Bushido

got my rook done here long time ago anyways they sold me gold jewelry and said it was pure solid gold well couples months later it started to wear out and i found out it was only gold plated. i did pay a lot of money for the jewelry. very disappointed in this place and how they ripped me off. i never complained or said anything i was just very disappointed that they would do something like this.

I would not recommend this tattoo shop. I had my work done by Riley. I researched for a few months to find a good black and grey realistic artist in Calgary. I found bushido and they were welcoming Riley to their team. I absolutely loved what I had seen of his work. Unfortunately after seeing him twice I was disappointed. I had a consultation explaining what I had wanted and that I respected his artist opinion. He said we could work away through a few appointments to finish my sleeve. I wanted roses coming down my arm and working in a realistic snowy owl down my forearm. During my first appointment Jess who is another artist there came over to see what Riley was tattooing on me and with a sarcastic tone stated «Huh, roses. Not like you haven’t done those before hey Riley.» And walked away. Real nice comment to say while someone is getting work done at this shop. My roses turned out pretty nice. I was looking forward to my next appointment 3 months later. On my second appointment Riley just threw together a quick stencil with two more roses and slapped them on my arm. Now this time I noticed he only used black, no white like the first time. Now I have 4 roses on my arm. Two different sessions, one artist and they look nothing alike. I’ve been asked numerous times if they were don’t by the same artist. Two completely different styles on my arm. The first ones look like garden roses soft rounded petals. The second set are crisp sharp edge roses more like long steam. The first ones are grey the second set are black.
Now I wrote Riley personally and politely explained why I wasn’t happy with his work. He wrote me back quickly and stated no problem he would fix then just call in and make an appointment. Now I’ve called 3 times in the past 3 months and each time I’ve been told sorry he’s not taking any appointments yet, watch his Instagram he will open his books again. Now it’s end of December I’m not happy with my work and no one is getting back to me. I luckily found a new artist in Edmonton who is fixing my work done at bushido.
Once again I would not recommended this shop. Not only do they have rude employees like Jess. But it does not seem they care about customer satisfaction.

I think I spent more time deciding on who was going to ink me than I did on my tattoo. So after a lot of research and studying tattoo artists’ portfolios, I decided to go to Bushido.
I visited the tattoo shop in person to book my appointment and to check out the situation– but I think you can reserve over the phone or email and then pay a deposit save your spot.
I was pleasantly surprised by the professional staff, the cleanliness of the shop and the portfolios of all the tattoo artists. My family and I actually love Bushido so much so that we have been there a total of six times. Six different tattoos by four different artists on three different family members.
I obviously love this tattoo shop otherwise I wouldn’t give it such a high review and my personal recommendation to the ones I hold near and dear– it loses one star for me because of my last visit. I went with a friend towards the end of their work day and I felt a bit rushed and the tattoo isn’t as finely detailed like my previous ones. It is a Sanskrit tattoo so I mean it doesn’t look awful but I wanted it to be thinner than it turned out.
However, I feel like my other two experiences with Bushido really warrants you taking a look and booking your appointment there. The artists listened to what I (and my family) wanted then put in their professional opinion. Which is amazing because my mom would have walked out with a tattoo bigger than her entire back without their guidance.
The prices are reasonable about $ 150 per hour. If your tattoo doesn’t take the hour you won’t get charged the full hourly price. Which is nice.
I have a fairly large rib tattoo, a hip tattoo, and a wrist tattoo all done by Bushido. For someone who was a tattoo first-​timer, I felt really welcomed in the building, was given proper instructions for care and while getting tattooed, and was constantly checked upon to see if I was handling the pain. This is the reason why I would go back again and tell my friends about Bushido. They are an amazing group of tattoo artists that really love what they do, so they do put in that extra little effort.
Sidenote: My tattoos didn’t hurt as much as everyone said it was going to hurt which made it hurt less, y’know what I mean?

Bushido is the place to beat when it comes to tattoos in Calgary.
Way back in 2010, I decided to venture into the world of tattoos. The first challenge became finding a place and an artist. The one constant thing that my friends kept saying was Bushido. Over and over again.
So I walked in and Erin the receptionist was super helpful with a billion questions I had and was able to get me in with Sam Smith within a reasonable amount of time.
Sam did such a great job with my Olympic tattoo! I was so amped to have it and even the CEO of VANOC complimented me on it. I also had a bunch of nervous first timer questions, and Erin would always answer them for me with a quick e-​mail or a phone call. Sam also was super patient with me during the «first time» nervousness.
I went back again a year or two later and got in with Sam again and she again killed it.
I recently got my third with Jay Breen and he also did an amazing job.
The only qualm is that it seems artists are in and out quite a bit, and if you want the most popular artists it might take years. I know people that are booking into 2016 already.
All the staff and artists are super talented, super helpful and friendly.
I do get what people are saying about price, but paying less isn’t what you want in a tattoo. All of mine are decent sized tattoos and I’ve either just paid the deposit price or $ 50 – 60 more.

