Poor reviews are true. I read the reviews detailing poor customer service and quality of nail care, but I decided to give Modern Nail a try because I live one block away and my usual place (that I’ve been going to for 11 years) closes early and I needed the service that day. I called midday and asked to make an appointment for a regular manicure and pedicure at the latest possible slot they had that same day (they close at 9pm). I spoke with a man who first said “8pm?” Then said “7:45pm?” I told him 7:45pm was great an he took my name and phone #.When I arrived a few minutes before my scheduled appointment time, a younger guy at the front desk (not the man I spoke with) asked for my name and appeared to check the schedule. Then he walked over to a female employee in the middle of a pedicure and spoke softly into her ear. He turned around and said they couldn’t take me because all of their employees were busy with other clients and there was not enough time to serve me. When I protested that I made an appointment that day and was given the 7:45pm time, the male employee apologized and said there was nothing he could do. He added that they “only have 3 employees right now” because they “let 2 go home early.” When I asked why they would send people home early if they had an appointment, he mumbles something about it “not being fair to them.”I have no idea what type of employer-employee dynamics go on there, so employees who left could have had good reason to leave early. However, I was appalled that they would take an appointment, take my name and number, and then fail to either honor that appointment OR CALL ME TO TELL ME. I literally rushed through an in person meeting to get there on time and by then it was too late to try to find another salon because all others in the area close at 8pm or earlier.I try to give businesses the benefit of the doubt if they have some positive reviews but I’m not doing that anymore for nail salons. And I would never, ever go to Modern Nail again. I will caution neighbors to take their business elsewhere.

I’m stunned that in 2021 I can walk into an establishment and be completely and totally ignored by its staff. Several customers looked up when they heard me come in but none of the employees did. It dragged on so long that I started my watch timer. After 2 minutes, I approached a table where three employees were standing and said: excuse me. Who do I talk to about having my nails done? Silence. I started to wonder if I was being punked. I said it again. Two of the three looked at me but Still. Said. Nothing. An older male employee kind of glared at me hostilely while remaining silent. By now every other customer was openly staring wide-eyed, so I knew this situation wasn’t the norm here. (Is it a coincidence that I was the only non-white customer? Your call.) Finally, a youngish man brusquely said: can I help you? I repeated my inquiry for the third time. He said (as if I were inconveniencing him): can you just wait just a second? And turned his back. I chuckled to myself at the absurdity of the situation. Finally he said: okay. Please pick a color. As I walked to do so, the hostile-ish older male employee walked from behind the table, walked perpendicular to me and, eyes firmly in my direction, BUMPED INTO ME. He didn’t have to. There was plenty of space. What. The. *%^#?! I continued to walk toward the color table, which led to the door I’d come in, and walked right out. You cannot have a single dime of my money after this treatment. And I may pursue this beyond just a bad review because it’s 200% unacceptable.

Lengthy comment but a Must Read!!I just moved to DC from Chicago and was reallyMissing my nail tech from back home. But I needed a fill, 1 nail replaced and a toe nail polish change. so I made an appointment here. They first didn’t have the liquid gel to fill so I went with acrylic. Then since my nails are a bit more flat my nail tech would use nails that naturally had a curve. They also didn’t have those type of make. I showed up for my appointment and had to wait 30 minutes. During the service there were little imperfections I kept noticing and would bring it the the nail techs attention. He first wasn’t painting all the way to my cuticle. Also I had neon yellow nails prior and I could still see the yellow polish on the sides of my nails even after he applied the orange polish. Then the filing job…several nails were uneven that I mentioned multiple times during the service. After the service was complete I could clearly see the huge imperfections and poor quality of each nail.I went to the front desk to pay and asked to then speak to the manager. I proceeded to show her the mistakes and she said she could see the imperfections I was speaking of. The total charge for a acrylic fill, 1 replaced nail with gel polish and a toenail polish change was $79. She dropped my priceDown only to $59 and said come back and they will fix them. I called the next day to get in and I ended up having a family emergency and wasn’t able to come in. I called and canceled and said I would call back to reschedule. I called back 4 days later once I was able to get the time to accommodate Again for 2 more hours of my time and I was DENIED a free “correction service”. They said they only honor to fix for free after 2 days and that’s it. I explained what had happened the guys name I spoke to was Michael and he said he would take down my name and number and have the manager call me back. I Never received a call or anything. These pictures were taken immediately after my appointment within 3 minutes. The gel polish peeped immediately, there were lumps in my nails and you can see he didn’t even paint down to my cuticle. It looked like I needed a fill right after my service! This was the worst experience I’ve ever had getting my nails done and extremely unprofessional. I would absolutely NOT recommend this place.

