Jathar Salon and Spa

Got a Groupon with my mother for massage, facial, and manicure. Manicurist called out due to child care issues, massage therapist was late, and facial was so so. We won’t be going back!

Terrible customer service. The woman who answered the phone is very impatient and rude. They make you wait forever to check availabilty. The people are so artifical and the service is way below average.

Bought a groupon for massage, mani/​pedi and facial. Facial was good, massage was TERRIBLE! The massage therapist was rough, spent 5 min just scratching my head, she wouln’t move you gently either, plus it was supposed to be 1 hour but I was in and out in 50 minutes. Mani/​pedi was also terrible, no massage, she didn’t talk at all and no dryers. Wouldn’t go back for anything especially to pay their incredibly high prices.

Wow — talk about rude!
I strolled into the salon one night after work to get a quick eyebrow/​lip wax. The receptionist told me it would be a 15 minute wait because the waxer was with a customer. No biggie — I didn’t have an appointment so I happily took a seat and read a magazine.
Three magazines, a cup of coffee and an hour later I was still waiting with no update on what the heck was taking so long (but then again, she was busy gabbing away with another employee who I think was the owner). I informed the receptionist I was leaving, that I had waited far too long and she looked downright shocked that I made the decision to leave.
After I was in my car and driving away I saw the (possible) owner come out waving back for me.
Too late — you wasted my time. I’ll stick to the hole-​in-​the-​wall nail salon up the street — they at least acknowledge my presence!

So rude I couldn’t even book an appointment!
Glad groupon knows customer service!

I have a groupon for this salon. I’ve been trying to book this for six months. I’ve called four times. Only one person – the owner – books groupon appointments; twice, my calls have gone unreturned. Last time I called, I spent over thirty minutes on the phone with her trying to piecework my entire three services into the schedule several months down the line – only at the end to realize that she was booking me for the wrong groupon (apparently they have more than one groupon offer); my bad for not specifying? Her bad for not asking? Upon the realization of booking the wrong groupon, she told me she would call me back after they hired new people at the end of the week. Three weeks later, I still haven’t heard back from her. I called again only to hear she doesn’t work so and so hours and only on so and so days. So, in the end, I can’t comment on services because it has been made obvious that Jathar Salon doesn’t want my business. But, I can comment on the more than lackluster customer service in attempting to book my groupon – and if the customer service is indicative of the massage, facial, and manicure services, I say no thank you. Buyer be ware.

Satisfied!

I was about to make an appointment here for a massage. I called and the receptionist was very rude and I said I would call back. I had to check out the reviews on Unilocal beforehand. Come to find out I wasn’t the only one that had problems with them. Guess I won’t be making an appointment here — way too risky!

Fine haircuts, but you can get cuts as good at cheaper prices. I paid $ 60 for a cut and blow dry.
I have switched to a place in Cushing Square where I pay $ 40 and am equally satisfied.

I also bought the BuyWithMe deal $ 99 for three services. I have only gotten my cut and highlights, but I’ll check-​in again after my facial next month.
This was months ago now, but I do have to mention that when I first called to make an appointment I was hung up on. Twice.
Seriously, if I hadn’t already paid I sure as hell would not have called back.
When I finally got through, the receptionist was pretty poor. I worked as a receptionist in a hair salon back when I was in high school, so I try not to judge, but you can not talk to the customer like they are an inconvenience to you by being on the phone.
Anyway, I finally went to go get my hair cut. My stylist was really nice. I really did like her. She was super attentive. She didn’t actually know how to color my hair though and fortunately, since I worked in a hair salon in the past I guided her through the color I wanted. She didn’t think it would work and wanted to bleach my hair (EEK!), but it came out just fine. Definitely not as bright as we both would have liked, but she didn’t think it would come out at all and I assured her it would lighten up in the sun.
Fast forward a few weeks and I think I might call her to tell her my color actually looks pretty fantastic. So my stylist doesn’t know how to work with Asian hair (sigh), but with a little instruction, it has actually turned out to be one of my better colors.
The facilities weren’t bad, though maybe feels a little bit like a warehouse. My stylist was sweet though. She felt so badly when she thought that my color was setting. I hope that I was a good lesson for her in her career.
The prices are ridiculous if you don’t have a coupon though. I’ll go back for my facial, but I don’t think I’d schlep all the way there otherwise.