My most favourite tattoo shop ever. Very professional, but fun! I enjoy going there as much to socialize as I do to get tattooed.
I have been going to Teika Hudson for about two years now and consider her my artist. However, my mom recently got tattooed by Jess there. I accompanied her and she was great too. Very patient with my tattoo virgin mother who was squirmy. I enjoy chatting with the artists that work around Teika and I’d happily have any one of the artists there work on me.
Great shop. Clean. Friendly. Excellent tattoos!

Love love love Bushido! I have gotten all three of my tattoos done here by different artists and each of them turned out amazing.
The customer service was great and the artists are all super friendly and do what they can to make you feel comfortable.
The studio is clean, warm and inviting and convenient to get to.
The only complaints I have are that for smaller tattoos its pretty pricey because there’s a base price, and they only accept cash but their ATM machine is almost always out of order so make sure you have cash on you!

Bushido is the best of the best! I did so much research before getting a half sleeve on my upper arm and am so happy I chose Bushido. My artist was Teika, she was warm and friendly and exceeded my expectations with what she did for me. Whenever I wear short sleeved tops I always have people ooh and ahh and ask where I had my tattoo done because the work is phenomenal, such fine details, beautiful strong colours and crisp outlines. The shop itself is beautifully laid out, warm and comfortable with professional staff and reception. It seems that all the artists here at Bushido are very experienced and of very high quality from what I have seen from every other artists work. I did have to wait a good few months after booking but it was very worth it, I will definitely be going here for my next tattoo!

Amazing shop, amazing artists! Every tattoo I’ve seen come out of this shop has been awesome. I’ve gotten 2 large ones myself here and although pricey they were wroth it. The downside is that they’re booked well in advance and you should expect to wait about 4 – 6 months for an appointment. Extremely clean space with good access to public transit.

I had my first tat done a couple of years ago by Sam Smith. Amazing artist. I have a Philippine (Monkey-​Eating) Eagle with some details from the Philippine flag, as well as my wife and kids’ names. It spans part of my chest, left arm and left shoulder blade. The depth of expression on the eagle’s face, the attention to detail on each feather – truly, the devil is in the details. Lost count how many unsolicited compliments I’ve gotten at the gym. Sam seriously rocks.

I got my most recent tattoo at Bushido just over a year ago. After having to put down $ 100 to keep my appointment, I was a little surprised that my mini-​tattoo cost another $ 140… I have 5 tattoos and this was definitely the most expensive one I’ve ever gotten, especially for its size. Some of the outlines of circles of my tattoo are noticeably larger than the other ones… Bushido gets bonus points for offering free touch ups for a year, but I didn’t even need to, the colour is still excellent. I was just a little thrown off by the price for the size of the tattoo, and am a little disappointed with the thickness of some of the lines compared to other ones (that should all be the same). The lady that did my tattoo was very personable though, and it was a clean, open place.

I have been a client of Bushido Tattoo for the past four years and as long as I live in Calgary will not need to go anywhere else.
Each artist at Bushido is talented and possesses a unique style of tattooing. I would trust any of them to tattoo my body. That being said, mostly all the work I have done has been by the lovely Hilary, who has a brilliant eye for detail, fine lines, and COMPLETE RADNESS. Sometimes when people stop me on the street asking where I had one of my pieces done I want to lie to them for one of two reasons:
1. They are weirdos who have only complimented my tattoos so they can show off their tribal geckos and terrible flash art to me and I would never torture the good people at Bushido by sending these people there.
2. My own selfish reason, a fear that one day Hilary will be far too booked up for me to get tattooed ever again ad that would be a shame. I’d cry, probably.
Their new (ish…2 years or so?) location is on 17^th avenue down near the Elbow River Casino. It’s so close to the train station that I would advise taking transit, as parking is tricky and the one time I drove some jerks did attempt to brake (EDIT: break, even) into my car. This however is not something I would ever hold any of the local businesses in the area accountable for and never discriminate against. Be prepared to book far ahead of time, as all of the artists of Bushido have been receiving the recognition they deserve and are crazy booked. Also remember to tip your artist. ;)

Great tattoo shop on 17^th!
Got work done with Sam Smith. Very creative artist. She added to a previous tattoo I had, and I am impressed.
Keep up the good work.

I love Bushido!!! I got my first tattoo (1 butterfly) with Mike Peace (when he was there) and it’s great, not my favorite, but definitely not bad.
I got my second tattoo (2 butterflies) with Hilary, I have to admit she is definitely the most naturally talented artist to put ink on me. I loved her use of colour and shading, these 2 are by far the most realistic of all of my tattoos.
And I finally got my last tattoo (a BIG piece, 4 butterflies and a lotus flower across my back) with Chrys G, he’s got a very gentle touch with the needle! Its seriously did not hurt AT ALL. Compared to the others. It also healed amazingly fast, and I haven’t needed any touchups.
When I initially booked with Chrys he said my tattoo would take approx 3 hours. So he booked me for the last tattoo of the day. We ended up taking closer to 4 hours, which took us past closing, but he continued with it and in the end only charged me the 3 hours, then he drove me home because my ride said she couldn’t come pick me up (as it was 10PM).
Overall every experience I’ve had here has been amazing and very personal. Anyone who wants to get a nicely done, beautiful piece of art put on their body should go here. Good prices, very clean and extremely friendly staff.