75% of the time, even when I have an appointment, Im told to come back later. I give two stars because before pandemic they did a great job, but its been impossible to get them to adhere to appointments since then.

They do a great job making your nails look fresh. The service is wonderful and the place is super clean!so I didnt have to worry about the fumes I might be breathing. Ill definitely go back.

Been here twice nails look great, going back. Sometimes long wait

Tina did an amazing job on my nails! She was so polite and took her time. I am very happy with the end result. I will definitely be coming back and booking an appointment with Tina!

Now Im going to so far they are great and still look fresh after the first week. But the space is so relaxing and they always do a great job.

I love this place, it’s around the corner from me and the quality is usually always great. But if you are telling clients to book appointments and then not prioritizing those appointments, then you have a huge problem. I called first thing when they opened and made an appointment for 5pm. Showed up, no one said anything to me in terms of timing or how long it would take, I sat and waiting for 20 minutes while no one said a word to me and then I left. When a client books and appointment there should be someone waiting there at the appointment time to service them. You cannot take walkins over scheduled appointments and then not be able to meet the commitment on the books. I really love this place, but that was the worst customer service I have ever witnessed.

This is my favorite spot in the city. Always leave with a perfect mani/pedi. I am very picky about my nails and I never have any complaints! Great customer service!!

The owner of this nail salon is extremely unprofessional. I came in when they first opened asking if they could fix my nails and they said to come back an hour later. They wrote my appointment down and everything. I came back right on time and they were busier and asked again for me to come back at a different time, with a big attitude. They clearly forgot about my appointment and accepted more people who came in after me. There are plenty of nail salons that are better and more professional than this one - don’t waste your time.

My experience overall was not bad. I’ll detail the pros and cons.Pros: friendly staff, comfortable pedicure chairs, good legs and feet massage, pretty nail salon, close to metro, location convenient if you live in the navy yard area.Cons: uncomfortable manicure chairs, they didn’t offer me water or anything to drink, technician didn’t buff my hand nails so I have a bump under the polish in one of my nails, technician didn’t do a thorough cuticle removal, gel nail polish chipped in 1 week.

I have been seeing Mike my nail tech for 3 years now. It is always a relaxing, pleasant time in the shop.

Worst Nail experience of my life!!! Than I was charged for a mud pedicure that I did not receive!!!! I’m not one to argue especially cause I was with my fiancé who just came home from deployment on our first vacation!!

Had a wonderful experience. The staff was super friendly.

I really wanted to love Modern Nail Bar, which just opened in Navy Yard -- we’re short for nail salons in the neighborhood. Modern Nail Bar has beautiful decor and is very clean with kind, friendly staff. I had a gel French manicure done. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the end product. I left with polish all over my fingertips and the tips are uneven.

First of all- I am not one to write reviews but for this place I had to. I made an appointment a day before on their online appointment system. I made it for 7:15 and asked for a gel manicure. I called to tell them I’d be 5 minutes late due to traffic. The person on the phone did not understand me. I walked in at 7:21 and said I was the one who called and had a 7:15 appointment. They acted as they had no idea. I also noticed all of the nail technicians were busy with clients, so I wondered why I even made an appointment. Then, I had gel on my left hand still but not on my right. The nail tech started buffing my nails first instead of soaking them in acetone, which has happened everywhere else I have gone in the past. As she was buffing the old gel away, she nicked my skin 2 or 3 times. She finally stopped and did the acetone. They also ended up not having the color I picked out, so I had to pick another. It seemed a little rushed too...and the end results definitely prove that.