I used an offer to try massage here and I was so incredibly disappointed. First of all this is NOT a SPA. This is a hair salon. The prices are ridiculous and more expensive than a Spa. The people are very nice here so I don’t want to say anything about that but its about what you get and NOT what you pay for.
The massage room is just a room on the side of the salon. It is not relaxing at all. In fact even though the therapist tried to play soothing music you could still hear the salon music as well as everything going in the salon.
So I bought a HOT stone massage that was «normally» $ 110 for $ 55 for an hour. This was the WORST hot stone massage I ever had and I LOVE massages. The massage itself was not bad, but when you are «paying for a HOT stone massage and $ 140 an hour you should get a hot stone experience. She did put a few stones on my back for 5 minutes to warm it up. But that was it, every other time I have had a hot stone massage you are massaged with the stones.
This was a $ 50 massage. (If you pay full price, that is what it should be) NOT over $ 100. Go to a real salon, get a great massage an do not waste your money here.

First off I don’t like giving negative reviews, but I see the value for a small/​medium sized business to have feedback so here goes.
I got a groupon/​discount certificate for ½ off a facial. Having not had a facial in about a year and not having a regular esthatician I go to I was excited and hopeful to find someone I would go back to. I also planned to upgrade to the best facial package because what the heck I only paid ½ of the regular price to begin with.
So we started right on time which was good. I got into a nice heated chair, heaven! I won’t name the girl who did my facial, but she came in asked what type of skin I had and I said combo, she looked at my face up close with a lamp for about 3 seconds and told me she was going to start with a cleansing steam to open my pours (ok all good so far). She put my hands in warm heated mitts – again so far all is good.
So when she came back in she started with a arm and hand massage… only it wasn’t a massage it was like torture. I’m surprised she couldn’t see me wincing in pain, and yes, I know I should have said something right then and there, but have you ever just felt like she’ll relax in a minute and stop hurting me? Well, I thought that but it never happened I think she was using her knuckles and her elbows on me. I’ve NEVER had such a painful «massage» before. I get massages monthly and I can assure people this girl has never gone for massage training and she could hurt someone.
She spent about 10 minutes total on my actual face and the other 45 was an endurance in pain. She never asked me if I wanted to upgrade (which I would have to get get her to spend more time on my face and less abusing me).
And to top it off there was construction in the next room or below us what felt like they were going to hammer through the wall and fall in on me while I was in the chair. This started about 15 minutes in and went on for the duration. I asked if there was construction and she told me no, but when I was leaving I heard her telling the front desk about the noise.
At least I didn’t pay full price.

