A & I Friendly Tailor

I’ve gone to a number of alteration shops throughout Los Angeles and I can promise you that A&I is not only the best in terms of craftsmanship but their pricing is really fair. They’re experts and they’re professional and kind. They’re the best!

I have lived in the Marina for 30 years and always used Rudolf and Valentina until their shop closed and moved to Westwood. My mother was a tailor so I feel that I know quality work. I found A&I Friendly Tailors and met Alla. She has tailored suits and much more for me. Their work is outstanding. This is the only place that I go to get my clothes tailored.

Do not trust this place – If you’re a busy person and unable to pick up your stuff right away. you may never see your stuff again.
I’ve come here a handful of times over the years with simple alterations. I wasn’t totally blown away by the precision of work, but simple things always turned out ok.
More recently, I had an INCREDIBLY upsetting experience.
I dropped off a vintage dress to be hemmed and said I’d be back soon to pick it up. I requested a ticket but Alla said I didn’t need one and wouldn’t give one to me, as she said she «knew who I was».
I have a demanding work schedule and was unable to pick up the dress right away. I called twice in between dropping it off and now, to reassure her that I still intended to pick it up and was told «no problem». I even stopped by the shop twice and she was closed (once on a Sunday, forgetting they were closed, and another time on a weekday, when they closed earlier than they’re supposed to).
This past Friday I walked in, cash in hand, to pick up my dress. Alla exclaimed, that along with many other people’s clothes, she «donated it» back in July (which is the SAME MONTH I dropped it off)! What ensued was a shouting match where she waffled between knowing who I am and knowing exactly which item I had left, to «not remembering» me or my item. It was insane.
She tried to justify getting rid of my item, saying verbatim that it was «cheap» and not worth keeping. She claimed that I dropped it off in May, which isn’t possible, because I didn’t even purchase the item until June, and dropped it off mid July. I understand that I left it there longer than usual, but I indicated to her TWICE that I intended to pick it up, and it was a simple $ 10 alteration. Not once did she call me asking me to pick it up, or to notify me that she intended to get rid of it. No where in the shop does it state a time limit, after which they will get rid of your items.
I left in a furry, resigned to the fact that it was gone, but returned to request the name of the place she donated it to, and to see a copy of the donation receipt — again, she couldn’t give me an exact name of where she donated it.
I left my name and number, and was told that she would call me in three weeks. I’m not sure that I anticipate that happening, nor do I think I will ever see my dress again.
Incredibly upsetting, and very shady.

I have been to A&I «Friendly» Tailor a few times in the past, and while her prices can be a little high, the work on hemmed pants and replacing zippers was always done fine. I saw some of the negative reviews about her attitude on here and just tried to chalk it up to cultural differences. So, when it was time to get married, I brought my wedding dress to her and we talked about what could be done. There was some beaded embroidery at the bottom of the dress that she didn’t want to touch, so I agreed to see if we could just shorten the underlayer to the appropriate length and leave the embroidered layer slightly longer, just to where the embroidery began. I picked up the dress and it seemed fine, but when I tried dancing in it, I could see i would be tripping and so I called to see if she could take another look at what could be done. She said to come in. No sooner had I pulled into the parking lot that she saw me and began yelling from the door of her shop that she cannot help me and that she would «ruin» the dress and she wouldn’t touch it. She wouldn’t even let me in her shop and basically yelled me back into my car. That is not how you treat people — and seriously, not a slightly stressed bride. I was almost reduced to tears and went on Unilocal to find another tailor. Took my dress over to G&V Tailor on Main Street, and the lovely woman there looked at the dress and told me her plan to shorten it, no problem. It turned out perfect (No tripping), which really leads me to believe that not only is A&I not a FRIENDLY tailor, but also not very competent. I feel too bad to give one star, the work she did was fine, except that I one of the buttons from the bustle fell off before the end of the wedding.

As a first-​time bridesmaid and also having never had a garment altered before, I really didn’t know where to take my bridesmaid dress to get hemmed. So I went to Unilocal and up popped this place, and it was close to work and open good hours. Awesome!
All in all, it’s ok. I did NOT heed the warning about it being expensive, and wish I should have. $ 45 just to hem the bottom of a simple bridesmaid dress seems a bit excessive, in my opinion. It wasn’t a «rush» job either, I gave 1.5 weeks, which I think is considered normal. When first dropping off the dress I thought I heard $ 25, which is plenty reasonable, so that may have been a language error on my part.
The part that really irks me though, is that I dropped my dress off with a simple garment bag and left it there. When picking up the dress, I was handed just the dress — no garment bag. When asked about the garment bag, she claimed it ripped and it was simply gone — and then tried to sell me one for $ 5, which I declined. I didn’t really think about it until I started driving again, but if the bag becomes ripped in her care, I think it should be replaced by the business, not the client. My garment bag was worth maybe $ 10, but still. I’m dropping $ 1000 on this wedding bare minimum, and adding any more random stuff mere days before just isn’t ideal.
She was friendly, I’m sure she does a great job for other things (I haven’t tried on the dress yet, as I am at work), but I felt I probably should have taken this relatively simple job elsewhere. If you have money to spend or something complicated, it might be worth it, but it simply wasn’t for me.