I had a great experience here. My appointment was on time and everything was so clean. I had a SNS manicure and it was quick and nicely done. I have no complaints about it here.

I came in one night prior to leaving for vacation 2 days into vacation the gel popped off the nail. By day 3 of my trip 3 more popped off. I will not return to this business.

Amy was friendly and professional. Look forward to returning.

Very satisfied with my pedicure

I love this place. They follow the protocols forcovid and the service is awesome.

I had an acrylic fill in and gel mani. Tina was amazing and my nails look great! Definitely will be a regular!

This was a disappointment. They rushed me, my lady couldn’t speak even a lick of English (I asked for green and she offered pink and then blue), she accidentally glued her glove to my hand and had to acetone it off, she changed bottles about five times because it looked dried up, and the edges weren’t clean.I was willing to be patient but less than 24 hours later, one of my dip powder nails fell off!! I got it fixed at another salon who said “this is such poor quality, I can see the others already starting to peel off”

Today was my first time going here. My tech was Tina, she was on time and very professional. I loved that she took her time with me no matter who else was coming in she didnt rush her service with me. She did an great pedicure and manicure for me. The other staff also seemed to be friendly and they also took their time with there clients. I will definitely be visiting again in 3 weeks. Very clean and beautiful shop.

I came for a mani and pedi and it was great I loved everything ! Very friendly staff, clean and beautiful salon . I am definitely coming back!

I booked my first visit online but they still doubled booked me with someone who called in. 2nd visit I called ahead to get a pedicure and they confirmed. After arriving and waiting for 10min they asked me to leave and come back in 30 min. Wasted my time twice with no consolation for the inconvenience.

Great service and they do a great job.

CUSTOMER BEWARE: poor customer service, poor quality work. First time at this salon. Got an SNS mani on Monday - one nail broke today (Thursday). Ive never had an SNS mani nail break and for context, Ive been getting them done for 2 years. You can see where the tech cut into my cuticles and made them bleed. It took 40 min for them to take my previous SNS mani off, primarily because the front desk girl did it, who admitted she wasnt a tech, and had no idea what she was doing - the other techs barely gave her direction, I had to tell her what to do, and it was super slow. Its a bar and nobody offered me a drink at any point.

Go see my girl Jessie she is great!!

Pedicure was awesome! The lady that did the manicure and pedicure was great. However, I did not get gel polish on my finger nails because it ruins my natural nails so I opted for traditional nail polish. Well, they used the cheapest polish available, did only one coat of the clear and 2hrs after I left the salon it was already PEELING! I called today and the man told me that they don’t guarantee the polish because it’s regular polish. I have NEVER had a regular polish PEEL after 2 hrs!! I’m sure had they used OPI polish it would’ve never peeled that fast. Extremely displeased and disappointed with the quality of the products. They also did not give me the parafin treatment for my hands and feet per the groupon I bought. Don’t waste your time! The place is nice, it has potential but the man who answered the phone was so rude and started helping another person while I was still on the phone.

Very detailed!

Amazing job done by Tina.This is my favorite nail place in the city! Everyone should come here! Great service and great people!Very happy I chose this place to come to! You wont leave disappointed

Best nail salon in the city. Its clean and they do a great job. Best part is they take their time and dont rush. The staff are nice and friendly but also dont talk to you much

I absolutely love Modern Nail Bar in Navy Yard! I got consistently about every 2-3 weeks, depending on my work and travel schedule. I always get an SNS manicure and will occasionally get a regular or gel pedicure. They are great at the dipping powder manicures, and they have a wide range of colors to choose from. The lady I see is the ONLY person I like to see for manicures! She is so meticulous and is wonderful! She knows exactly what I like!

I was walking by and decided to pop in to get a gel manicure. It was $38, fast, and my nails looks great. The place is cute and trendy and the girls are personable. You can tell that it’s new and so are the nail techs, but that isn’t a bad thing. I’ll definitely be coming back and I’m excited to welcome Modern Nail Bar to the Navy Yard!

