Cesar Shoe Repair

Awful, ABSOLUTELY don’t come here. Ruined a pair of my shoes and refused to listen to or work with me for a single second when I came back to speak about it, since I had already paid.
–
The man who works here repaired a hole in the sole of my shoe by adding a layer of rubber. When I tried on the shoes at home, the left shoe was unbalanced, so that one side of my foot was higher than the other. It felt like there was a bulge inside the shoe. The shoes are now unwearable. They’re leather, and I don’t know what to do with them, and may have to throw them away.
When I went back to the store to explain the problem, he and his assistant dismissed me from the first sentence, saying they didn’t do anything to the shoe. Patiently, I said, yes, I believe you, but you have to work with me, and figure out what can be done. BEFORE the repair this was not a problem: the shoes were perfectly even and comfortable to wear for a year and a half, and now there is a bulge in the shoe.
As they were closing, they ran out the door and refused to talk to me.
I came in the next day to have more time to talk. He was not happy to see me and mocked me instead of being helpful. «Maybe you should go see a doctor.» I said, there’s nothing wrong with my feet — two days ago the shoes were fine. He said, «a head doctor, not a foot doctor,» and laughed.
I DO NOT recommend this place. If something goes awry, they will NOT work with you and treat you rudely. They will assume that you do not speak Spanish (even though I do, and understood all of their insults behind my back) and talk about you while you are there. Awful customer service and it seems that the work with the shoes is sometimes iffy as well. Do yourself a favor and spare yourself the experience.
They need to learn politeness and patience with customers. I hope that this will help that happen.

I have been very satisfied with their work; I gave them 2 pairs of ladies’ boots, one for exterior cleaning/​shine ($ 5) and the other for heel replacement ($ 12). Turnaround time was 3 days but that was because I said I didn’t care when I got them back. Additonally, I gave them a black leather fossil bag of which the custom leather straps needed to be completely replaced. They were incredibly fair in their pricing ($ 25), compared to other reputable cobblers in the UES who quoted me $ 40.
As to their customer service… I’ve been very pleased. As long as you try to be friendly, they’ll be friendly right back. It sounds like the negative reviews were about customer service, rather than work quality, which is unfortunate; at the end of the day, excellent craftsmanship is more important to me than charming service.
Interesting fact: when you walk into their store, you will see a TON of dirty looking shoes tossed on the floor… I thought they were shoes from active customers but thank heavens no! The owners receive shoe donations, repair them, and then donate them to charities in Latin American countries.
Definitely going to go back because of their reliable service.

Crotchety old man and his assistant who assumed I wasn’t Hispanic and started talking crap about my shoes when I asked how long it would take to fix them. He did a good job, but I think he needs to retire.

I went here to fix my leather boots and one of the Cesars did an AMAZING job! The rubber soles were coming apart and one boot’s zipper had broken, and he fixed everything for $ 35 and in just a couple days. The Cesar family is so nice and funny that I ended up paying them more than he asked (the two Cesars are brothers I think?). I will be going back!

Just an FYI… I tried calling to ask in advance before shleping over there if they clean UGG boots. The man said that he needed to see them first but when I asked him if he’d ever cleaned UGGS before, he hung up on me. If he does that, imagine how he will treat your shoes. You’ve been warned.