Alteration and Tailoring by Maria

Gave 1 star only because I couldn’t give no star… I supplied her with the buttons she needed to complete my job of putting new buttons on my blazer. She did not credit me any $$…and then loudly mocked me as I was leaving. Do NOT give her business.

The one star is because there’s only one thing about this place I did like, the service. There’s a man there who has the best customer service anyone could ask for. Hes nice, to the point and efficient in any tasks he performs with you. He asks all the right questions while still being personable.
The problem lies in the action of getting your items done. The day I went (Thursday) I let them know I was in a time crunch and needed this by Tuesday. The customer in front of me told Maria, while I was standing there waiting my turn for pricing, that he was in no hurry and if she had to finish someone else’s items first that it was fine. He turned around and smiled at me so I knew he was talking about me. When we started talking pricing it ended up costing 55 $ to take up the bottom of my uniform top and the sleeves. That’s really expensive compared to the 13 $ I pay at the cleaners I trust. They are out of the country so here I am.
She then suggested I pick it up the following Tuesday so she wouldn’t have to charge a rush fee. Against my gut I agreed and on that following Tuesday morning the man who works there called and told me it would be ready on Wednesday. Really? After I explained again that I needed it so I could fly out on Wednesday night with it he told me to come in at 5pm. I showed up and it was shorter than it should have been and the strings were on the wrong sides. At this point you cannot add to it because it would no longer be regulation with an added piece of fabric hanging from the bottom. He said to bring the previous one to show Maria how it’s supposed to look.
I show up the next day stressed and angry about the whole thing, 2^nd uniform in hand for reference. I try it on and show her where the closure strings go. I ask her if they can mend two patches on the front. I don’t own a sewing machine and it takes about ten minutes by hand on my own. I figure for the inconvenience, she should be able to take an extra 5 minutes and adhere them for me, but nope. Nothing. No sorry for the inconvenience, no here’s 10 $ off, nothing. I’ll never go back and if anyone ever asks where they can get their uniform done I’ll be sure to recommend my usual guy at my cleaners.

I went to Maria for a free consultation on my wedding dress. My dress was much too large for me and wasn’t flattering my figure so it needed quite a bit of work which is what I was expecting. From the moment I walked in Maria was sooo nice and accommodating. She spent about 20 minutes looking at my dress and talking through my concerns. She advised me that my dress was going to be really difficult to fix, in particular the bust wasn’t going to lay right and it would be really expensive to fix it and do it right. She suggested I sell the dress and she offered to help me take pictures so I could get it sold. Although I didn’t end up having Maria alter my dress, I had a feeling my dress couldn’t be fixed (or at least fixed right) and I’m just so thankful she was honest. Also, all of my interactions with John on the phone and Maria in the store were really great. They didn’t try to rush me and they listened to my concerns and answered all of my questions. I loved my dress and I’m so sad I won’t be able to wear it but I’m just so thankful that I went to Maria and that she helped me as much as she did especially considering I didn’t spend any money there.

I had a great experience altering and hemming my wedding dress at Maria’s.
Maria is very personable, creative and easy to talk to. We had a great dialogue about how to make my dress as beautiful, comfortable, and barefoot-​bride-​friendly as can be!
She happily made changes to her initial design when I came back a week after the initial fitting, with concerns about the length of the hem and my ability to balance in heels. The result was a stunning, length-​adjustable, confection of a dress with an array of functional sequins to hold up a series of bustles (long for the ceremony, short for the reception).
Have you ever had a dress with functional sequins? I thought not.
Maria’s work on the dress survived everything I threw at it, which included: hula-​hooping, running around, dancing to Gangnam Style, and crawling out onto a rock in the middle of a river for a photo shoot.
The alterations cost about $ 200, but included a second consultation, hemming and 6 bustles.

I dropped a skirt off that needed to be taken in on the 10^th of December for an important performance on the 19^th. «Sure, no problem: $ 35.00, please.» The skirt was $ 17. I show up on the 19^th at 10 am, they had forgotten about it. But, «…just give me 1 ½ hour, please?» Ok. Back at 2pm, they offered to give me back my money: they had done nothing because, «Look, you can take it up with this inside button.» NOT 5 inches, and NOT have it look good and tailored. They gave me back the money, yes. Did they have a phone? I guess not. They could have called the number and let me know.

They do very good work, are exceedingly friendly and quick.

I had three pairs of denims to revive and Maria did just that. I don’t know how the prices compare to other spots around town but I avoided the cost of replacing my denims altogether. I think she works with her son?, Lucas. He was very polite to me and other customers I saw him engage with. It felt great to support a family business and extend the life of my favorite denims.

Alteration and Tailoring by Maria completely messed up my order and ruined a pair of my pants. Maria herself was very sweet, admitted her mistake, and refunded the money I had already paid. However, the man who works at the front desk (older, tall, not Italian) was possibley the rudest person I’ve met in my life. He was short with me over the phone when I called to ask for the store hours. He was rude to me when I arrived, and accused me of hanging up on him (which I did not). And finally, when my order was completely wrong, rather than being apologetic, he accused ME of lying (even though Maria had already agreed that it was her fault.) This guy was condescending and horrible. Sensing my discomfort, he said he was allowed to be rude because he’s from New York. I find that funny since I am also from that area, and would never speak to a customer the way he spoke to me. There is no excuse for being rude and accusing a customer of lying. Maria was very nice and did a good job on my other pants, however, I will not set foot into that store again while that arrogant man works there.

Over the last couple of months we’ve needed tailoring and repairs done on a few items and took them to Maria’s. I highly recommend them. Their prices seem reasonable to me (I have no prior experience with tailoring), work was done within a good timeframe, and their service is beyond fantastic. They are very nice and seem to really want to make their customers happy.
The only unfortunate bit is that now my husband liked it so much that he is looking around his closet thinking of new things to take in to be tailored.

While Alteration by Maria isn’t cheap you get what you pay for. Maria did a fantastic job of turning my semi-​sloppy suit into a perfectly fitting marrying and burying option. Being kind of a scrawny dude there were a number of seams that needed to be taken in. It took them just over 2 weeks to get the suit back, so expect a wait.
In fact, the suit now makes me look so good that when I wear it people ask me if I’m that lanky model in the new Kenneth Cole ad campaign.
What a compliment! Thanks Maria!
Also the customer service here is awesome. Maria’s other half should become a professional name dropper. You owe me a quarter for every time he says your name after he learns it.