I came to this salon as a walk in for a pedicure and polish. It was a bit expensive but seemed pretty good. I then made an appointment another day. When I turned up they ignored me and then didn’t even seem to know what the appointment was for, even though I’d called a couple of hours before. Most of the staff can hardly speak English and the apparent manager was very rude and actually said “if you have an appointment you have to wait” although by now it was 10 minutes after the appointment time.I would give minus 5 stars if I could and will never go there again. It’s a shame because it’s a nice location

Modern interior with a real relaxing/casual vibe. Good attention to detail on the pedicure that I got.

Every time I come here all They did acrylic the first time and gel the second and she was thrilled with both and she is hard to please. Very nice staff highly recommend!e women do an excellent job!

This salon is absolutely beautiful! The service has been fantastic every time I have been. The owner Kristi is so kind and fabulous at what she does! A great nail salon is so needed in this neighborhood and I am so glad they are here!!

Reasonably priced for a gel mani. I go to Tina, and shes very detailed and always does a great job! Ive been getting gel manicures for years, and this place by far, has been the best.

The women here are so nice and friendly and do a great job! I recently did the gel mani and it almost been two weeks and they havent chipped!I would definitely recommend coming here! You wont regret it!

I am visiting for work, stopped in for service because it was downstairs of the hotel, so very convenient. I was pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness and decor, the speed of service, and the quality of service. I got waxing done on the face, so cleanliness and quality is very important. I was also very excited that the employees spoke to me in simple Korean after learning that I was studying the language - where I live there are very few people who speak Korean so I dont get to practice much, so I sound horrible but so patient with me. 감사합니다 언니! 언니는 너무 친절합니다! I know the employees here care very much about their customers, and appreciated the atmosphere. I think some of the negative reviews I have read stem from miscommunication more than poor quality. Will definitely come again the next business trip - will book a mani/pedi as well.

This place is amazing... Cheaper than where I was going before. I got multi colored gel short nails they lasted for 3weeks 💯💕 I most definitely will be back.

My go to nail salon. Their services are great, staff is very friendly. Also I love how creative they can be with nail art.Thank you for a wonderful job !

Had a wonderful experience here! Nails were done perfectly by Michael and Crystal saved me when my little guy started to cry mid appt! Thank you for being so kind!!

We come from Richmond to go here

Wife said rose was a wonderful

Customer Beware: poor quality work done at this salon. My nails were file crooked. The gel polish job wasn’t smooth and to top it off the technician (older lady wears glasses) was rough and rude. The chairs are uncomfortable they offer water or wine in styrofoam cups. I will NEVER go back.

This place is awesome. Great services for waxing and pedicure and manicures! Thanks for the wine too 🤗

Didnt appear they were using sterilized utensils to do my pedicure during COVID reopening.

I really want to love this salon. It’s so esthetically chic when it comes to the salons design and decor but the work always seems to be subpar. I literally had to ask my fiancé to never let me go back. The price is a little up there and I normally wouldn’t mind paying it but I never get my money’s worth when it comes to service. The chairs for manicures aren’t comfortable either and there is no room for your knees.

I came to get my eyebrows and a pedicure.after looking at my eyebrows they’re not the same shape and I still have wax on my face. After my pedicure I still had dead skin on my feet. I only came in because they had a “happy hour” price. They still tried to cheat me out of my money.

Extremely disappointed and left in tears. I went to get my artificial nails removed and have a manicure. The acetone wasnt working fast enough for the nail tech and she was getting visibly and verbally upset. She then proceeded to pry all my nails off and left my nails damaged. She then told me to go to CVS and buy a nail hardener and refused to give me a manicure (oh, but a more expensive gel manicure would have been fine).

