Keith D. Kamei, OD

So what he doesn’t smile ²⁴⁄₇ he is very friendly and helpful regardless.

I’m not sure why Dr K doesn’t have better reviews. If you are just looking for a standard exam this is a great option. Dr K doesn’t necessarily smile all the time but he is friendly in his own stoic way and he is always happy to help.
For a quick and affordable eye exam in Vallejo, this is the place to go.

I never ever write Unilocal reviews. I usually am very happy with my service or unhappy and carry on with my day. My experience with Keith D. Kamei was not a good one to say the least. I would rather go to an expensive optometrist with a million letters after his name than go to this guy. He was very rude. Not pleasant at all! At one point in my appointment he became frustrated with me because he wasn’t clear in his questioning and became clearly annoyed with me because I didn’t understand the question. Take a chill pill, buddy! Costco has wonderful workers. To help the company further their wonderful customer service, my advice would be… Tell this gentleman to be nice and plaster a smile on his face.

I would not recommend him. I called to make the appointment and asked if they accepted my insurance which I was told they did. I go to my appointment and had a very hard time completing the exam, I’m not sure why because I’ve had an exam every year from my regular optometrist with no issues. I completed my exam and went to pay my co-​payment and then was told that I had no benefits, so I had to pay out of pocket. I wish they would have gotten pre-​authorization prior to my appointment but didn’t. I had to go back for a follow up since my prescription was not finalized. The doctor seemed like he was frustrated with me because he said one minute you can see just fine and the next minute you can’t. I thought that was rude. I went back for the follow up and he gave me contacts to try which i told him made me see double but he made me wear them anyway. I wear them for the rest of the day with a headache and took them out that night and never put them back in. Needless to say I will not be going back for my second follow up. It was a waste of my time and money.

Here’s the deal, I started going to Costco opto about 6 years back and decided 2 years ago to try San Francisco Costco opto service. The optometrist out there was very friendly, personable but incompetent. He had me buy a set of contacts despite complaining to him that my right eye (I have astigmatism) felt very uncomfortable. He changed me up to another brand and it was still slightly uncomfortable. Being a first timer with contact lenses, I thought it was normal.
Fast forward to present day (summer of 2015) I decided to try and come back to Vallejo Costco and I was reminded that Dr Kamei is not as friendly and personable as the previous optometrist that I had. However, he was very efficient, doesn’t take shortcuts and it was obvious that he does his job in a by the book manner.
He told me to come back a week after to get my trial contacts and holy sh*t, it was a whole new world. The contacts that he prescribed was so nice and comfy and even after telling him about this, he still had me sit down and checked my eyes with his apparatus. Yes, he still performed the Snellen chart!
Needless to say, he does his job as an optometrist and if you’re expecting proper customer service, humor, etc, just chop it up with his very personable assistants instead.
I dinged a star from this review only because I do acknowledge that he does need a little bit of humor. But hey, nobody’s perfect and he does his job real well.

This guy gets a bad rap. He has a stern and focused demeanor that might be taken the wrong way. Get over it. He’s a one man operation and doesn’t have time to shoot the bull. If you’re looking for a competent exam, he’s your guy.

If minimal social graces like saying hello and making eye contact is important to you, then this is not the place for you. I was, at least, fitted with appropriate lenses, but the guy’s a bummer to be around. Don’t let it ruin your day, though, if you end up making an appointment; the convenient location is hard to pass up.

I looked up some reviews before going and noticed many were very negative. I went anyway.
I feel that the reviews are unfair. Ok, so the guy doesn’t have much of a sense of humor and isn’t very personable in a conventional family doctor kind of way. That doesn’t make him rude or arrogant as some of the other reviewers have stated. Some people just have personalities like that.
The guy seemed to be a straight shooter and I’d go back.

Keith Kamel has been our optometrist for many years. We have received service from several ODs; at UCSF, UC School or Optometry, Berkeley, and several private practitioners, and in our opinion Keith Kamei is the best that we’ve had the good fortune to visit. We recommend him highly. Contrary to what I have read in other reviews, he does not possess any of the poor personality traits that have been assigned to him. Professionally he is efficient and competent. He administers an exam and prescription for lenses that will provide you with optimal vision.

