Felice Custom Tailoring

Romeo is truly a master tailor. He is realistically one of the best tailors in the world. With the Chinese takeover of Saville Row, Romeo stands out as one of the last tailors that represents the art of tailoring in the purest form. He has the passion, knowledge, and skill, but rarest of all, it runs in his blood. Thank you Romeo, you are a true Man of the Cloth.

If you want to visit a real tailor, someone who knows his craft and will give it to you straight, then visit Romeo. I’ve been going to him for one year now and I’ve been very happy with the results. I’ve had shirts, pants, and whole suits tailored.
He takes the time to measure your garments in front of you, and tell you why he’s doing what he’s doing. I’ve learned a lot since I’ve started going to him.
I’ve brought suits into him that I thought needed tailoring, and despite the money he could’ve made off of me for doing what I asked, he explained to me why the garment did not need to be tailored, and sent me on my way. I liken my experience with a tailor to my experience with a mechanic. I don’t know a damn thing about cars, so if they say I have a leaky gasket then I guess I have to take their word for it. I feel very comfortable trusting Romeo with my clothes, he’s never steered me wrong.
I’d like to give this review 4.5 stars, but since I can’t, I’ll go with 5. The -.5 is for price, I believe that in some cases Romeo could charge a bit less for the work that he does. Then again if you want something done right, sometimes you have to be willing to pay a little more for it. Also, he only accepts cash.

First the «bad»: Romeo is not cheap. He prices his work fairly. Did I say «work»? I meant artistry. He really does take a lot of pride in his craft. Also, if it’s hard for you to get to his shop as it’s in LJ Village, I’d recommend calling ahead to make sure he’s ready for you to pickup and/​or fit. For a quality tailor, I’m willing to do that.
Next, how I came to Felice: This was a couple of months ago. My old tailor retired (some of you may know Hans, the great German guy that had a tailoring shop at the back of a big and tall store) so I was on the hunt for a new tailor. I went to another highly Unilocal rated bespoke suit tailor that was a disaster. They said my off the rack suit (italian size 50 jacket and 50 pants) could not be let out (aka made bigger for my ever expanding gut and arse — needing a 51 jacket and 52 pants) — they said it was impossible and that you could only take an OTR jacket in, not let it out. They’ve never seen it done before. I didn’t make a fuss, smiled, thanked them and politely left, but knew they were wrong as Hans used to do it all the time. I immediately came over to Felice.
Finally, the Felice experience: While it is an off the rack suit, it’s a canvassed (not fused) high quality suit — not that price indicates quality, but the suit was quite expensive. As previously stated, the pants were waaaaaaaay too small (that might be an understatement) and the jacket was slightly too small. On the first visit, Romeo had me try it on, studied it on me, poked, prodded, opened the lining on the jacket and checked the pants to make sure there was enough fabric and said it would be no problem. He told me the price, which was not cheap but exactly as I expected for the amount of work he was doing.
I wanted surgeon’s cuffs so we decided that he would first make sure the fit was perfect before putting those in. We scheduled for me to come back in a week after he made the alterations to make sure it was right. I came back a week later, put on the suit and he immediately said the jacket wasn’t quite right. I don’t know about you, but I appreciate his honesty — others might have just said it’s great so they can get the work done and get paid quicker. He made his marks and I came back the next week. This time, he was happy with the fit. I picked up my suit in a couple of weeks and it was perfect.
Over my multiple visits, I had great conversations with Romeo about all sorts of topics. He’s a great guy and an awesome tailor. He constantly had his regular clientele coming in (some have been coming to him for decades — some having to fly in across multiple time zones), some introducing their privileged children to the world of fine tailoring. It’s also fun to spin through his hundreds of cloth books and consider if I’m cool enough to commission a custom piece from Romeo… I’m not there yet. But if I ever want to step up off the OTR world and get my big boy bespoke pants on, I will come here. Even if I move across the country. For now though, any tailoring of my OTR purchases will be coming here.
I know it seemed that I glossed over the results of the finished product, but like I said… it was perfect. Perhaps better was getting to know Romeo and meeting someone that is passionate about his craft. Rare in today’s world.

