L & Z Cleaners

Such nice ladies here. Been in my mom’s neighborhood for years. They don’t have much, but a small space to run their business but they do an awesome job. Had them alter a dress for me and they did it super fast and for free. And dry cleaning for only 95 cent per pound. You don’t get those prices as much anymore. So sweet too. English isn’t bad but at least I can practice my Cantonese with them. Definitely taking all my cocktail dresses here from now on. Close to lake merrit too so even if they needed a few extra minutes, I just took a stroll nearby or grabbed a coffee next door. Definitely check them out. I adore these ladies.

Convenient. Fast. Friendly.
This is the only place I bring all the laundry that I’m too lazy to do in my building’s coin-​operated machines. In the 5 years that I’ve been coming here I have gotten pants hemmed, hundreds of pounds of laundry washed, all of my work shorts pressed on an alternating weekly basis. My boyfriend has even commissioned them to transform some pieces of clothing (cutting sleeves off a blazer to turn it into a vest, turning a long sleeved shirt into a short sleeved shirt, etc.) both of which came out pretty decent.
Sure a few shirts have come back with melted buttons, but the disclaimer posted in the shop is fair enough warning for me. And perhaps all of the business I give to this little storefront has granted me special treatment from the two lovely ladies who run the place, so I have zero complaints as far as service goes.
I pay for convenience so, I don’t really have any other basis for comparison as far as price goes.
To the many negative and – I must say – slightly racist reviewers I say… haters gon’ hate. Go somewhere else. These ladies will be busy with all my dirty laundry for years to come.

Been going here for several years, and to be honest I’ve never had any major issues with the quality of their services, unlike what’s been reported by other reviewers. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that they don’t do any of the dry cleaning themselves but instead ships it out to Le Magic a few blocks away. But their customer service is what leaves a lot to be desires. Last week when I picked up my cleaning the lady at the counter made mention of the fact that when I picked up my prior cleaning that she mistakingly charged me for 4 sweaters instead of 5. Thinking she was just telling me this as an FYI I kiddingly thanked her for the discount and thought that was the end of it. However, as she swiped my credit card for this latest cleaning she all of a sudden said she was going to charge me an extra $ 4 because of the mistake she made the last time. WTF! I went ahead and let her do it, but that is the last time I will ever use that place for anything. I try to support local businesses when I can, but this is too much… Laundry Locker here I come!

This place is a gigantic rip-​off, and only survives because of the nice condo buildings nearby and the desperation of its inhabitants for something close and convenient.
One woman is sweet, but the other is an argumentative pain in the ass. This place offers zero customer service what-​so-​ever. If anything is lost, broken, stained, or missing, it’s your fault. So beware. They lost a dress of mine and suddenly the women spoke no English, but simply told me «you pick up, you pick up» over and over again. Well, lady, oddly enough I have a tiny closet and a great memory, and I can tell you for damn sure it’s not– and never was– there after being in your presence.
I also had a cotton dress taken in one inch at the bottom. Literally one of the easiest sewing jobs humanly possible. The cost? $ 12. The dress itself was only $ 20! Unbelievable. Alas, I was desperate so went for it, anyway.
But seriously, F this place. I don’t have a car, which is literally the only reason I continue to return. Might start walking a few blocks further just on the principal of no longer giving these women my business…

Let me start by saying that I haven’t actually gotten anything dry cleaned here – and I probably won’t, given my one experience with their wash and fold service. I recently moved to the neighborhood and was psyched to find this place just around the corner. I had some reservations about using them based on the overall tepid Unilocal reviews, but I figured I had to give them a shot and see for myself what they were all about since they were just so darn conveniently located.
When I walked in, the customer in front of me was engaged in an argument with the woman at the counter because it appeared he had picked up his shirts, taken them home, and found that the collar of one of them had been ruined. The shirt was sitting there on the counter and I will agree that the collar had indeed been ruined by some sort of stain. He was only asking for a refund for the cleaning fee on that one shirt – not even a refund on the whole order – which seemed quite reasonable to me given that one should not have to pay someone for the privilege of having one’s shirt ruined. Basic customer service would dictate that she should have given him a refund with no questions asked, and in fact, probably should have refunded him the cost of the entire order (which I think was like four or five shirts), plus some extra to reimburse him for the shirt that was ruined. But instead she actually gave him a hard time about it, making him go back and forth with her before finally agreeing to refund him the cleaning cost of that one shirt only, which was only a couple of bucks.
Needless to say this all gave me further trepidation, but I forged ahead, determined to give them a chance since they had some very positive reviews in addition to the negative ones. I dropped off two loads of laundry with them for their wash and fold service, and picked them up a few days later. Verdict: absolutely terrible. While the clothes were adequately folded, they were incredibly wrinkled, as if they had been left in the dryer overnight before removal and folding. Moreover, they didn’t smell clean or fresh. They actually had the faint chemical odor of a sanitary cake in a bathroom urinal, or perhaps that chemical added to outhouses at outdoor events – you all know the smell I’m talking about.
I think this place survives because of its location: it’s sandwiched between a number of large, high rise condo buildings, essentially giving it a large «captive audience» who may be willing to put up with lower quality in exchange for convenience, and I’m told they even offer free pickup and dropoff at the Essex (right across the street). But with so many other, better dry cleaners in the area, in the future I’m going to put up with the slight inconvenience of traveling a few blocks rather than settling for L & Z.
The only reasons I gave them two stars instead of one are because a) they managed not to lose or damage any of my clothes, and b) the woman at the counter was friendly to me. But needless to say, I will not be going back. I’m considering giving
a try, though I’ll probably just stick with continuing to do my own laundry for the time being.

