Darkside Tattoo

I worked with Marissa. I've been following her work for years and have a lot of respect for her work. This would have been my tenth tattoo. I did a consult and we talked about placement and design, but when I arrived for the appointment, she made a design that wasn't what we discussed in emails or the consult. It was a great design, unexpectedly all drawn in pencil with shading, which clearly took time and effort, but it wasn't what I'd asked for. There were some specific things I said I did not want, but she added them anyway.

I tried making a few suggestions, but she wouldn't budge on the design at all. I respect and understand an artist that doesn't want to put their name on work they're not proud of, but maybe don't take the appointment in the first place if that's the case. Despite no changes being made, it still took two full hours just to get the stencil printed. I tried the stencil out, really wanting to like the design, but I needed more time to think over it, granted that it wasn't what I asked for. I asked to reschedule, but I wasn't given the option to do so. Instead, I was charged over $200 in addition to my deposit for the drawing and stencil time.

I think Marissa's work is fantastic, but I wouldn't work with her again because it felt more like her tattoo than it did mine.

I got two tattoos there quite a few years back. Cannot remember the tattoo artist. I was a walk in for very simple line work tattoos both times. One tat was a quote, the other was a butterfly. I am a petite girl who hasn’t changed weight drastically over time. That being said, both these tattoos are blown out and the line work doesn’t look good. A very simple quote now looks blobby and I’m going to try to get it covered up. The letters aren’t uniform and the lines themselves clearly are of different depths and thickness. The butterfly’s line work also isn’t uniform and the lines don’t connect in some spots. Anyways, the shop is a nice shop. The lobby is really pretty. Everyone made me feel very comfortable. I felt the place was clean. I’m just dissatisfied with the actual tattoos. I got both of them years ago and about a year apart from each other, and initially since I can’t really see them I thought they were fine (they’re on the back of my arm), but after trying to really inspect them I’ve found a lot of issues. Pretty frustrating since they’re memorial tattoos and I’m 25 so I shouldn’t have blown out tattoos that need a coverup/to be reworked entirely at this age. I’d understand if I was 40 but this is insane. The shop itself is great but the tats I got are not aging well, were not done well, and now I need a coverup. Again, the shop itself is nice and I think people would probably get good tattoos here, it’s just that the artist I worked with did a poor job. 5 star professionalism, environment, cleanliness, staff. 2/5 for the artist individually. It shouldn’t be hard to do a clean line work quote and butterfly.

I got my first tattoo here in April from Cole. He perfectly replicated my late husband's handwriting on my arm. I get constant compliments about how it looks like he just grabbed my arm and wrote on it himself a few minutes ago. It's amazing. And it was nowhere near as painful as I was thinking it would be.
Today I got my second from Manny. A spiral triskele. I wanted something kind of difficult to explain with the coloring. He understood me perfectly and created exactly what I was picturing. It's honestly even better than I was picturing. Masterfully done.
I can't say enough good things about this place and the people that work there.
I have at least 4 more tattoos planned. People are right. This is addictive. I'll definitely be back.

I work here at Darkside tattoo, and I'm not just saying what I'm saying because I work here. Everyone at Darkside tattoo is phenomenal! They are the best people you will ever meet and the best tattooers around. Super good people with amazing talents and personalities to boot! Once you get tattooed here (darkside) you will not want to go elsewhere. Everyone is super knowledgeable about everything and anything tattoo related and beyond!! Come on by the shop, I promise you will NOT be disappointed!! I wish I could give 10 stars!

Sean did my very 1st tattoo in 1995 and to this very day I get only the very best tattoos done by him. Professional, dedicated, phenomenal, personable, friendly (that smile will slay you), creative, trustworthy, and an all around wonderful man are just a short list of adjectives I can use to describe Sean. His wife Melinda will always greet you with a warm smile when you check in and she makes sure everything is in order for your time at the Darkside. I'm not just a fan of Sean's, but of the entire establishment, they work in unison and encourage each other to be and do their very best work. If you want cheap, go to Boone, if you want the VERY BEST, head on over to the Darkside!!

Highly recommend. I've been getting tattoos now for over 30.years, so I choose the places where I get my ink carefully. Darkside is very clean. The atmosphere is calm AF and not pretentious, but they know what the hell they are doing. Maddie, the receptionist is really great. Cole put together a fantastic piece for my right arm and I will be returning to him to do work covering the scars left from my breast cancer surgery.

I generally didn’t have a good experience with this tattoo shop. My 2nd time I was there ever, I had to wait an extra 30 minutes one time even though I was 30 minutes early (example, my appointment is at 11, I got there at 10:30, didn’t start until 11:30). I mean the shop wasn’t completely bad, however there’s numerous occasions that I wanted to make an appointment and they told me they’d call me back, they never ended up calling me back. This especially happened a week ago too. My tattoo artist Nick tried to get me to pay more money for constant more tattoo appointments even though I didn’t want to have multiple appointments. He also did a tattoo that I thought was gonna look good, but it ended up looking horrible (and costed over $200 for something that should of been less than $150 with the way this came out) so I have to get someone else to fix it. When I was in a tattoo appointment also, the artist next to me and the client and also Nick the artist too was talking about anti-vax stuff which definitely made me feel uncomfortable. Nick also had me do a 1 hour appointment thinking it was gonna be finished (the piece he was working on with my arm). He didn’t finish it, which ended up making ANOTHER appointment for his mis-calculation. At the end, I would absolutely recommend another place and not use dark side ever again. There’s definitely a lot more better places than Dark Side. I’ve only had bad experience with the shop / 1 tattoo artist so I don’t know how it is with the other artists.

Marissa tattooed me on my ribs. She was super chill, very gentle, and could tell when I needed a break. The booking process was also great - the receptionist was excellent - and the entire shop took appropriate precautions with Covid. I LOVE my tattoo and I hope to have Marissa for my next one! Thank you queen!!!

I recently had two tattoos done by Nick at Darkside and I was very impressed with the overall experience. The place was very clean and staff was very friendly . Nick was not only awesome to work with as I was nervous enough , he was very patient and did an overall amazing job snd made sure I was happy with the result. I will definitely be referring friends to him. I am already planning my next tattoo.😊

I have gone to Marissa for three tattoos and think she is incredible! All the staff is wonderful and they are really receptive to your ideas, but they will be honest and will tell you if something isn't going to look good. I always appreciate their work and would highly recommend you call and book today!!