I got my first ever tattoo here by Cynthia and it was a great experience. She gave me a quote that she maintained and did a great job with my tattoo. I also felt welcome in the shop. I would strongly recommend this place if you are thinking about getting your first tattoo. Read Less

I got my thigh piece done about 2 years ago by the wonderful Nate Silverii (that unfortunately doesn't work here anymore). I had such a great experience for my first tattoo. Nate took the time to walk me through the process and answer all of my questions. He was extremely sweet and made sure I was comfortable before starting and throughout the process of the tattoo. My thigh piece is still my favourite tattoo, and I recommend this shop to everyone! Such a professional and all around nice environment. I'll absolutely be going back! Read Less

Yesterday, April 21, owner/artist Shawn refreshed two existing Haida pieces for me and inked a third Haida piece (owl) on my upper back. His work as nothing short of excellent on all three pieces and I couldn't be happier with the results. His shop is spotlessly clean, the other staff there are most pleasant and fun people to be around. All in all I was in the chair for about 4.5 hours with a couple of short breaks between each piece. Shawn is a very nice young man as is ...Greg who was working beside him on another client. He did some fine work as well. The Ink Spot has been around now for about 17 years or so and is well-regarded. Shawn's work and experience speaks for itself. I had him redo two Haida pieces that were 16 and 14 years old respectively as they had faded from the sun and from chlorine swimming pools. They look better than the originals now! The new one is perfect. I have not even read the reviews below and I am posting this based upon my experience with him. I was supposed to have the work done in early January 2017 but I had to reschedule a week or so ahead as I had a very bad cold at the time. His prices are reasonable and fair. I would return and I recommend him highly. Know what you want to have done and discuss it with him beforehand in a consultation then pay your deposit and book the session. He guarantees his work and stands behind it. Enough said! Žiūrėti daugiau Read Less

I recently had an important piece of body art done here by Shawn. It ended up being more than 10 hours of actual tattooing over 3 sessions and he did an amazing job!!! I am thrilled with how the piece turned out. He provided lots of good advice throughout the planning and design and the artwork was amazing. I highly recommend this shop and will be going back for more work. Read Less

Roxie was fantastic and very patient as I dealt with the shock of pain that came when I had my VCH piercing done. It looks great and 24 hours later feels good. No sign of infection and great after care instructions. Read Less

My sister and I went in hoping for walk-in tattoos. They were super accommodating and professional. Cynthia did a wonderful job and fit us both in despite already having a full schedule. The price was also very reasonable. Read Less

Great experience today having my 7YO daughter's ears pierced. The place was clean, and the procedure was quick and relatively painless. It was my first time viewing a piercing with a needle as opposed to with a gun (my own four ear lobe holes were done with a gun), and I would definitely recommend it over the gun. It is sterile where the gun isn't and seems less painful. My daughter just had a surprised expression when it was done and was very willing to do the other ear. Roxie was great with explaining things to my daughter (and with answering my daughter's bold questions about her piercings!). I was super pleased to take advantage of their 2 for 1 piercing day on Wednesday. I would recommend. Read Less

I've been getting tattooed by Cynthia for over a decade and could not be happier with my tattoos. She is highly professional and her attention to detail is like no other! She is always willing to collaborate on my ideas and educate me along the way. Can't wait for my next one! Read Less

I have been a long time customer of Cynthia, 95% of my artwork has been done by her. My 3 Children which are grown adults have also been to Cynthia for their artwork. AMAZING atmosphere and genuine people at The Ink Spot!! Any and all questions were answered prior to any work being done. I would recommend this place to everyone! Read Less