They’ve always done an amazing job with my suits and blouses. Granted, I’ve only been here 2 or 3 times. However, the ladies at the counter are very sweet and always smiling :)

I now live across the street from this place. In the attempts here, I have dealt with:
4 business shirts having their buttons melted.
My only suit was not only finished a full 24 hours late, they incorrectly cleaned the suit jacket & pretty much tried to ruin my jacket collar. It took me 3 steam soakings and multiple ironing sessions to repair the collar, prior to interview.
I dropped off 10 lbs of laundry and got back a batch of chemical smelling, wrinkled, poorly folded clothes.
And when I mentioned the last two items, suddenly no one spoke any English. *Surprise, I also speak Korean* I was floored by this behavior and work product.
Will never go back and just grumble as I walk by it…

I have gone to this cleaners many times in the past, for I live right around the corner. The outcome has been good (not great) but good, until this last visit. I dropped off a blouse to be cleaned and informed the women behind the counter that I need this blouse back by 9am the next morning (and informed her that I needed it for a job interview). I got a yes response and went on my way. Well I came in the next morning and the blouse was not ready! The women started screaming at me telling me she told me it would be ready at 5:30,.and when I try ed to speak to her about it the more stubborn she became and I could barley understand anything she was saying. Here I’m trying to calm her down just so I could get a word in and I’m the customer. Needless to say the blouse was not ready. OK! I did manage to find something to wear,.and decided to come back the following day to retrieve the garment,.and when I did… it was STILL dirty! I said nothing, paid the bill and left! I would not recommend this place, however if you do go in make sure the time you have asked to pick up your cleaning is CLEARLY written in the slip they give you.

Laundry always ready on time, good prices and the lady that runs the place warms up to you after a while. If you’re near and in need, give ‘em a try! I’ve recently moved across the lake and I’m so sad that I’m not near this place any more.

I come here for convenience, but heavy chemical smell, there are better ones, but because of location and the fact they deliver makes me come here.

I tried this place because it’s close to my home and cheap; however, I am never going back. The first time I came, I brought a several hundred dollar sweater jacket; they accidentally ripped a hook off and left a nice big hole. Fortunately I had a spare hook, so I asked them to fix the sweater. They did a pretty crappy job but did it for free and they were nice, so I figured I’d give them a second chance. Brought a few more pieces in without incidence. Last week I brought a new blouse – worn once! – and they somehow frayed the edges badly. When I complained they tried to tell me that the blouse was like that when I brought it into the store.

I took three sweaters here because it’s close to my work.
They were friendly and got the sweaters cleaned, but my sweaters came back smelling like chemicals. The smell was so bad that when I wore the sweater a few days after they sat in the closet, I got a headache from the fumes. I had to change in the middle of the day at the office (hooray for back-​up shirts!) so I could focus on working.
They’re not thaat cheap and they take a fews days to get the cleaning done.
I’ll be going back to my local (to my home) cleaner.

Updated 2009:
The last time I went to L&Z my clothes smelled so strongly of chemicals when I got them back that it was embarrassing. And I have to say I’m not someone who is particularly sensitive to smells or has allergies or paranoias about chemicals or anything like that. It was just a really strong smell. Also, one of my dresses came back about 4 inches shorter than it went in, and one of my sweaters was missing a snap. So I’m not going back anymore. It’s a shame, because I thought the staff was so nice…
Original review:
I’m looking at L&Z cleaners out the window of my apartment right now, that’s why I give them 3 stars. I drop the stuff off on Saturday, and they bring it back to my building on Tuesday. So, 3 stars. And I love the 2 ladies at the counter, watching what looks like old Chinese Operas on their clunky TV. Would it be my choice of cleaners if there were say, another 2 or 3 places to choose from just as close? Who knows? They are not the best, nor the worst, cleaners I’ve ever used. But at least they are nice. And in 3 years they haven’t ruined any of my clothes.

Apartment living, with one washer and dryer in the building to share, sucks. I find that because of L & Z, I can avoid a huge pile up in the laundry basket of things like towels, blankets, sheets and rugs because they have an amazing laundry service, that I’d be lost without. Not to mention their dry cleaning service is great. Not overly expensive and no ruined clothes, as of yet. I also use them for minor alterations, such as hems. This place would be the ONLY reason to miss Oakland if I moved.