Yonge Street Tattoos

After having been a loyal client to Yonge Street Tattoos (and after referring a few friends), I expected so much more than I wound up with. I was going back for my third piece. I left my deposit, had set a deadline, and chose Evan as my artist. I was super excited about starting my half sleeve. What ensued is nothing short of disgusting.
I waited a month past the date I wanted to get started to call. I was told «we’ll get back to you this evening or tomorrow.»
I waited until the day after «tomorrow». I called again, and was told they’d get back to me later in the day. No one got back to me. I e-​mailed, and received zero response. I called AGAIN, and at this point, I was clearly very upset. The person I spoke to said «Let me ask Evan where your artwork is at».
At this point, I was figuring out what response would make my day… I was told «Yeah, your artwork is complete, you can come by and see it when Evan’s in.»
I asked «WHEN was it finished?» I was told two weeks before.
So let me get this straight, my artwork was completed, but as the client, was not informed. When I get in contact to figure out what’s gone on, I was met with impatience. I expressed how ridiculous this was, and was then told all nonchalant that I could just come in and get started at my earliest convenience.
Fuck that! The shop itself is clean, and prides itself on vegan inks. The management team really needs to look into retraining staff to ensure that each client is treated with the utmost respect and urgency. Needless to say I took my business elsewhere, where the staff treats you like you’re important, not like you’re just someone imposing on their time at work. The one star comes from the cleanliness and inks.

My piercer was Alex, I felt he kind of rushed because he had to see someone else but decided to squeeze me in before his appointment arrived.
VERY hygienic, I never doubted for a second about their cleanliness because everything was so professional, it felt like I was in the hospital haha. This is the place to go if you care a lot about hygiene.
It costed me $ 56.50 in total for my circular barbell septum piercing. Unfortunately it’s uneven! I should’ve caught it before when he drew the line on my nose. Pain was about ⁶⁄₁₀.

Great place for a piercing! The studio is clean, the staff are very friendly and professional, and the prices are reasonable. I’ll be back!

My tattoo was completely changed from what was drawn on me and its huge. My tattoo its permanent. Needless to say I’ve been pissed for years. There’s a lot of liberties taken with design. I shouldn’t have trusted this place. Regrets everyday for years now for going here. And I hate what they did. It’s cost me a ton of money trying to fix it and it never will be fixed.
Don’t go here. That’s it.

First off I would like to say I get all my work done here. every piercing, and every tattoo. The receptionists are all great lovely people to deal with! I Always have nothing less then a great experience. Even the one time when a tattoo didnt work out so well in MY eyes I came back and I spoke to the owner and she explained afew things to me about why it could have happend healing process wise and I feel i was compensated fairly. Customer service skills are great on all ends. I always become chatty when im nervous about to get something done but once its started im fine. no matter who I get work done from there they always make sure your 100 percent comfortable. Ive been going here since I was 15 LOL! I lovee all the artists ive had * Steve, – (no longer works there) Evy, Evan, and Luke. They all do an AMAZING job and have outstanding line work! I get complements all the time on my tats and always tell people to come here and request the people who have worked on me. I walked in today to get a helix piercing done. They took me pretty well right away! My piercer was a lovely guy named Alex. Now unfortunatly I was informed I didnt have enough ear for the helix peircing I wanted :-P but he talked to me and gave me lots of other options, and I ended up getting a Rook insted. Alex was so great! He was super gentle, very informative, professional, and such a sweetheart! You can tell they are all very passionate about what they do, and I wouldnt want to EVER EVER EVER go anywhere else. I had yet another amazing experience here today Thanks guys! See you again when im feeling creative, and or edgy!
Forever yonge!

