Marc Lester, OD

My husband and I have been patients of Dr. Lester for over a decade and we have gladly referred friends to him as well. He is very efficient, knowledgeable and has handled my serious vision issues with adeptness and excellent advice. He is very responsive, friendly and thorough in conducting eye examinations and discussing solutions to vision problems. I would highly recommend him to anyone.
Please don’t review this business if you received a freebie for writing this review, or if you’re connected in any way to the owner or employees.

I think Dr. Lester means well but I will not be returning for two reasons. First, he barely took the time to refine my prescription like all other eye doctors have before him. I came out with a prescription that is less than what I have currently. I had to ask him to redo my vision test because he wouldn’t listen when I kept telling him the letters weren’t clear. Finally he upped my prescription. Second, and what really gets under my skin, is that when trying to put in my contacts unsuccessfully he actually said to me «it’s time for you to just grow up». Not the encouragement I would hope for from a professional.

My husband called to have an appointment made to get contacts for my 8 year old son. He stated to the female receptionist that he was 8 and in need of contacts. They gave us an appointment that required me to pull my son out of school. I was more than happy to oblige as it was something he needed (my kids play contact sports and even the sports frames don’t hold up well). So after pulling my kids out and driving an hour, over the bridge and into the city, we get to Lester’s office. The receptionist sees my kid and Lester sees my kid. They didn’t say anything. My husband went in first and apparently he broke the news to him that he couldn’t see my son. So instead of apologizing to me or my son for his error, he moves onto the next client in the waiting room. I was livid. No acknowledgement at all.
At least be a professional and explain to my kid that his office is more interested making money that they made the error of scheduling an appointment that couldn’t be processed. A simple, «sorry my receptionist was incompetent to understand when someone says his kid is 8 that I can not help you.» I can also assume when they looked up our insurance, specifically my son’s, she could have done the math and realized Lester doesn’t serve pediatric patients.
One star for the male receptionist, no idea if he’s still there.

Marc is a great optometrist — quick, thorough and with a great selection of the latest frames. He’s always helps me out with repair in those increasingly frequent instances when I step on my glasses or lose an eyeglass screw.

My last optometrist used to have an assistant that would basically do all of the measurements and tests during my visits, and only in the end would the actual doctor come in to give the final say. The exact opposite happened with Dr. Lester. He came out himself to get me, and was the one to administer all tests. He was friendly, efficient, and overall quick! Scheduling was equally as easy and efficient, I can’t believe this the kind of experience I could have been happening all the years. I was in and out within half an hour with my new prescription. He definitely just earned himself a loyal customer.

Dr. Lester is super fast, super talented and a pleasure to work with. I have been going to him for my contact and glass needs for a dozen years. None better!

What an all round great guy.
Friendly, efficient & incredibly competent and knowledgeable. I was in and out in 20 – 25 mins for a routine annual eye check. The office is located on the 20^th floor and is clean and spacious. I highly recommend Dr Lester. By the way Google Maps is inaccurate. The office is located on Montgomery St between Market & Sutter right by Starbucks.

Really great experience with Dr. Lester. He was not only extremely professional but he was quick and proficient. I’ve been seeing eye doctors for years and this by far was one of the beat experiences I’ve had.

This is the best experience I’ve had with any OD in the past 10 years. Not only is Dr Lester extremely competent and thorough, he’s also friendly, efficient, and happy to explain everything without being condescendant. In a 30min exam, he did more tests and taught me more about my eyes than I’ve ever learned from going to other doctors office.
In addition, he did not try to push for unnecessary treatment or medication for my dry eyes condition. Where previous OD’s had tried to put me on expensive treatment with multiple follow-​up visits, he simply recommended that I go to the nearby pharmacy and buy artificial tears — nothing more. We need more doctors like him.

Dr. Lester is extremely pleasant, and mindful of your time. I’ve been twice in two years and each visit has been efficient and friendly. He definitely listens to all your concerns, and wants you to feel comfortable with your eyes. I’ve been recommending him to everyone in my office since he takes VSP.

