Inwood Ink: REVIEW: Five Star Cleaners

The washer and dryer in my building suck.

They are terrible, and I don't have the ability to baby sit my clothes for 6 hours while they tumble to near dry...

SO-

I take my clothes to be done at a laundromat where I can pick them up folded and dry.

First I tried to bring my clothes to LAUNDROMAT-- as seen here. But no one who was working spoke any English. But I wanted to see what they would do- So I gave them 10 pounds of laundry. When I came back later that day,, about 9 hours later-- it was all done.. but they charged me 10 dollars. I don't know if they did this because I am a non-Hispanic, or because there was a language barrier, or because they have ridiculous prices. But it pissed me off, and I won't ever go there again. It isn't worth the ink. Though they were nice about the whole thing, I am not about to haggle a woman who doesn't speak English. I just gave her the 10 bucks and took my laundry home. So.. to them I say; POO POO.

Okay.

Which brings me to my next destination for getting my clothes all nice and prettied up.

The Five Star Cleaners on Sherman and Thayer.

This place is your all in one clothes cleaner, dry cleaner, pants repairing, stain removing destination.

I go in, and there is an Asian lady reading a paper in what I think is Chinese. She smiles at me and ushers for me to bring the laundry hamper around to the scale on the other side of the counter so i can see how much it weighs and she can show me the price per pound. She then IN SPANISH calls to her employee to take the sack away. It was wonderfully cheap and I had same day service done on it. I came back that night and paid WITH CREDIT for clothes that were neatly folded and smelled like fresh oranges. I swear to God she must have thrown a few juicy oranges in with the rinse cycle-- it was great.

So firstly I learn that this lady is a smart cookie; she is tri-lingual.

Next, I brought in a pair of ripped up old jeans to see how she would repair that. I point to the crotch and told her that I would need that fixed up, she said sure, and to come back tomorrow morning to get them. I came back,,, and they were not done. She said come back at 5 pm and get them. I came back,, ---- they were not done. She said come back in the morning. I came back the next morning, and she had fixed the jeans in EXACTLY the place in the crotch I pointed to. Not the WHOLE crotch,, just the part I pointed to.

Now,, I know that it is good to never assume anything, but really my sweet little lady-- when someone wants the crotch of their pants fixed.... umm.. they really mean the whole thing,, not just half of it.

I asked her, and she said it would be 5 more dollars to do the rest of the crotch. I said, "oh no-- it's perfect! You did a great job fixing the part I pointed to!" I said this very sincerely and I meant it. Her stitching was wonderful, and has held up immaculately.

But as you can see this puts me in a bit of a pickle. I am too nice sometimes and let people get away with doing skeezy things like fixing half a crotch. So I made the best of it and fixed the rest myself. As you can see though, my repair work (on the left and center) is not nearly so nice as hers (on the far right,) and has fallen to pieces over and over. But now if i take it back to her she will probably laugh at me.. Hmmm.. Unless I take out the stitch work I did all together and let her do the whole thing again. This time i will wave my hand over the ENTIRE crotch when I tell her what to fix.

But anyway.. After that incident.. I didn't feel too comfortable bringing this woman my dainties and such to be cleaned. Luckily I went on vacation for a bit and when i got back and brought her laundry she asked me where I had been and told me " I appreciate your business." It was really sweet. I think she knew I had been slightly enraged by the pants incident.

So I still bring my laundry there. It always comes back smelling slightly orangey-- which I love. But they NO LONGER TAKE CREDIT CARDS. Even though they DO have a machine with which to swipe. They say it costs them more to do credit than cash. So unless you do a HUGE load for a family--- it's probably going to be a no go.

ALSO- they do do same day service.. but usually it is on their terms. This means that if you need your clothes THAT NIGHT-- make sure you tell them this, and ask; "What time can I get these tonight." And DON'T be an unreasonable DOUCHE bag and ask for them in 2 hours. Give them a good while to finish their job and do it right. You will be satisfied with the results.