What a great find. Alla is a sweetheart. She said «of course» when I asked her if she could fix a tear in my dress on the spot. She cheerfully did the repair and charged a reasonable and modest fee. Thank you, Alla. You are the besy. I highly recommend.

I rarely write reviews but I felt compelled given my experience today. If there is a misnomer for a place out there this is it, because «friendly» does not exist anywhere in that store. She tried to talk me into more alterations with a higher price than I was willing to pay– ok fine, it happens, not a big deal right? But when I gathered my stuff and casually walked out, she personally made the effort to rush to the door and SLAM it shut behind me! I mean are you serious?! Talk about passive aggressive! That is no way to run a business. Customers beware.

I have only been once I already love this place! what a great person and business this lady is running.

Alla is AMAZING!!! How many great things I could say about this place!!! Alla is so sweet and accommodating! I had been to several other alterations places in the past, but was never happy! I even drive 45 min to Alla’s place just to have her to work on my clothes! I don’t trust anyone except her! I have brought over 5 expensive dresses into her in the past 2 months alone! Brought my daughter’s uniform and my son’s suit. Alla always alter all my clothes perfectly. Her experience, vision, creativity and style are immaculately excluded each and every time I take in clothing for alterations. Service is fast and very reasonably priced. Highly recommend this place!!!

Alla is awesome. The best hemmed trousers in years. Will be a customer for life. Alla rocks!

cute and friendly owner! we had an evening dress and a men’s suit altered here and she did a wonderful job at a good price! I’ll be back for sure!

This is the worst tailor shop ever! I went to them twice to fix a couple items and it was okay work. The first time I paid $ 150 to have them fix a black tie gown and was too pressed for time to have them tighten it more. The second time was better. The only reason I decided to start going there was because they are close to my house. The third time I went, it was a nightmare. I had to have them re-​do one of my pieces bc the lady sewed it on so quick and carelessly. I was frustrated and went home and when I went home I tried on one of the other dresses they fixed and it was too short. I called to let them know and the lady was arguing with me making up weird stories about how she thought I said that I was gonna use the dress as a shirt! She wouldn’t let me speak and kept talking over me and then had the mets to hang up on me. I called back and they said that they couldn’t talk bc they had customers. Worst customer service. So unprofessional. Bad businesswomen. They do quick work and charge way too much. There are much better, more respectable tailors out there. Don’t waste your time.

Excellent service! She shortened my new curtains and they look great!

Came in to get measurements for a dress I was purchasing online. Only $ 5 and it was really quick. The woman working was so friendly and Russian — just like me ;)
While there a guy was picking up his pants and made a point to tell me she is the best, obviously it shows as she has amazing reviews.
I will definitely be coming back for any alterations I need!

I’ve had good and bad experiences over the years. Alla has done some AMAZING work — she altered a gown to fit my pregnant belly in less than a week! But there have been some shortcomings as well — 3 of my silk work shirts (not cheap) were slimmed too much so that I couldn’t button them anymore! Pretty egregious.
At this point, I would probably recommend her for basic jobs, but I still drive up to the west side for my expensive pieces. There is parking in the back if you don’t find any street parking.

Tiny store that can barely be noticed from outside. It’s operated by 2 nice ladies that know their craft. Reasonably priced and promptly served. I will be coming back in time of need!

The good: did a fine job. My blazer fits good. Alla was very nice at first…
The bad: She pushes hard for the up-​sell. I had numerous garments with me and was only interested in tailoring 1 item, but Alla kidnapped other garments, forcing me to commit to future business. When I later declined, she had a nasty cold attitude towards me.
The ugly: Her prices are very high. If you research the standard price, it’s about half her cost. I called around to different shops in Los Angeles and Alla’s price was consistently $ 30 over the average. Not cool.
Very entitled tailor, doesn’t appreciate good business or clients.

Small shops like this are sometimes hard to find. I came in to get a pair of pants altered for a wedding and I was in and out really quickly, the pants were ready the next day. and the prices are really good as well. She did a great job on my pants, quality work.
I will definitely be coming back in the near future for all my alterations.

Unfortunately, God did not bless me with the perfect frame. Nothing I buy is ever ready to wear. So in order to look good and not end up walking around town like an umpa lumpa, I gotta get all my clothes tailored to fit just right. Alla always does a great job. I’ve been coming to her since 2010. I pretty much take everything important I have to get fixed here: all my pants, button-​downs, jackets. One time, I even took back a pair of pants that were coming undone at the bottom after 2 months and she fixed it for free. I’ve never had an issue working with her. She gets the job done in a timely manner and always makes sure that I have my stuff ready to use when I need it. What more can you ask for?

I’ve meant to write this review a little earlier, but here goes.
I brought a hi lo American flag skirt into Alla on the 4^th of July thinking there was no way possible she would be able to finish or if the garment could be finished it would cost me a fortune. But she simple took all my measurements down and told me she’d have it done in simply hours. I was astonished, I had called every tailor from culver city to Santa Monica and each of them quoted me almost 2−3x more than Alla did and they also said it was impossible.
The entire staff is friendly, and will have you hugging and smiling on your way out the door, I can’t wait to bring my clothes back here. Thank you for the incredibly service!