Ignore the singular bad review. I don’t know if that guy has a vendetta or is just generally confused, but Romeo charges $ 12 for hems. They will be perfect. I don’t know what that guy is talking about. Anyway…
Romeo is a member of a dying breed in this country; a true, talented, tailor. Don’t be fooled by the 10+ hits that come before Felice Custom Tailoring when you search for a tailor in the San Diego area. Most (if not all) of these establishments are not true tailors, merely alteration specialists (and not always very good at it).
Alteration is not the same as true tailoring. This man can create a true, custom, work of art that fits you better than anything you will ever find in a store. This will be a quality garment, a piece that will last for decades.
If you don’t have the cash for a bespoke piece that is fine too. buy an off the rack suit/​jacket and take it to Romeo. He will make it fit you like a glove.
He is great to work with and truly loves what he does. I wouldn’t let anyone else touch my clothing. From simple alterations to truly custom, bespoke suits, Romeo is the most talented tailor on the western seaboard.

Romeo is the only real tailor is San Diego.
There are plenty of people out there with a sewing machine and thread that alter clothes for a living and call themselves tailors, but when it comes to the delicate, artistic craft of a men’s clothing outfitter, Felice Custom Tailoring is the real deal for those who can’t afford several trips to Saville Row in London to get a suit made or altered.
Sure, you may pay a little more than the «Sue’s Tailor Shop» at the Albertson’s strip mall, but when you take a fine suit, jacket, coat, or pair of trousers to Romeo, you can have confidence that he will make you look good and treat your garmets with skill and respect. He has an eye for tailoring and pure talent.
If you’re looking for a quick, last minute alteration job before a wedding go somewhere else. If you want a beautifully made suit or jacket, this is where to go.

Romeo does an amazing job. His work is flawless. He understands exactly how a suit, jacket, pants should fit which translates to perfection. My fiancé had a few of his blazer/​jackets and pants tailored by Romeo — and I must note that the fit and look of the items are incredible. They look as if the items were custom made for him. We will be taking in the rest of his clothing for alterations (shirts/​suits/​pants/​jackets). It is fairly pricey; however, the fit and knowledge Romeo has is well worth it!

Contrary to Jonathan’s scathing review, my alteration experience with Romeo was absolutely top notch.
I needed a suit pant hemmed and a dress shirt slimmed down. The pants were from H&M and it was a simple job that cost about $ 15. I wanted it with no break and it was executed well.
The shirt on the other hand, was a harder job. I originally dropped nearly $ 200 on a made to measure custom job from Brooks Brothers. I specified that I wanted a slim fit, but when it came several weeks letter, it was horribly oversized and the cuffs were both way too large and didn’t show an inch when I put on my jacket (i specified this and brought in my jacket when they took my measurements). So I told them to fix it, but all they did was put darts in the back of the shirt. Barely did anything. I gave up.
Fast forward a year later and I had a wedding coming up in 2 days so I decided that I wanted to wear the shirt, but not in its balloony state. I find Felice Custom Tailoring on Unilocal and decided to give it a shot.
Romeo was quite helpful and understood that what i wanted. The shirt fits like a glove and as I said earlier, the pants are cut so that there’s no break.
I understand that it may have been frustrating for Jonathan H. to wait for a while, but making the jumps that he made were uncalled for.
Plus, how can you trust a review from someone who thinks Akon is a Hip Hop Icon? Akon’s no better than a Hip Popstar and belongs with his peers: Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

