filed my nails to perfection. I was very impressed and she helped me pick a gel polish that was so close to my regular toe polish, it looked perfect. I’ll be back to Jenny again in 3 weeks for a fill!

The best place in Davis to get your nails done. I come in every 3 weeks and see Vicky to get a full pink & white set. She does a phenomenal job and I would highly suggest booking an appointment in advance because she get’s booked up fast. My nails are always so well done and they last a very long time!

I just had the best pedicure of my life with a young lady called Lily at Ara Spa!!! She is truly skillful, professional and provides quality service. Thank you Ara spa for hiring her :) my toe nails and feet never looked better :)

I took my daughter to this spa, and loved it! The reason I’m only giving it 3 stars is because a couple of weeks ago I made a same day appointment. I waited down town for a couple of hours to hang out until my appointment. I showed up about 15 minutes early. There were a group of girls walking in before me who they took great care of. I walked up to the counter expecting the same awesome service. I told them I was here for my appointment. The young lady looked at the schedule and said you’re 15 minutes early; she asked me if I wanted to come back in 45 because the girls in front of me had an appointment. I was peeved. I don’t think I will go there again. I can say that when they get you I the chair, they are extremely nice.

My sister, my mom and I used to always go to Ara for our pedicures since they first opened. However, slowly we began to stop enjoying our experiences. Usually we make an appointment one or two days beforehand. However, when we would come in five minutes before our scheduled time, they would always have all the chairs filled and we wouldn’t be assisted until 20 minutes past our appointment.
On our most recent trip we figured we wouldn’t make an appointment because it doesn’t seem to matter anyways. We walk and and ask if they have time for three pedicures. Because they will never said «no, the wait will be 30 minutes long,» they said sure pick a color and we will help you. Shortly after three chairs open up and they have us sit down and start the water. They started working on my sister and my mom and left my feet to soak in the lukewarm water. About 20 minutes later, one of the three ladies comes over to me and says how they don’t really have time to do a pedicure for me unless I wanted to wait another 30 minutes and she could do a quick color change… I was annoyed because they told us they could fit in three pedicures when we walked in, but I didn’t want to make a scene. She changed my color and they continued to tell walk-​in customers they had time for them.
We decided we won’t be returning. There are plenty of places to get your nails done in Davis without getting rushed or jipped. Ara Spa always wants to fit in as many people as they can even if that means they aren’t giving people good service.

While I hate leaving bad reviews, I have had two bad experiences here now. I used to really like getting my nails done here but today I had a pedicure in which the lady filed my pinkie toe nail so low it cut the skin and is still bothering me now.
The visit before, while trimming my finger nail cuticles, she accidentally cut my skin with her clippers and had to apply a product to stop the bleeding leaving a red blot clot at the end of my finger nail by the cuticle. After that visit I still went back, but after today I’ll spend my money elsewhere.
As for the actual quality 1) got gels, peeled way too soon because didn’t pull nail away from surrounding skin. 2) pedicure. ok but missed the sides of the nails, nothing special :(

I came just over an hour before closing time and they told me it would be a 15 minute wait. i ended up waiting about 45 minutes…
the lady who did my nails did a good job with the prep however the gel got lummped at the tips of my nails and was impossible to get off 3 weeks later. the gel lasted and looked good the entire time but she should be careful to do a clean coat.

Great place to get pampered! They’re really good at shaping acrylic nails and treat you very well. Make sure to call ahead to see if they have availability

I have never experienced such a poor manicure in my life! I got gel and it’s only been a week, and it’s already coming off! Usually gel lasts like 4 – 5 weeks for me. Also, they made me bleed and they didn’t even apologize or clean it all off! I have never been so disappointed with a manicure in my life and that is saying a lot because I have tried many nail places. I do not recommend this place at all!

I wish I could give this place a lower review, but I can’t. My first time here as I come in with two friends for mani/​pedis. We pick out our nail polish and they sit down and start getting worked on. I finally make my choice and sit in the chair I was told to. I see everyone working, so I have no problem waiting. No one tells me how long I have to wait… no one tells me what’s going on. I just sat in the chair for a good 20 minutes without a word. No water in the tub. Nothing. So I look at my friends and say I’m going to go. They agree. So I start to leave when they say they are going to work on me. I say okay and sit back down. I explained I was leaving because I didn’t know what was going on. The lady was very rude back to me and then my lady sat down and went to work. The person who worked really rushed my pedicure– although I told her she didn’t have to.
The whole pedicure took LESS TIME than I took waiting. It was maybe 15 – 20 minutes– my friends WHOS PEDICURES STARTED BEFORE MINE were still getting worked on AFTER I was done. My pedicure, for lack of a better word, was shit. My toes looked fine, but I like actually having someone care about my nails. Absolute waist of time and money.
Also I opted out of the manicure. That’s how horrible I felt my experience was.
It’s the whole experience that matters. I didn’t even enjoy myself with all the negative attitudes toward me. Also I felt as if the one woman who was rude to me was talking about me in another language to the others…
I will not be going back here again.