I want to love Modern Nail and have it be my regular nail salon but I cant for a few reasons. The staff is friendly and the salon is very clean. It is well decorated but it is simply not comfortable. The counters are narrow and the chairs are back less. There is nowhere for your knees to go while getting a manicure. Technicians have to stand to do your nails. Lastly, their products are not great/cheap. My gel manis that normally last 2-3 weeks from other salons might last one week from here. After multiple visits and multiple techs doing my manicures, the results are the same which leads me to think the products they are using are not great. The colors fade and change and the paint chips. I wish they would use real CND shellac. The neighborhood is short on options for nail salons but this will only be an emergency/back up place for me unless they make some major changes to product and their set up.

All nail technicians here do not have valid D.C Nail Technician licenses. I have reported Modern Nail Bar for operating nail services without being professionally certified. Management can prove me wrong simply display all staffs nail licenses. Very poor services, Do not come here and waste your money

Love this place. Great prices and awesome staff.

My first experience was awesome, Michael was very professional, friendly and did an excellent job on my nails. Michael you ROCK!!!

I had ok experiences with Modern Nail in the past but giving them two stars now for inconsistency and poor communication. They advertise a HH special on their FB page from Monday - Thursday. When I went on a Thursday, they did not honor their HH deal (the technicians said the HH only runs Monday - Wednesday even though I showed them them the post on my phone that said otherwise). I was also able to redeem a HH gel mani and house pedi all in one visit many times in the past, but they no longer accept two HH specials in one sitting. Even though the owner, Kristi confirmed with me over email that you can use multiple deals during one visit, they do not honor it at the salon. It looks like she has not communicated that clearly with the technicians and she has not responded back to my emails. The technicians suggested I come back on two separate days if I wanted to redeem one gel mani and one house pedi (if only I had all the time in the world to do that). If that is the case, this should clearly be communicated in all of their HH advertisements online.

I wanted to love this salon since it is very close to my office, but unfortunately it was one of the worst manicures I have ever received. My nails were cut but barely filed and uneven, and my polish started chipping the very next day. Very cheap products and poor service. Would not recommend.

I was a little hesitant to go in because some of the reviews arent great--but I had a really nice experience and no complaints! I definitely recommend!

As nice as the people working there and decor are...I just had the worst manicure of any type Ive ever had. I was lured in by their happy hour deal for an SNS manicure. The clinician, although sweet, cut a giant hole in my skin trying to get at my cuticle that never stopped bleeding the entire time it was so severe. The SNS was applied haphazardly, and was not properly smoothed out or sanded too much leaving holes in the polish. my nails were filed unevenly, and she continued to touch the top coat to check it was dry leaving it ruined without fixing it. I will honestly have to go home and try to save my nails myself and fix my wound. I could have done a better job with no training, and feel like I threw my money away.

I had a short window open and It was very close to my house, when I first walked in, the staff was clueless and they were very unwelcoming, not even smiling. They asked me to pick a color and they were rude about why I didn’t know where their color stand is ( first time to go there), I asked for french SNS and they refused to do it. The one who did my nails and the guy were arguing about how to do my nails, the girl was complaining to me ( never do that to a customer). I was lucky to have the mirror while doing my eyebrows cause I would’ve left with a half one. Lol and i was left with wax on my face and my eyebrows barely done. My nails both pedi and meni were awful, i asked for cleaning before and for the first time I see someone barely does anything and when, right after I’m done. No lotion after i was done, no filing, not removing the dead skin. noooooooothing, and all of that took 3 hours, and I didn’t go to my usual spot cause I didn’t have time and I ended up there for 3 hours. And that cost me even higher from where I go, had to go and fix it after few days at the Cosmopolitan which I love. And it took the guy half an hour just trying to move the cheap SNS product I had on my nails and my nails got way thinner cause the way they did it at modern nail spa. Wonder why on a weekend they didn’t have appointments and everyone was doing a walk in, poor service, poor products though it was a nice set up for a place. Lol

Service was very long and unfortunately the tips of my fingers were stained from the polish running onto my finger tips from the service. Nice and clean place but would not recommend.