I don’t know where to start. Shall I begin with the fee of $ 120 to HEM MY PANTS? Or perhaps I should start with the FOUR WEEKS it took to get them back?
No, I’ll start from the beginning. First of all, I had to follow suit (no pun intended) in this review by capitalizing random PARTS of my SENTENCE, like the other reviewers. I’m just sorry to say mine is not praise; it is disdain.
I am not a cheap person. Just like the hip-​hop icon Akon, I spend money like it don’t mean nothing, and besides I got a thing for clothes. (Or was it a thing for you? No, I think it’s for clothes.) Still, I earn my money like everyone else and I think $ 60 is exorbitant for hemming my pants.
So I waltz in there on a fine La Jolla afternoon and there is not a soul in sight. I wait ten minutes because of the RAVE REVIEWS that brought me here. In saunters Romeo, the heartbreaking, lovemaking, tailor everyone is so worked up about. He’s got food on his lip and he says, «Sorry, I was out having lunch.» Are you serious? What if I was a cloth thief?
Anyway, he checks me out in my pants and jacket and makes some chalk marks here and there as one might do. He takes my clothes and says he’ll have them back for me in one week. Key words in this sentence: ONE WEEK.
Between the day I went in there and the day I FINALLY GOT MY PANTS, he had called at least five different times delaying the alteration. He made tons of excuses including his understudy’s brother died (I’m not making this up), so the understudy couldn’t come hem my pants that day.
Alas Romeo, are you too good to hem?
Then he says he’s backed up and can’t get them this weekend. Then he calls and leaves a message saying he’s understaffed. The list goes on.
I got fed up with this ridiculous waiting game and decide to show up unannounced, ready to just get my clothes and take them somewhere else, so I could actually wear them at some point in the near future.
As soon he sees me he becomes extremely apologetic, as one might do with a guilty conscience. He claims he already started hemming the pants, but they’re not done yet. At this point it had taken 28 days to «begin» hemming the pants. They were still not finished yet. He keeps saying sorry and then offers to drop the price by half, to $ 60. I tell him he better have it done by tomorrow, or I’m taking my business elsewhere.
Finally, one month, sixty dollars and a huge waste of time later, the hem is complete. Maybe Romeo is great at cutting and tailoring from scratch, but absolutely do not even consider him for simple alterations unless you want to throw your money away on horrible service.

Romeo did a top-​notch job on a complicated dress hem I took to him. The dress has a sash in front that flows from waist to hem, and that needed to be shortened proportionally to the hem. Well, apparently that’s complicated enough to merit more than double the cost of a standard hem, and the dress was finished a day later than he said it would be. Next time I’ll take simple jobs to somewhere else cheaper, but he’s probably worth it for very special clothes.

I can’t believe that there’s only one review for this place. First off, Romeo, the head tailor (he has one or two helpers) is certainly the best tailor in SD and one of the best in the US.
After moving to SD for school (about to graduate from UCSD) I needed a new tailor to do alter my clothes here. After a good 40 minutes researching google I found Romero and have never looked back.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO KNOW about Romeo is that he is one of a few tailors in Cali who does bespoke clothing (i.e. custom clothing from scratch, be it shirts or full blown suits). He has hundreds of fabric sample books in his shop that are fun to look at while you’re waiting. Because of his bespoke work, he knows the intricacies of EVERY piece of clothing, from a dress shirt to your favorite trousers.
My two experiences are as follows:
1. I needed 6 oxford cloth, button down shirts I had recently bought to be taken in (i.e. made slimmer and more flattering). After trying on one shirt for Romeo, he quickly went to work putting pins here and there. After getting it where I wanted, I came back in a week and loved his work on the shirt. He then used that shirt as a template for the other 5 and they ALL came out perfect. The shirt cost 15 bucks, the tailoring cost 30, and for $ 45, I got a shirt that fits like a glove and should cost me triple in a made-​to-​measure program.
2. Needed 2 suit pants hemmed and he did them perfectly.
Perhaps my FAVORITE thing about Romeo, besides his excellent work, is that when you pick up your article of clothing he makes you try it on in front of him. If there is something you don’t like, he will fix it at no additional cost and he’ll be HAPPY to do so instead of grumbling like my tailor back home does.
Although his bespoke suits will cost you a pretty penny, alterations are just as much as a normal tailor (~$ 12 for a hem). I haven’t done any serious work with him (ex, recut pants or take out pleats on trousers) but I inquired about them and it seemed reasonable.
His skill level is unmatched, his prices are cheap to reasonable depending on the work, and the finished product is EXACTLY what you want it to be.
When I move back home to LA in 4 months, I plan on coming to Romeo once a year to have all my clothes taken care of.
He’s that good.

I get my good jackets and pants altered here, the Hickey Freeman and Ralph Lauren Purple Label type of stuff i get off eBay. They do it to perfection.
Cash only