The following email was sent to the shop owner:Dear Mr. Carrier I went to your shop, to get a septum piercing and had less than a positive experience.  Roxie, without any communication had me lying down and the clamp on my septum.  The needle went through with a second of sharp pain similar to any piercing I have had in the past.  Roxie then said "it is through, I just have screw on the bead" following this there was the most excruciating pain I have felt.  She proceeded to violently manipulate the jewelry in my freshly pierced septum.   I said several times "that is really really painful, what are you doing?".  She replied "yes this is going to hurt".  I was bewildered because screwing on one bead should not leave me with tears streaming down my cheeks.   I allowed her to continue to forcefully manipulate the jewelry painfully for several minutes after which I could not take the pain anymore and said "STOP! What are you doing? Is there a problem? Roxie replied "there is no problem I am putting the jewelry through".  I physically pushed her hands away from my face and looked in the mirror.  The jewelry was not in my septum but in her hand.  She had lost the connection when the needled pasted through and then proceeded to lie to me that the jewelry was through and all she was doing was tightening bead where in reality she was forcefully trying to hide her mistake and was ramming the blunt horseshoe through the freshly pierced hole without success and causing me undue pain.   Once I caught her error she was forced to move on and proceeded to use a taper and once again lost the connection and the jewelry was not through the piercing.  I asked her several times "what is the problem?" She had no response, no apology and made no effort to rectify her mistake and diffuse a now escalating unhappy customer. By this time I had lost all confidence in Roxie's capabilities and told Roxie I was leaving.  I requested to discuss my negative experience with the manager.  Roxie said yes I will meet you at the front.  I walked to the front, Roxie did not follow.  Roxie never did come to the front to speak with me but instead stayed hidden in her piercing room.  It was only after I demanded the manager's first and last name did the receptionist provide it.  I then asked for Roxie's full name and the receptionists rolled her eyes and said "no, you don't get her last name".Immediately following this I went to Living Color and their piercer looked at my septum, said it was hamburger meat and recommended a period of healing before attempting another septum piercing.   This incident is very distressing in part because it appears that your pierce Roxie is incompetent.  It is my understanding that she has been piercing for over eight years and this leads me to believe she does not lack experience but lacks motivation and effort to provide the customer with a high quality experience and final product.  Equally disturbing is the manner in which your employees conducted themselves.  Roxie should have been honest and forthcoming when there was an error and that she had lost the connection during the piercing (because after all, mistakes do happen).  She could have taken control of the situation, informed my that she would proceed with a taper to insert the jewelry, apologized and diffused the situation immediately.  Instead she lied and attempted to deceived the customer while causing unnecessary pain and tissue mutilation by forcing blunt jewelry through a closed hole.  I have submitted a compliant with Ottawa's Health Inspection Board outlining this entire incident as well I will be submitting this story to the Ottawa Citizen.  You will also find my review online.I hope that your employees can learn from this incident. Read Less

What an amazing experience. Pierre did a FANTASTIC job. Everyone at the shop is extremely professional, friendly, and courteous. Pierre does great tattoo work, I gave him a base idea, and he ran with it to place I couldn't have imagined myself. The place was very clean, and the entire staff was extremely knowledgeable of their crafts. Thank you again, and I can't wait to go back for more. Read Less