Worst customer service ever, one person says one thing and another says another the business module isn’t consistent and management can’t seem to keep its house in order, when paying for a tattoo I deserve some form of customer service I am sad to say Brandy didn’t provide this when going for a touch up and Kelly the manager didn’t take me the customer serious about my complaint and denied me further business and services because I first wrote this review then removed it and now am posting it as I believe in freedom of expression and I have a right to post an honest review its not slander its feedback. The manager wouldn’t believe me that her employee said fuck off tuff it up fag, have a good day when I said her customer service skills were not lacking and her tone wasn’t like she cared, which resulted in me replying with fuck off in anger as a result im banned and a prepaid touch up which is included in the price of a tattoo there isn’t anywhere that says its not included other then if you don’t have your touch up card … The reason brandy got into it with me was cause her manager kelly said no after someone already telling me Friday yes I could get the touch up without the card cause I can prove that I made the purchase on my credit card statement, I tried to explain I was told otherwise but they wouldn’t bulge when I explained to kelly today after speaking to another manager aka a male and explaining Everything he understood and I finally found the card and I came in to get the touch up but Kelly denied the services because I made a previous post like this and claimed I was slandering her shop and employees, and verbally assaulted her receptionist who was the one who first verbally assaulted me the customer, but as always the management always sides with the staff these days. slander is only when the information is false (I asked a lawyer) so I’ve gotten my money back from the credit card company, and will never come here going forward or recommend this place as they truly have no business customer service and care for the customers because of its high turnover. Shame I really hope this place disappears when condos are built. I use to have a lot of respect for this place I’ve gotten 4 tattoos and 9 piercings here and now I’m sad to say I’m gone and my piercer who use to be there couldn’t agree more with me. Good riddance to people who don’t care about their clients she said.

Very clean. I got my nose pierced here and the workers there were nice and I would go here again for my next piercing. Also the price was very reasonable unlike most tattoo shops. I’d recommend anyone else to come here.

YST is probably the cleanest, most professionally run tattoo/​piercing shop I’ve been to in my 21 year tattoo/​piercing history. Alex will answer any questions you have and advise you thoroughly about any piercing. Pauline creates the most beautiful, unique artwork if you’re looking for a custom piece.
I like that this place runs like a business and is bright and welcoming, unlike many shops that are dark, dingy and filled with ego.

When you plan to get a piece of artwork permanently drawn onto your body you are basically interviewing the artist to hire. I can’t speak for any of the other artists in this shop besides Sarah, the artist I chose to work with. As her life is a bit hectic and I was only there for a very limited period of time, we still had time to sit down a couple times and design my piece before the first session. She is an incredible artist! You can see her passion in her work and her talent and professionalism trump any BS that the shop and other employees might harbor. I’m looking forward to heading back to Toronto to get my piece finished.

I’ve had tattoos and piercings in the past, and always feel intimidated when I walk in. I went to Yonge Street Tattoos after getting a recommendation from a friend, and was very nervous when I went in to ask about getting my finger tattoo redone (I was nervous because I know a lot of artists hate/​refuse doing them).
The girl at the front desk was beyond nice. So helpful, smiling, so kind. She told me how much it would cost and took the deposit and helped me book it for a Thursday (which is $ 25 off any tattoo). They called me the Weds night before my appointment.
I came in for my appointment and had decided I wanted a little anchor on my upper ribs as well. She told me the cost of that included and rang me up. She forgot to take the $ 25 off (I had forgotten to remind her as well), since it wasn’t her normal shift. She was super apologetic and so great.
Elyse was my artist. She carefully took about 15 – 20 minutes to draw out the anchor I had brought in. Last tattoo artists I’ve had simply traced the photo I brought in, but Elyse took her time and I even saw her have a ruler to make sure it was perfect.
She asked me if it was my first tattoo, I said no. She still went through the whole process with me and put on music as we chatted. I was unsure of the placement for the anchor, but she replaced the stencil 5 times for me until we found the perfect spot. She was super patient, and I appreciated that.
For my finger, she helped me pick out the color and listened to everything I had to say. It seemed like she wanted it to be perfect for me, and that meant a lot to me since I often felt rushed in other places when making decisions.
When she did the tattoos, you could tell she really cared. She took her time and made sure I knew that if I wanted anything added or if I didn’t feel like a line looked good, to speak up. Of course, it looked great.
She gave me a touch up card ($ 25 touchup if you come back within six months) and even encouraged me to come back, since the lines on the anchor were so delicate and small. She assured me she would fix anything up if needed.
Overall, I can’t say how grateful I was for this experience. I often feel nervous and intimidated with big decisions and tattoo shops can be a scary place. Elyse was incredible and I’m looking forward to going back.