Pretty upset… No joke my pedicure was no more then 15 minutes… we all know the best part of a pedi is you get a good paint job with a good massage and that didn’t happen. I understand it’s a busy day but in no way anyone forking out $ 25 for less then a 15 minute pedicure is going to be happy.

The staff was super friendly, we were greeted right when we entered the salon. We went right after work on a Thursday and the salon was pretty empty. All five pedicure chairs was open and four manicure was open too. After we left though, the place started to fill up. I believe they take appointments too, so call first then you don’t have to wait.
The salon is pretty clean and the ladies was nice. I got a pedi for $ 25, simple and easy. It actually lasted me 3 weeks before I had to get another pedi.
They also allow you to bring in your own nail polish if you want a different color. They have a good range of nail polish to choose from though.

I got my nails done here a couple of weeks ago… I came here twice before. I got a full set and I felt like the whole time the lady was rushing through my nails so she can go home. She didn’t even asked me how long I wanted my nails and just started cutting them. They were too short for my taste. She painted my nails horribly. I think I could’ve done it a bit better myself. When the lady was finished she didn’t even check up on me when I was drying my nails. She just went to the back and never came out. In both times I came here I always felt rushed. I don’t think I will ever come back here.
I’m giving this place two stars since I got in with no appointment and the lady who let me in was very friendly.

An appointment doesn’t mean much here, we where seated in a ½ hr and continued to wait for another 20min… as a walk in client was seated and served before I meet the person doing ours, therefore lots of time for a review
As a positive the place is clean & a couple of the ladies are friendly & the cost is right ($ 25 for a pedi)
The owner flutters around keeping busy, but does not work on any clients. Wait take that back she does, but not ones who have appointments…
The young lady who did my nails did a nice job. Which redeemed the management aspect. C+ if you are punctual and expect the same B+ if that’s not your thing and you want a descent & inexpensive pedi.

They always pay such great attention to detail! I did a no chip, and my thumb wasn’t drying correctly. The polish would come off a bit on the sides. I’ve been to other places where they just leave it at that and hope you don’t notice, but here they redid it until it was perfect. I wish I would’ve gotten the lady’s name. She was great though! I’m originally from Davis, but recently moved out of state, and I still haven’t found a place this great in my new city. By far the best nail salon in Davis!

Went in to get a pedicure while I was visiting Davis. The ladies at Ara were fantastic! No wait, great service, and an excellent price! By the time I was done the place was full up, so I can imagine that an appointment may be a good idea on weekends.

They do a great job here with their shellac manis! I’ve had a pedicure before and their very clean. The manicure always turns out nice and their designs are done well. They have nice new bright spring colors and not just those pastels and dark colors you see for shellac in every other nail salon. Their new teal number 58 is the best! It’s Like A Tiffany blue!
Walk-​ins are welcome and it’s $ 30 for a shellac mani and +$ 5 if you do a design. Totally worth it in my opinion!

I can here as a last minute decision with one of my friends to get a manicure. Seeing as how the place got relatively good reviews I decided to try to place out.
Upon walking in, the manicure area was not busy and they had about 2 other people getting pedicures. I got a basic manicure and my friend got acrylic done.
I sat down with my manicurist and she began to work on my nails. Before doing anything she took the cuticle cutters and wiped them down and it looked like she was picking something off of it before it even got near my fingers. Minus one there.
All the workers would talk to each other in Vietnamese but surprisingly they were not talking about anyone which made it a little better.
During the process of getting my nails done, it seemed like she was doing a pretty thorough job. I cut my own cuticles on a regular basis so it wasn’t much of a surprise that she finished cleaning up my nails so quickly.
It wasn’t until after I sat down under the UV light that all the flaws started to come out. ALL of my nails were slanted to the left and completely uneven. My nails had bubbles on them and there were a lot of blank and empty spots missing color.
A day later the polish already started cracking and peeling. Seeing as how it was OPI polish I’m really disappointed. The quality of care and attention that went into my nails was completely lacking.
Also, this place only accept CASH or CHECK.