Update (Response to shop owner's comment): I guess I will add my response to Shawn here since they do not allow follow up comments:Yelp is all about customers giving their honest opinion. You can't get offended because I didn't like your shop. I explained in my review that maybe I was just not aware of tattoo prices in recent times. I am still entitiled to give my opinion. That is what Yelp is all about.You claim the artist redrew the tattoo twice? I don't know who he drew it twice for. He drew it ONCE and then made changes to it on my skin. I have the right to mention that in my review. AGAIN, that is what YELP is all about.I do plan on bringing my business somewhere else. No need to come on Yelp and tell reviewers that. If you don't want people to give their honest opinions on Yelp then maybe you shouldn't come read them. Sadly not everyone is going to be happy with your business. It is life. You could have just explained the price breakdown and I would have edited my review to thank you for explaining it. However, you came on here defensive and rude. The "sweet" girl you claim was drawing, she was actually on her phone. Maybe you are remembering what you want to remember. The artist should have told me the $10 was tax, that would have saved a lot of trouble.I also love how you had nothing to say about me having to ask about aftercare. ________Review__________Ok so I emailed them from their website and uploaded a picture of something I had designed. My tattoo request was for a 1.5 inch in length tattoo, super tiny in my wrist and I was quoted $80-$100. I ended up getting it SMALLER and I paid MORE!  Lol go figure. Maybe it has been way too long since my last tat but I paid $125 for my last one which was about 10x the size!  What I honestly think was that they thought this was my first time around and they figured I wouldn't know I was over charged. This is my 6th tattoo. All mine before were done in NYC so I KNOW when i'm being over charged. Sadly it was already too late. I would have been ok if he stuck with $80 but don't go and charge me more when I got less work than originally planned. Anyway, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that MAYBE tat prices have gone up in the last 6 years. Or maybe Ottawa is just too small and there aren't enough tattoo shops so they have the luxury of charging that much! Maybe I just don't understand the prices.Ok so you have to go in person to make an appointment plus leave a deposit. For me it was pretty Inconvenient having to go in person. Maybe accept payments through PayPal online and book appointments that way so people don't have to drag themselves downtown twice just for a tiny tat. Ok next, when I went to make the appointment the person that was there was a super rude chick. I wasn't even worthy of her stopping what she was doing to look at me and answer my question. Anyway... Maybe that Is their style. Not cool. Next - they make you sign a 2 page waiver that basically says they are free of any liability EVEN IF THEY MAKE A MISTAKE. So in other words they could totally fudge up your body and they just walk away clean. Not to mention you have to pay their legal fees If you sue them! Lol  Oh what is even funnier??? They make you sign that you were given all the care instructions etc right??? I finish my tattoo and the artist doesn't even ask me if I know how to take care of a tattoo. I had to ask for a refresher on how to take care of it. I mean it's been 6 years after all. Anyway - I will not be returning for my next 2 tattoos and that is a shame for them because my next piece is going to be my entire hip side and flank area. To bad they lost my business. They just aren't friendly. I'm sorry but if someone is putting needle to my body and over charging me for it they might as well be nice to me right? Nate was my artist and while he was very welcoming to me making changes to the design. I didn't like that he didn't even offer to redraw my 1 inch tattoo. Like it would have taken him 5 secs. Anyway, it still came out great but how can you really mess this up? I am giving it 1 star just because my experience was BAD! The work was good but again I didn't get anything too elaborate. OHHH and he asked me what I was quoted then charged me 10$ more dollars after I had already left a deposit. What I thought would cover the tattoo.I paid $90+ almost $100 for a tattoo that to me was not worth that much. He took maybe 10 mins to tattoo me. Read Less

The Ink Spot is an established tattoo shop on Bank St. that has been around for 13 years.  The shop is small, but it is very clean and recently went through a renovation earlier this year.  It is a little far from the downtown core, but that is part of the charm.  I do not see The Ink Spot as a "street shop", like the shops that you see on Rideau St..  The Ink Spot has a regular and loyal clientele that keep returning, myself included.I have been getting tattooed exclusively at The Ink Spot for about 2 years now.  I have been tattooed by Shawn, Pierre, and Greg.  I have also been pierced a couple of times by Chris.  Everyone at the shop are super professional and courteous.I highly recommend The Ink Spot to anyone in the Ottawa area looking to get inked!  You will not be disappointed! Read Less

My brother and I both got tattoos a couple of years ago when we were in town for the weekend. We made an appointment last minute and they were able to fit us in. I would highly suggest making an appointment well beforehand, however, as some artists are booked solid for weeks.My brother needed to get a couple designed and I wanted to get a cover up. We had an idea of what we wanted, but we didn't have an exact picture. Rob was our tattoo artist and he gave my brother a bunch of books to get some ideas. My brother wanted to get two dragons, one on each calf, and chose a picture from one of the books. Rob suggested that he design another dragon based on the original picture, one to compliment the other, facing the other way. The design was fantastic and the tattoo was even better! It was incredibly detailed, shading and all. It only took just under 3 hours for the two, black and white tattoos, including design time.My cover up was also amazing. I had a black and white tiger done with a bit of orange on my right shoulder blade. The size and shading was done perfectly to completely conceal what I had, and Rob made sure I was always relaxed and comfortable the whole time. I'm pretty sure I even fell asleep for a little while during the tattooing!The atmosphere is very casual and has an alternative, skater type of feel. They had metal playing when my brother was getting his tattoos, and the Beatles during mine. Some of the tattoo artists also have their own art and canvases for sale in the shop, so it's great to take a look around. All of the guys are so nice and even if you're lying on a bed with another stranger being tattooed next to you, you still feel like you're just hanging out with some friends. The pricing is very reasonable, but if you ask me, they should be charging a lot more since their artists are incredibly talented and have even won awards for their tattoos. Read Less