My personal experience isn't as crazy as the last two people, but I can say I agree with them that Donato is NOT worth going to or paying the high price!

After being fed up with Testarossa at Yorkdale, I decided to try Donato after a friend of mine gave it high recommendations.

My first experience with Donato was alright, the receptionist/cashier girl wasn't too friendly, but my hairstylist was very nice and upbeat which I liked. My hairstyle turned out alright, although I felt like I was a bit rushed. The overall atmosphere of Donato was very stuck-up though, which doesn't make a person feel very welcome.

The second time I went to Donato is probably what drove me away from that place. This time I was there for a prom package I purchased (makeup & hair) First of all, the receptionist was very rude and gave me attitude because I arrived early: my appointment was for 12:00, but somehow it got mixed up and changed to 12:30 which I wasn't too happy about. I walked around for a while then came back at 12:30 to have my makeup done first: the girl was nice and I liked her; getting my hair done was a different story.

I paid extra to get the so-called senior hairstylist, but all I got was a lot of attitude and poor service. First of all, she acted as though she had better things to do with her time and barely gave me a chance to explain what I wanted done, then later gave me attitude for not telling her exactly what I wanted! It's kinda hard to explain when you only give me about five seconds to explain myself before you start going at my hair without being able to actually SHOW you how I wanted it up. When she asked how it looked and I suggested a slight alteration, she got prissy and told me I should have explained it better to her... but it was obvious she hadn't done it right the first time. I also hadn't gotten my hair cut for a long time and it had grown out, especially my bangs, but she refused to just give them a slight trim so they weren't so long. I could tell that she was rushing WAY too much and wasn't putting a decent effort into it. There were more things she could have done to make it look better.

If I weren't so pressed for time to go home and get ready I would have said a lot more. I didn't come there to pay that hairstylist a hundred dollars for a half-assed job and rude customer service AND be expected to give a good tip. I'm definitely not going there again!

So, I used to be blonde and i decided in late october I wanted to go back to my natural roots. Being the lazy 20 year old that i am, i didnt feel in the mood to hop on a bus and take my usual hour trip to my hair dresser in etobicoke, so i decided ill just walk over to yorkdale and get my colour done at donato salon. biggest BIGGEST mistake of my life. one of the colourists took me into her care and told me everything would be fine, all while seeming alittle annoyed i was interupting her own styling time as she had been focusing on her own hair for most of the time i was there... she coloured my hair and decided to add toner afterwards, personally i have never seen toner used in dark hair but besides the point, while the toner was setting she decided to start working on another client ... forgetting about me... so she comes washes off the toner AFTER i had to yell across the salon to remind her i was still sitting there and sends me to blow dry my hair, and plz lets not mistake this blow drying for STYLING, bcuz all i got was a boy, running his fingers through my hair and quickly blow drying it, when i asked if he could use a brush and style it ... he and my colourist informed me it was extra and i had to pay another 60 dollers.. as this was happening i noticed me hair PARTICULARILY my BANGS were what i can only describe as crispy, i snapped, so my "nice" colourist got one of the hairdressers to take me to her stand and just trim it for me so the BURNT hair didnt look so bad, NOT FOR FREEthe informed me it would be extra as weel, but being alittle vein i couldnt leave the salon looking the way i did, well that was a mistake, my colourist informed me that she was done for the day and left,, leaving me to fend for myself... the hairdresser chopped up my bangs so not only were they too short to even style, but there were jagged and uneven!!!!!!!!!! on the verge of tears i demanded she stop touching my god damn hair, (ACTUAL TERMS USED) called for my ride home and got the hell out of there ... NOT before they demanded i pay my bill unhappy as a was of $230 TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i got home told my mother and she flipped so she contacted donato to complain and try to get my money back as i am a student and due to this i am dirt poor, left messages, 5 a day for one week, got no response and talked to managers and got no answer.
so conlusion, i have no money, no bangs, and have to wear headbands and clip the little hair i have left in front.
life lesson -i need to unlazy my ass and hop on the bus and go to my hairdresser who i love and trust
IM BEGGING YOU ALL STAY AWAY FROM DONATO THIS STORY WASNT EXAGGERATTED AT ALL ITS COMPLETLY TRUE they have horrible customer service and horrible employees who dont know what they are doing, john donato need to reevaluate his company and the trash he hires if hes going to charge people an arm and a leg for thier services!!!!!!!!

The WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. The * hair dresser burned off half of my hair, by giving me a full head of high lights. Kept me under a dryer for 2 hours. I was in the salon for 8 hours, no food, no washroom break and histerical. The owner of the salon is terrible. She asked me to pay for the services even after she had seen that the hair dresser burned my hair off. Everyone was shocked, and i stood there with my hair in my hands. All she had to say was that she saw my hair when i came in, and it "wasnt that great to begin with". She wanted to call security on me when i said i would not pay her. I gave a 50$ tip to her brother, who was the only one in there willing to help, because he felt so bad. He colored my hair back to dark, so it wouldnt look so terrible, but it didnt help. This was 5 months ago, and my hair is still in terrible condition. Most people would have offered a free service after that type of horror, and free products on the house. I could not believe that in Yorkdale mall, something like this could have happened. NEVER going there agin, in fact re thinking salons all together. The owner ******

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