I had a couple of my earlier pieces done here; unfortunately, my artist left and I have had to go elsewhere. In any case, the first time I visited the shop, I felt very intimidated… the staff wasn’t exactly very welcoming. My first experience here wasn’t the greatest, the second one was slightly better. My third piece was made better by the artist but again, he left for another shop, so I have no reason to go to YST anymore. Look elsewhere and shop around.

As previously mentioned, staff isn’t exactly what you call friendly. I picked YST after a friend recommended the place. My first consultation was confusing at best and I ended up waiting an additional 30 min b/​c the artist was running late.
We discussed artwork and I left a deposit. When I didn’t receive a call to come and check back for an initial draft, I called and a second consultation was schedule (they had no recollection of the artwork). A few days later I was called and pushed back by 2 weeks as the artist was on holidays. When I finally called to come and see the drawing it was so far from what we discussed that I left my deposit and went to another salon. While I cannot comment on the quality of their work, their customer service sure can be better.

Got a surface piercing done on the outside of my ear today by Alex. He was a sweet heart. He didn’t want to do my piercing unless I was comfortable due to I was a bit skeptical. He explained everything to me. How the piercing process is step by step even drew me a picture lol. He made sure I knew how to take care of it and clean it. I would defiantly go back.

Back a few years ago, YST used to have a display of photographs in the window of people who had gotten tattooed there, and the one that stood out the most was that of a curly-​haired Justin Timberlake and a backwards-​capped Joey Fatone (think *NSYNC days) posing with their tattoo artist. Years have passed and that display is gone but YST is still around!
I got my first piece done here after surfing around some Toronto artists’ works. A big part of my decision making was that YST is female-​owned and I wanted to find a female artist who I could connect with — found her here! Getting the actual appointment set up was quite a test of my patience because Jacqueline and my schedules always conflicted, but after speaking a couple of times, it finally happened (very painfully — but that’s another story).
Throughout the process, I spoke to some of the other staff who work here and I really felt it was hit-​or-​miss… there are some really amazing staff but also a few I felt were not as friendly. Maybe I’m just being a big baby but it would be nice to feel welcomed by all of the staff at the shop I’m getting work done at, not just a few… and hence they lose a star.
But overall, I have no doubts about the establishment: it has a great vibe, is spacious and clean. I’ve read that their rates might be higher than other places, but I’m not really sure. Mine was about $ 250 and it’s fairly big (2 hours of work?). I would defo see Jacqueline again but I think I may also give other shops a try…

Probably the most expensive tattoo shop I’ve been to. They have some really great artists, I recommend Evie, Jacqueline and Evan. And 100% I’ve left fully pleased. My advice is to make an appointment though I have heard if you’re just a walk in you won’t get top quality.

I found my way into Yonge street Tattoos, abit upset, 20, stupid, and determined that I was going to get cute little paw prints on myself, and walked out one very happy girl. Though it might not have been the most thought out tattoo I have, and maybe the most costly, but def one of the ones that has held up the best. I had a girl named sarah who helped me take my tattooe virginity (hate that term), and had the best mini girl talk in a long time. 3 paw prints rang me up at 120, inc the goo they sold me. It was also very clean and the other staff there humored me. Its a nice place to go just be ready to pay up. Worth the money.

if i can recall correctly, i got my lip pierced here. twice. one garden variety horizontal stud and one vertical labret. both healed remarkably well, because they were done remarkably well. and i ought to know, having had botched manmade hole situations in the past. pricey but again, body mods are not the thing to bargain hunt for. never got inked here but from what i could tell, it is THE place to go for tattoos, if you’re willing to wait. like weeks to months. well worth it though.