BuyWithMe offered a deal for $ 99 to get 3 services. The choices were 60 min spa relax massage, 60 min facial, spa mani/​pedi, brazil wax, cut/​wash/​style, single process color, partial foil highlights. I bought it thinking I could spend $ 99 getting a haircut (I live in Newton) so I mine as well get a message and mani/​pedi thrown in!
So far I’ve gotten the mani/​pedi (w/​Deb on NYE) and cut/​wash/​style (w/​Megan yesterday). Both were fabulous.
Nails:
Spa mani/​pedi usually goes for $ 50 and I’m not that into my nails, so I don’t think I’d normally pay that, although it was quite a relaxing and pampering experience. Deb was great and did a fantastic job. She even had me get all my stuff together and coat back on before polishing my nails so that I wouldn’t immediately ruin them. Nice touch. The massage chair is fantastic and the foot rub was much appreciated. They brought me coffee (and a refill!) which was awesome, although it could have vibrated right off the massage chair if I wasn’t careful. The toes still look great (almost 3 months later!) but I ruined the nails awfully quickly. Probably my own fault.
Hair:
Megan was great yesterday. I am a terrible customer for stylists because I usually have (if I’m lucky) the vaguest idea of what I want or I have trouble accessing the vocabulary to convey my ideas. She was very patient and showed me a lot of pictures. After awhile, I decided just to trust her.
I have fine hair but a LOT of it (every stylist always says «OMGosh! There’s just so MUCH of it!!»). This can be difficult because it looks thick but it’s not and this leads to styling issues and a greasy head. Megan pinned it right away and actually gave me some tips to keep it from being a grease ball.
She also gave the BEST head massage while she was washing my hair, so that was EXCELLENT. I found her extremely easy to talk to (sometimes it’s awkward with stylists for me, not so with her). We talked about past stylists and the things they did wrong/​did not do. She made a point to tell me my inability to style my own hair was because my stylists have failed to teach me exactly what to do and not because I’m incapable.
She really listened to me when I said I want a fun, different cut but I do NOT want to blowdry. She even stayed away from the blowdryer herself in order to show me what my hair would look like when I styled it since, you know that whole «well it looked great when it was done but now it looks terrible when I try to do it» phenomenon is quite annoying.
Wash/​cut/​style usually goes for $ 60, which I think is pretty reasonable for the service. While I’d love it to be cheaper, I’m just glad I’ve found a salon I can trust again.
I’ll update this when I go back for the massage.
My only complaint is the lighting, really. It really was set up fine for the most part (and very spacious) but softer lighting could go a long way to give it more of a spa feel. Generally when I get a cut I am staring into the mirror for an hour or so and it’s much more pleasant when there is a nice glow to your face, rather than a stark neon highlighting-​all-​your-​worst-​features effect.

I would never go here again. I was part of a wedding party. The first clue should have been when we were told everyone didn’t need individual appointments for hair, manicures, and pedicures but that we’d figure it out when we got there. What we were told would take 2 hours took 3.5 hours with all of us sitting around doing nothing for at least 30 minutes a piece.
They took a client in the middle of our group even though she was 30 minutes late.
Everyone’s hairdo had fallen out about an hour after we had left the salon. For $ 75 I expected my curls to last all night.
My nails are ruined. I have horizontal scratches on all of my nails from what ever horrible buffer they used. The nail polish has settled in these scratches and my nails are stained.
Never again. Who makes a bride late to her own wedding?

I had one mediocre and one horrible experience here. I went in for a simple cut and blow dry. The stylist cut my hair way too short. I called back the next day and asked what they can do to fix it. They said to come in and I asked if they could at least blow dry it straight since I had an upcoming event and a straight blow dry would at the least make it look a little longer. They charged me for the blow dry and said that it was my fault and I asked for my hair to be that short. After a 20 minute argument with Kristen the manager, she voided the charge on my card. She was extremely rude and basically accused me of lying. I would never go back to this place.

I have to say that I really liked this place! I had my hair washed and blow dried for a few events recently and Annie was just fabulous. She gave me a different look each time and I loved the results. The products they use there are awesome too — Unite products that smell amazing. The most recent time I was in, I also got a manicure and makeup application. Debbie gave me a really great manicure and for $ 18 it is not a bad price at all. The makeup application by Sandra was great as well. I wish they provided a sample of the lip product they used on you during the makeup application though. I just think this a nice touch because inevitably, the lip gloss is going to come off. I ended up buying the shade she used on me and I liked it, but if they had thrown the sample in, I would have been even happier. Overall a really great place!