Felt sad for him that he must be so unhappy to treat people so poorly. If he is burnt out and no longer likes his job, or people, as it seems, he needs to make some changes in his life. I teetered between giving him one or two stars because I felt like my exam was fine, but on a personal level, unbelievably rude, no matter how pleasant I tried to be to him. I won’t be going back to this optometrist.

First time to write a review thanks to Keith D. Kamei, OD if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have the courage to even have a Unilocal account… I Love Costco don’t get me wrong
but OMG this person is STRAIGHT UP RUDE. NO PERSONALITY and YES VERY ARROGANT .If Unilocal have ZERO STAR TO GIVE coz honestly it’s even hard for me to give this person one star… I just wish COSTCO would see how he treats his clients.

Straight to the point!
It was my first time coming here and
The filipino girl sitting in the front, Janelle, was the worst receptionist ever! She gave off a very negative vibe full of attitude which left a very bad taste in my mouth. She is unprofessional on the phone and in person. Maybe it’s because she is young and inexperienced, but either way, she needs an attitude adjustment.
Dr kamei doesn’t know what he’s doing!
Great customer service skills is important and vital to your business. Because of this unpleasant experience, it will be my last time ever to come here.
I regret coming here! Take my advice and go elsewhere

Oh wow, DO NOT GO TO THIS OPTOMETRIST!!! What a pompous, rude, arrogant, unfriendly, zero personality kind of person… My daughter had an appointment with him, she walked in, there was no receptionist, so she went up to him and he was looking down and she waited, then he looked at her with NO smile, no personality, no expression, didn’t say Hello, didn’t say anything at all, so my daughter smiled and said hi im so & so I have an appointment at 5:45pm and he looked down, still no word, threw up the clip board with papers and continued to look down on his papers, and she said, ok, well do you want me to fill these out??? he said nothing and I looked and loudly said, WELL I guess so then, and stared at him and he still didn’t acknowledge me, so we go to sit down and I am shaking my head in disbelief and then the other person who had an appointment went in and we had to wait, then it was my daughters turn to be seen, he walked out, looked at her with no smile, no words and said, your next, she looked at me and said, I want you to go in with me cause I don’t like him, I am not comfortable with him, I feel ackward, but she went in and I did wait outside for her, shes an adult too, and I asked the clerk who was in optical sales if there was any other optometrist and she said no and I said, hmm well that’s too bad, cause he is arrogant… she just smiled, I am sure she agreed with me… so my daughter comes out, he walks away, my 84 yr old father was with me and he walked up to the Optometrist and said in a joking manner, so how blind is my granddaughter??? he never looked at my father, never acknowledged him, my father cannot hear, he reads lips and he turns to the opposite side and said, shes not blind without looking at him, without an expression, nothing… my dad walked away, even said he was an *^%… cant print it… so she said, he was so rude, he interrupted me, was very impatient, was exasperating loudly, was mad that I wasn’t fast enough, was curt and didn’t answer any of my questions… I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PERSON FOR ANYONE… There was nothing at all nice about him, he had the personality of the floor I was standing on. He was so miserable, hated life and probably himself… arrogant, arrogant, arrogant… If I could give him a negative star I would. I posted this on my facebook page and so many people agree’d with me, they said they will not go to the Vallejo store cause of that OD… I wont either… I will go to Fairfield or Vacaville… I am also writing to COSTCO about him to the corporate office as well… he shouldn’t be allowed to work there. he is terrible… I know he has to have some pull in Unilocal cause I cant believe anyone would say anything nice about him at all… why people don’t complain to Costco cooperation, I don’t know… he shouldn’t work there and SHAME On Costco for keeping him there… hes one miserable person.

