Castro Tattoo

ALE ROSA: amazing tattoo artist with a light touch!

I am a devoted client of Ale Rosa, so when she told me that she would be moving to Castro Tattoo, I knew that I’d be hanging out in the Castro a lot.

It had been over 10 years since my first tattoo, but after working with Ale, I now proudly rock a full sleeve. Ale is incredibly talented, more so than even she recognizes in herself. My tiger lilies was her first watercolor piece and she executed it beautifully!

Ale’s already great technique gets better every time she creates a new piece for me. She has a devoted clientele, myself and my partner included, who would only trust her to work on us. Ale Rosa and Castro Tattoo SF, thank you for sharing your talents!

I love Haley and Castro Tattoo! Haley has been tattooing me since 2013. I am about to travel to San Francisco from Oregon to complete my tenth tattoo created by Haley. Haley is so committed to their clients, this shows in the many, many interesting and beautiful pieces they have created. I usually collect images and give basic ideas about a piece and give a general idea about where, on my body, I want the piece tattooed. Haley then creates pieces that go above and beyond my imagination. Haley’s placement of each of my tattoos is impeccable. As I was sweating in hot yoga yesterday, and the bacon wrapped trout on my forearm swam by, I thought about how Haley has made my body rich with images, each piece its own story. My tattoos are mostly color realism, the dog portraits, pheasant, and bacon trout all look like photographs.

Tattoo day is one of my favorite days, and entering the colorful and historic Castro Tattoo, seems to brighten my mood even more. Haley became the owner of Castro Tattoo in 2017, they have made the shop welcoming to all kinds of folks from all walks of life. Creating a space full of kindness and talent. Each artist at Castro has a different style, the best place to check out everybody’s work is @castrotattoosf on Instagram. Thank you Haley and everyone at Castro for making such a great place to get tattooed.

I'm in San Diego and I was planning a trip to San Francisco for a birthday weekend.
I called Castro Tattoo, 4 days before my arrival and got their recording. They say to email your preferred artist to set up an appointment, or just email the shop if you don't have a preferred tattooist. I sent a general email, with a picture and a good description of what I want. I'm not new at getting inked... And I usually know exactly what I want and I try to be accommodating and easy to work with.
Nobody ever called or emailed me back. This was very disappointing.
So, the day before I was to arrive in SF, I called another tattoo shop and talked to a real person! And unlike Castro, this other shop had a "walk in guy" and I was told that I could just go in after 12 either Thursday or Friday and see what time would work best. I asked if it would be helpful to email the picture of what I wanted.
The "walk in guy" contacted me within an hour and was happy to make an appointment, take a deposit and not be anything like Castro Tattoo!
Bad business doesn't deserve my money,.. I

Can’t express how happy I am with my tattoo! Not just the tattoo itself, but the overall experience. Meg is such a quality artist that creates such a loving and inviting atmosphere, something that a lot of tattoo shops lack. I’ve been following her Instagram page for awhile and I was so excited to finally get tatted! If you have time, stop by and check out her flash book. The only problem is picking out which one to get! Will be back again very soon!

I worked with Donny Newman with my last tattoo and the shop was really great. All the stuff was super nice, there was a good amount of space to get the work done and even the shop owner would swing by to ask up on how everything was going. I found it to be a really clean and relaxing place to start a new piece and everyone there made it feel welcoming.

I had the best experience here! My sister and I came in for our first tattoos, and Ian Reynold made us feel so comfortable. He was so kind and patient, I never felt rushed when making decisions. He had a few different designs prepared, and he let me look at a few different options in different sizes until I found exactly what I wanted. He executed it perfectly and I am so happy with the end result. Not only is he a very skilled artist, but he's a genuinely sweet person and I will definitely be going back to him if I decide to get another tattoo.

Haley Adams is AMAZING, She did a custom father / daughter tattoo for me and it was Amazing. I definitely would recommend Haley to anyone who wants a tattoo

I am so happy with my tattoo from Ian Reynold! I contacted Ian with a rough idea of the elements I wanted, and could not be more pleased with the artwork he produced. This was my first tattoo, and I was a little nervous about it, but Ian quickly put me at ease. I am so happy with how the tattoo turned out, and I had a great time chatting with him while he was tattooing. Ian is truly an exceptional artist and a super cool dude. A+, highly recommend.

I was in town for work and wanted to surprise my wife with a tat in her honour! 😉 Castro Tattoo was highly rated and they were able to get me an appointment on short notice. My artist, Alle was great! She did amazing work and has a very gentle hand, I didn't experience any pain and she did a fantastic job with the design and execution all on short notice. I highly recommend Castro Tattoo to anybody looking for quality work, I was only in the chair for two (2) hours for a difficult spot on the body to work on (neck) and everything turned out beautiful, just like my wonderful wife!! Ha! Thanks Alle!

Yesterday, I had my first session with Samantha. The day before my husband got his first tattoo with Samantha as well. From the consultation to the actual tattooing, Samantha has been fantastic. I decided to do a partial shoulder armor sleeve, and had some rough ideas of what I wanted. Samantha took my erratic "inspiration" images and turned them into an amazing piece. One session of many, and I am greatly looking forward to the next. Also of note, all the other artists/ team at the shop were extremely nice and welcoming. Great vibe, great talent, great experience!