I treated myself to a Groupon certificate – $ 60 for $ 125 worth of services quite some time ago – and spent a good, long while ooohing and aaahing at the variety of ways that I could spend that credit on some self-​pampering. After much debate, I decided on a birthday massage and mani/​pedi.
However, a few days after making my appointment, I got a call letting me know that the masseuse wasn’t able to make it in that day (a Tuesday afternoon) – and that their manicurist didn’t work on that day, either. That was a bit of a birthday bummer, but I had a fancy event coming up a couple of months later, so I figured I’d save my groupon certificate for some event-​day glamming.
Fast forward two months, and I’ve got me a Saturday afternoon appointment for a mani/​pedi, wash & blowdry, and makeup application. (And only had to pay an additional $ 10 out of pocket – plus tips – for all that. Nice!)
The salon, located in an odd strip mall/​industrial park/​business park, is actually quite lovely inside. As are all of the people I received services from that day. The makeup application from Sandra was rockin’, my blowdry sleek and glamorous (thanks, Kim!), and my mani-​pedi from Megan was relaxing and pleasant. Unfortunately, the manicure didn’t even last me 24 hours (it looked good for the event – but not a second longer), and a week later the polish on my toes was peeling. Sigh. That may be a world record! At spa mani/​pedi prices, I don’t think I would get those services here again, but would definitely go back for either of the other two services.
One final note: There is a tremendous amount of fluorescent lighting in the spa (except for the make-​up area). That type of lighting casts an industrial glow in what otherwise would be a very lovely modern spa oasis.

I got a groupon certificate for this place and was definitely pleased, but I wouldn’t say I was wowed. Well, except by the free coffee machine they have. AMAZING and definitely made me very happy when I arrived!
Located in a crappy plaza, the actual salon/​spa is gorgeous and very clean. There is only a wall separating the skin care rooms from the hair area so it wasn’t completely quiet. I had a facial with Meredith and she was really sweet but talked too much during the facial. I was trying to relax and it was difficult since I was also trying to be polite. The music was a little loud and there was more light than I am used to for a facial butthe actual facial was a good facial nonetheless.
The pedicure was only ok. I specifically got the spa pedicure because I wanted a good foot and lower leg massage. Kim did the pedi and she made sure I was very relaxed. However, she didn’t really massage me as much as just lightly rub me. The massage chair did a great job and even massaged my butt which was actually kinda of cool.
All in all, it was an ok experience. If it was closer to where I live (like I said, I went because I got a groupon. I live in Brookline) i would probably go back but since it isn’t I will probably not return.

Had my first visit to Jathar on Sat, a 30 minute pedicure and haircut. One thing they are very good at is sending discounted coupons in the mail to keep your interest. The timing is always great — about every 6 weeks.
After being dissatisfied with my current hairdresser, I asked my husband for a gift card here so I gave it a shot.
The pedicure was above average, however the only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because of the 30 second massage. This is always an issue with pedicures — same deal here. If they improved this piece of the service it would easily be a 5. The service was outstanding, attention to detail on the polish was excellent and –omg — the massage chair was amazing. Worth the trip for that alone.
Next, I got a cut and blow dry with Kristen, the Salon Manager. First of all she sat down with me (I sat, she stood) and listened to what I wanted for 15 minutes. I immediately knew I was in good hands. She was pleasant, knowledgeable and courteous. She is a true professional and knows what she is doing! I’m thrilled to have found someone again who can cut hair!
The employees at Jathar are incredibly friendly and service oriented. These days that is hard to find. Overall, I am very impressed with this find.

I love this place, and especially Jen. I followed her from another salon and honestly, I’d follow her if she started working anywhere in New England. She’s amazing… and HARD to get a booking with because she’s so in demand.
Anyway, I’ve only been here once, but I loved the atmosphere. Extremely friendly, offered me coffee (yes please, always!), open, chic, sophisticated… the place really seemed like they had their s*it together.
I know a couple of the other stylists there, too, and I know they do great work, so I’m pretty sure that anyone at this establishment is going to do a great job.