Pro Optical

Dr. Duane Smith is absolutely wonderful. He’s extremely smart, competent, and caring. His experience and knowledge are obvious from the first conversation with him. He gave thoughtful, satisfying answers to my every question, and he diagnosed long-​term eye problems that other doctors had missed entirely. As someone with lots of doctors in my family, I tend to hold medical professionals to a very high bar. I have met exactly two doctors in Boston that meet my almost comically high standards, and Dr. Duane Smith is one of them!

ProOptical went above and beyond to help me with an issue with my contact lenses while I was in town on business. Very grateful for and impressed with their level of helpfulness and service — rare these days.

Pro Optical happens to be the closest optical shop to my home. I am glad it is!
Dr. Duane Smith is my eye doctor and his professionalism and caring attitude is a welcome rarity. He takes the time to get to know his patients and their optical needs.
What I really like about this business is they do not try to sell you items you do not need. They make an effort to stay within the limits of your vision plan insurance, and if that is not possible, they help find ways to keep any extra costs down. They are in business to make money, but they seem to be focused (excuse the pun!) on building relationships first. This is a hallmark of a true customer-​focused business.
The team is knowledgeable about all of the products they carry and everyone displays the same caring and helpful attitude.
I highly recommend Pro Optical.

I needed a hinge reattachment on a pair of glasses. Very fast. Very pleasant. Service performed as a courtesy. Thank you very much!

Dr. Cheryl Jost is knowledgeable, professional, and very helpful. Despite my unusual condition (one nearsighted eye and one farsighted eye), my eye exam and prescription went smoothly and the choice of frames was impressive.

When I first moved to Boston I needed to update my contact lens prescription. I quickly was able to get an appointment, contact lens fitting, adjusted prescription (all these years of wearing glasses and they picked up on the slight astigmatism that had kept my prescription from being just eight) AND they fixed two frames that had become bent out of shape when I crushed them. Ever since they have been my go to for check ups, contact lenses, and frames. Easy to schedule with, personable, great selection, and everyone is there to help you have pleasant and painless experience.

Had a great experience at this shop. Dr. Nguyen was friendly, professional and knowledgable. I have already refereed a couple people to this place!

Dr. Cheryl Jost could get a dog to read ²⁰⁄₂₀! I am legally blind without glasses and have severe astigmatism, but I’m driving at night and reading at multiple distances with the same pair of contact lenses, fitted on the first day. Their office has validated parking, they’re next to Whole Foods for a quick coffee, and their prices for frames and lenses are reasonable. Best optometry firm I have ever encountered!

Gave great explanations and doctor was very pleasant. Other staff seemed friendly and competent. Lenses seemed a bit pricey, but hopefully the quality will justify it.

I saw Bao-​Kim Nguyen, she was very helpful and nice. However, when I got glasses, they told me it would take two weeks to arrive. Going on the third week, I called them and they told me a few more days. After the fourth week, I called and they told me it would take another week. After expressing my displeasure in receiving glasses 4 weeks later, they called me back to say they were and have been ready for over a week. If you get glasses here, don’t sign up for email notifications (even though I checked my spam folder every day). Just didn’t like how I was getting the run around about my glasses over the phone.

I ordered my glasses through
and was told to pick it up from prooptical. When I first entered the place I was told by the front office lady that one of the optometrists would help me. 10 min later the same person asked my last name and brought the glasses. I then told her that I was interested in buying another pair for my wife and that we needed to know the size. I was asked again to talk to an optometrist. I spoke to the male optometrist that was working there on Thursday ³⁄₁₂ at 7PM. I was told that glasses come in different shapes and sizes and that there is no such thing as glass size. I showed him my glasses and the numbers that represent the temple size, bridge distance and lens size. He kept on telling me that it’s not a pair of pants there is no such thing. Horrible horrible experience. Very rude person. Unprofessional staff.

I recently went into ProOptical to order new lenses that were covered by warranty. Angela was very nice and helpful. I really appreciated her great attitude!
Last year I came here for my eye exam. Dr. Smith was great. He was friendly, talkative and really helpful.

Dr, Duane Smith is excellent. He is very knowledgeable and shares his rationale and information with patients in an approachable way. He looks beyond just prescriptions and speaks about the importance of holistic health to your vision. Dr. Smith is also caring and funny — making your appointment enjoyable.
Beyond his excellence — this office also has weekend hours, making it incredibly convenient. They also validate your parking for 90 minutes (Whole Foods parking lot), and go out of their way to accommodate you. You can even book your appointments online and they do have the imaging machine so that you do not have to go through manual dilation.
I also had a great experience with the optician who helped me pick my frames — she was knowledgeable about their inventory, kind-​hearted, and got me to try frames I wouldn’t have otherwise chosen. One of her picks ended up being the pair I liked the most.
Overall — this is the best experience I have ever had with an OD office and I cannot recommend them more highly.

Pro-​Optical is great. Dr Nguyen and Dr. Kublin are both excellent, and the staff is always friendly and efficient. They have every kind of contact lens you could ever want, and will make sure to help you find ones that fit perfectly and are in your price range. Also, they are always able to squeeze me in at the last minute when I have an uncomfortable eye issue (allergies, contact lenses, etc.). Highly recommend!