Sehtest? Neue Brille oder Brillengläser? Kontaktlinsen? — Hier bei Dr. Lester wird man «fündig».
Ich bin vor kurzem wieder zurück nach San Francisco gezogen und da hier die Sonne etwas öfter als in London scheint, musste ich meine Sonnenbrille mal wieder herauskamen. Da ich die jedoch schon lange nicht mehr gebraucht hatte, war die Stärke der Brillengläser nicht mehr up-​to-​date. Leider hatte ich jedoch mein aktuelles Brillenrezept nicht mehr und so musste ich wohl oder übel einen neuen Sehtest machen lassen.
Dr. Lester wurde mir von meinen Arbeitskollegen empfohlen: zum einen weil er unsere Firmenversicherung akzeptiert (Vision Plan), aber vor allem weil er ein wirklich cooler und netter Typ ist. Von letzterem könnte ich mich bei meinem Besuch persönlich überzeugen!
Anmerkung:
— Vorher einen Termin machen.
— Die Praxis ist im 22. Stock und die Aufzugs-​Situation ist ein wenig verwirrend.

Definitely one of the best optometrists I have ever had and I have always had good doctors!
Everything was so easy and quick. I went to my previous optometrist a couple months back and my prescription was wearing off after only a month. I was super concerned something was wrong with my eyes. Dr. Lester discovered that they had given me contacts for my old astigmatism and that I no longer needed contacts for my astigmatism because it faded over the years. Now i can see perfectly :). Super nice, friendly and to the point. Go see him!

Easy scheduling. Easy to get to his office. No waiting, very nice doctor. I was in and out in 25 minutes. He even helped me pick out my frames. Best experience I’ve ever had with an eye doctor.

Super easy scheduling process, super easy appointment, super easy payment process. Not only is visiting this office a breeze, but Dr. Lester is also very efficient and professional. He has a very friendly and warm personality — I wasn’t afraid to ask him any stupid questions. Easy, quick appointment to get my contact prescription updated. They even had my contacts ready to pick up the next day. Couldn’t ask for much more in an eye doctor!

I’ve been knowingly nearsighted for at least three years. Whilst living in New York, I saw an optometrist and had an eye exam and never got around to getting glasses before I moved to London. Later, in London, I went to Boots and got an eye exam intending to buy glasses online. I had six pairs sent to me from Classic Specs only to find that a key measurement I needed to get properly fitting glasses was missing from the Boots prescription (and those punks wouldn’t tell me it over the phone).
Back in San Francisco and finally fed up with faraway stuff being super blurry, I made an appointment with Dr. Lester. The exam was painless, quick and afterward he helped me pick out a pair of glasses (deftly steering me to frames that fit well and were $ 70 cheaper than the others under consideration).
All told the exam and the frames (with my VSP insurance) set me back less than $ 85.
And the best bit: I saw Dr. Lester on a Friday morning and before lunch the following Wednesday I had my glasses.

One of the most positive service experiences I’ve ever had! My old optometrist faxed in my prescription and within 1 – 2 days, I had my contacts in hand. Dr Lester’s office just made the process completely seamless for me, and I appreciate it. A quick call, a fax, and it was done.
Thanks so much!