I just stumbled across this Modern Nail Bar and decided to walk in. Vivian did my mani pedi and she did an exceptional job. Her customer service was amazing, for once i could have a decent conversation with a nail tech and not feel rushed. But i didnt get the same customer service from the manager or the other staff, and that is when it felt like it was the same old chop shops. Well you can dress it up but you know the rest.. Vivian you are Diamond IN A RUFF. The owner needs more tech like Vivian and she just started like one day #gotovivian owner you need better customer service from your other staff let Vivian tech them how it is done.

I feel it’s important to post a review of this place so ppl are aware of what they are getting into. Additionally, I’m disappointed the manager decided to mark my yelp review as funny and call me dishonest, after I gave a fair and honest review that can be corroborated by the nail techs, my child, receipts and cameras.This place rushes customers, there was a lot of shuffling and confusion about who was seeing what customer and what service each customer was getting.My daughter got acrylic, coffin shaped nails. They had to be fixed twice, because the nail polish, shape and clean up were poorly done the first time. We ended up getting gel instead of polish (which was extra) because the nail polish/acrylic looked awful. The manager and nail techs (yes plural) agreed.I got gel mani, the tech did a satisfactory job. However, my cuticle was cut deeply, left bleeding and sore which the nail tech ignored. I had to ask another nail tech for something to clean it up with. This makes me question their sanitation and health practices.The salon is beautiful, but it is poorly managed with the nail techs rushing from one client to the next. While the manager verbally expressed a desire to make sure we were satisfied his actions and attitude towards his staff and us (my daughter and i) didn’t reflect the same. There is a difference between saying customer-centric niceties and actually caring about customers. Especially, when you respond to someone’s Yelp review by calling them a liar.

They do a good job at a semi decent price.

This is a beautiful salon. However, it is very apparent the staff here cant perform even a basic gel manicure or SNS dip. $90 (plus $15 top EACH for each technician for one service) spent and I HATE my nails and found the entire experience stressful. This salon will not be in business for long.During my visit, I was passed between three technicians just to do a basic SNS dip. I picked out a white color, requesting a round shape, and was convinced that a different powder by OPI would last longer and it was the same color (this is now my second technician working on my hands). The first technician filed my nails to prep for the dip, and then abruptly left the salon after asking another technician how to perform this service. I was then asked to move stations (to the gentleman who swapped my dip color).Two technicians were sitting around with nothing to do, and a patron walked in requesting a gel polish change. She sat for 10 mins before someone asked to see her nails, and then the technician claimed she couldnt do the gel polish change because she would be disappointed with her work. Common theme, huh?That technician then comes over to my nails and forces the second technician to take over the gel polish change and she would finish me. She then instructs me to come over to her station (third station Ive been moved to for this one service). The technician then jokes about how she used to hate being swapped technicians when she would get her nails done and I indicated that yeah, she was the third person to work on my nails today....Its very apparent the workers here do not enjoy working here, and work for a manager who will not give them raises. I want so badly to get my nails fixed, but I cant imagine going back to this salon with the atmosphere and lack of customer service. At least there customers were turned away because the salon was an hour from closing, and the technicians didnt want to do gel manicures. Quite awful...

Sonny did an amazing job, even served me wine

Quick and I am always able to get an appointment

Good people - delicious

Nice job, too pricey.

Great experience and wonderful massage!

NEVER EVER COME HERE! I have gotten my nails done every 2.5 weeks for about to years. I’ve gone to many different salons as I move around pretty often but always get SNS dip powder on my natural nails. Well, I just recently moved to DC close by and was so excited to come by as the salon appears very nice. Let me tell you that in this case appearances mean nothing. I got my usual, paid the steep price and moved on. Well, 2.5 weeks later I decided to come back to the same place just to find out THEY GAVE ME A FUNGUS. Everyone crowded around me but REFUSED to speak to me or tell me what was going on. Out of all the nail salons I’ve gone to this has never happened to me. I am absolutely UPSET and even more upset with how they handled this entire situation. Please please avoid this place at all cost.

I love how they treat me and the pedicure always lasts for an eternity in good condition. They have a very nice and quiet space.