Horrible experience! I had a similar experience to a negative review previously written. I had gone to Dr. Kamei he was fine when I first saw him… stoic and professional but not rude like the second time I saw him. He was very unprofessional, uncouth, apathetic and impatient.
When having to make a choice between which lens were clearer, I took my time with a few because it looked similar. He seemed irritated and was rushing me. I felt uncomfortable and then just started to make choices quickly so he wouldn’t snap at me again. When he compared my old prescription to the new one he said it was off and the last person that examined me diagnosed or wrote the prescription wrong. I told him that he was the person that wrote it. He then blamed it on me; well maybe if he didn’t rush me then I probably would have the correct choices for my eyes.
The office that day wasn’t busy so I don’t know what crawled up his butt that day to make him Dr. Super Jerk but never again and I tell everyone I know not to go to him.
I had been to another doctor since and she was pleasant, warm, patient, caring and informative. She told me I had astigmatism which Dr. Kamei apparently didn’t catch. I go to that Costco all the time and I am always reminded of my bad experience with Dr. Kamei.

I saw Dr. Kamei in 2012 and 2013 for my yearly exam. Both times, I had very positive experiences. Dr. Kamei does not appear to over book, so it was easy to schedule an appointment and I was seen promptly when I arrived. My old optometrist left me waiting approximately 30 minutes past my appointment time every single year from 1995 to 2011, which drove me nuts.
Dr. Kamei is also a very mellow guy– friendly without being excessively chatty– and is very thorough about addressing concerns. This year, I walked out with three new contact solutions to try after I complained that my contacts were drying out and I could only wear them for a few hours at a time, after Dr. Kamei ruled out some other potential causes. His prices are great and he is in the Costco optometry department, which is also staffed with wonderful people and filled with great bargains ($ 50 Oscar de la Renta frames? Yes, please!).
In short, Dr. Kamei is great and I recommend his practice to anyone who values efficient yet thorough treatment at a more than fair price.

Professional courtesy is a yesterday experience. I arrived 10 minutes early to my appointment knowing that I had forms to fill out. Not a problem. The receptionist told me the Doctor is running a bit late and will be with me in a few minutes. Not a problem. Ten minutes after my scheduled appointment time, Dr. Kamei walks out of his office. Looks at me and walks around the counter. No acknowledgement. No, I will be with you soon. No smile or hello. Just walks by, looks at something, turns around, goes back into the office and closes the door. I’m thinking ok. Whatever. More than 30 minutes passes my scheduled appointment time and the receptionist knocks on his door asking how much longer. He says 5 more minutes. I’m thinking… you are not being respectful of my time. I tell the receptionist, I’m leaving and she asks if I want to cancel the appointment and did I want to reschedule. Are you kidding me? I ponder on Costco’s decision making process for vendors. Or is the space available inside Costco available for lease to anyone? Or are they Costco employees? I read the other reviews on Unilocal and this has been ongoing for years. They were right on. For me, it was a bad start for a beginning relationship. Better to walk away and grab a hot dog.

I recently went to the optometrist at the Fairfield Costco and had a great experience and did not have to deal with filling out a reimbursement form, only paid a $ 10 copay. Dr. Nguyen was very kind and patient and she answered my questions thoroughly. Tried to book an appt for my dad in Fairfield but the office was closed temporarily, so I figure Vallejo Costco optometrist can’t be that much different. WRONG
My dad had the misfortune of seeing this doctor. He and his secretary/​assistant did not have very pleasant attitudes, appeared bored out of their minds, and did not offer much help regarding VSP. We were the only people there at the time with no one after my dad, so I didn’t understand why they didn’t want to help us. I asked Dr. Kamei what the mailing address was to send the VSP reimbursement form and was answered by a blank stare. I understand that you do not deal with VSP directly, but it would be nice if you could offer some guidance as to what the procedure is. Or at least direct us to someone who does have a clue.
Both costco’s offer eye examinations for $ 49, but if you have the chance I recommend the Fairfield branch over this one. You will have a better experience, and their optical centers have very similar selections of frames.

he’s a good eye doctor. very accomodating and humble (subjective) but that’s my impression of him. he did my first eye exam and he’s actually house at Costco