I’d give Dr. Lester five stars for his medical practice, but only 2 or 3 for his glasses store. I’m averaging it up to 4 stars, because I really think a lot of his examination skills.
I really liked the receptionist: a sweet gent who made sure everything was in order on the phone, and called to remind me about our appointment. Once I was getting examined, Dr. Lester was excellent as well: patient with the «Option 1… or 2» machine, and very good at explaining the other machines he used to check my eye health. It was definitely a great experience. I have a bit of an odd set of eyes, medically, and Dr. Lester know exactly how to handle them, so that was great.
Unfortunately, once the medical portion of the appointment was over, the experience changed a bit. Dr. Lester brought me out to look at his selection of glasses, and I actually did find several options that I liked. However, I didn’t want to purchase right then and there – I wanted to take a look at some other options and get input from my girlfriend. Although his words were supportive of the decision to wait, «No problem, I want you to love them,» his demeanor changed and he made such a quick exit that he was actually still talking as he walked into the back room. Bummer.
Eventually, I did return to the office with my girlfriend to order a pair of glasses. They came in a reasonable amount of time, but I was displeased with the amount of time Dr. Lester took in adjusting the frames to fit my face. His common refrain was, well, try this for a few days and see how it feels. Ok… but it already hurts?
After a few visits back for more adjustments, I just gave up and went to Lenscrafters for my final adjustment.
To his credit, after I discovered a small scratch on my lenses less than a week after getting the glasses, he graciously accepted them back and got new lenses made. So that helps him in the star rating.
Overall, I’d say that Dr. Lester is an excellent optometrist and I recommend him in that capacity. Might be best to go elsewhere to purchase your spectacles though.

I would like all of my appointments to be like Dr. Lester’s — quick, painless, and convenient.
He is really a great optometrist and enjoys talking to you. He runs an efficient office and is always on time. I have never waited more than a few minutes and he would see me even if I arrived earlier than my scheduled appointment. Someone mentioned that his receptionist was rude but I disagree. He just wants to be straight to the point and not waste any time with small talk. I have no problem with that because I want to get on with my day.
Not to mention he has a vanity suite of #2020 which is quite clever. 4 stars!

Dr. Lester is the bomb, his front desk attendant is a terrible, rude and obnoxious. Advice to Dr. Lester, replace him immediately!
Otherwise, the over all experience was great, quick and professional. Dr. Lester is a funny guy who is extremely interested in YOU and how to assess all sorts of eye issues. I would highly recommend him to my friends an family, pending the front desk guy is out of the office– JUST HORRIBLE and MEAN.

Whenever I’ve gone to the office I’ve had a good experience, but I’ve had two things happen that mean I’ll be looking for a new eye-​doctor.
The first time I came here, I was looking to update my contact prescription and purchase new glasses. The check-​up went well, but I wasn’t sure which glasses to order yet. He told I could come back once I had thought about it more, and sent me home with a box of contacts. This would have been fine, except the contacts knocked out my vision insurance, so I wouldn’t be able to get new glasses frames covered for two years. Maybe I’m being naïve, but I would have expected he would have warned me that the box of contacts coming out of my insurance would mean I wouldn’t be able to get glasses covered, especially when he knew I was planning on purchasing glasses in the very near future. This didn’t bother me too much at the time — probably just an innocent mistake.
The thing that makes me not want to come back here is my difficulty in ordering refills. Every time I need to order a refill, his office refuses the prescription with 1−800-contacts, and I have to come back in again for what must be a 5-​minute appointment. I appreciate the need for yearly check-​ups, but blocking my contact refill is just obnoxious.

Making an appointment was dead simple on the phone with the efficient (if brusque) receptionist. I got a nice reminder call the day before, which is more of a courtesy than I can say some doctors’ offices feel compelled to provide these days — it was much appreciated.
Moments after exiting Montgomery BART and coasting up to suite 2020 (get it? ²⁰⁄₂₀ for normal vision acuity!) I was in Dr. Lester’s exam room. No funny business going on in the waiting room — no lengthy, repetitive forms to fill out or needlessly drawn out questionnaires. They didn’t even ask for my insurance information as I had already provided it at the time of making my appointment. Dr. Lester himself was a warm and inviting professional and made me feel immediately at ease within his care. He spoke confidently without any hint of superiority or arrogance and my eye exam was actually enjoyable. My appointment took no longer than 20 minutes, yet at no point did I feel hurried. I would compare Dr. Lester to a favourite offbeat high school teacher or that childhood friend’s dad that you wish was your own because he was, like, so much nicer and cooler than your actual dad.
Other medical offices could stand to learn a thing or two from this efficiently run practice. I only wish I had reason to come here more often, but alas, I’ve been blessed with great vision. If you have eye needs, you’d be a fool not to become a patient here.