Dr. Nguyen is the best! She has a wonderful way with patients, and your eyes are in great hands. She really listens and takes time to answer questions. She is the main reason that I am giving it 5 stars.
I just picked out a trendy pair of frames — their selection is very comprehensive, moreso than LensCrafters, in my opinion. It is also a great location for anyone who works in government center and it’s not hard to get an appointment a week or two out. I agree with some of the other Unilocalers that one woman at the front desk hasn’t mastered the art of customer service, but literally everyone else in this place has, so it is worth it! The guy who you order frames with is helpful but not pushy, and a young woman working the frames areas was delightful. I never get the feeling like anyone is trying to «up sell» me here. Mostly though, it is the friendly and helpful way of Dr. Nguyen that makes me enjoy getting the yearly eye exam!

So today I got to deal with Angela. I went in because the high-​end crizal coating got scratched. I have been there 2 x and both times spent a lot of money on Glasses. When I pay good money and I am told I have a one year warranty I would expect that a scratch resistant coating would cover a scratch. Guess what, it doesn’t. There is a $ 25 copay. While Angela was not very people friendly, she also delivered this information to very matter of fact and pointed at the sign. I got upset and argued my point and she proceeded to continue staring me down and with no empathy said that’s it. Manufacturers warranties are only covered. I have never been treated like that anywhere. I told her she should probably smile more and she laughed in my face. After this I’ll take me business elsewhere. I paid the copay. Fix the glasses and I’ll move on. If you work in retail you should really be more polite I could have taken it better. When you show no remorse or empathy it hurts the customer.

I see Dr. Bao-​Kim Nguyen and she is very personable and efficient but the staff at the front desk is awful. Because of front desk staff I almost visited another optometrist!
The staff are unknowledgeable at best and at times just rude! I asked two questions about insurance and my coverage; both questions were answered incorrectly and in a very condescending manner.
1^st instance: I called the day before to confirm my insurance plan covered my visit and the receptionist’s tone indicated that she was very annoyed and aggravated by my call! She made my question, which takes about 2 minutes to look up, seem like the most inexcusable chore she was asked to do. She also quoted a higher co-​pay than was stated in my insurance. I prompted corrected her and realized she had overlooked something. This careless incompetence would have cost be an extra $ 60 dollars.
2^nd instance: I asked if online distributors like 1−800-contacts accept insurance, another front desk woman barely answered my question and replied «probably not, you should look that up online». This is they’re livelihood, I believe there should be some basic understanding of how a lot of patients receive their contacts lens.
From reading the other comments I can conclude that many of the other patients agree with my sentiments toward Pro-​Optical. The optometrists in the practice are very professional and personable. However the other staff are at times condescending, careless, and unknowledgeable.

Great selection of glasses. Much better than the place I used to go (Downtown Eye Associates, which is now Envision). I found out though that if you’re just going there to get new glasses, you don’t have to schedule an appointment, you just go.

I had an exam with Bao-​Kim Nguyen and she was awesome!
But the staff at the counters in this place were just plain awful.
The staff in the glasses section here just ignored me the whole time.
After being handed over by the doctor and waiting ten minutes for a bunch of women to do nothing, I decided to pay my medical bill and buy my glasses somewhere else.
It’s a shame, they had some nice frames in there.

Just to be clear: I only get my eyeglass frames from this place. I have no idea how the eye exam services are.
Personally I only get my eyes checked by an ophthamologist and not an optometrist so I go elsewhere for this service and for my contact lenses.
I have been coming regularly however to Pro-​Optical for glasses with my prescription in hand.
Over the years I’ve had great success in picking out glasses from a very wide array.
You can count on Pro-​Optical to have a great selection of frames from any of the designers you can think of as well as a nice assortment of run of the mill frames.
I’m a fan of the eyewear design manufacturing company Oliver Peoples and indeed that’s what I gravitated toward and ended up ordering a pair today. Style=Wacks (crazy name I know) Color= Sandalwood.
Great frames make wearing glasses something other than a necessity and more of a fun fashion accessory.
The downside of this visit and cause for the removal of a star was that Anatoly (the gentlemen who was helping me) tried to sell me the frames in the display case by saying: «Your glasses will be ready tomorrow».
I was surprised at this quick turn aound time and told him that it had always been my experience that the glasses took at least a week to be ordered and so I asked if they were carrying the frames I wanted in stock.
He said no, that he was just going to use the frames I had tried on to make my glasses.
Now let me just say, these were not inexpensive frames; not in the least.
Nor was he offering me any kind of discount to take the ones in the display case.
Needless to say, I refused the display case frames.
He then made a call and said the frames were on «back order» and would take a week and a half. He said this in a tone that would make you think he was really saying my glasses would be ready sometime during my next lifetime.
I know we live in an instant gratification society but a week and a half, even two weeks is not a long time to wait especially since I still have my old pair. So that said, my new O.P. glasses are in the works and I’m very excited.
But boo to Anatoly who while patient as I tried on loads of styles and was helpful with suggestions, should not have tried to slip me the display glasses. Eeew!