I started as a Polished fan in the early days. It was upbeat, bright and fun. They have a huge selection of color. But the word spread and they grew busier and busier. I suddenly felt like it was an assembly line and they wanted to crank out the pedis quickly and I often got cuts. So I wanted an alternative.
So I visited Modern Salon over a year ago. It is in the Village at SouthEnd (behind Chipotle). They are a quaint, small boutique-ish type of nail salon. They only have 4 or 5 chairs, and everyone is super friendly. One of their walls has a giant mural of Latta Park in Dilworth, and they have cute colorful curtains hiding their work area. I get very personalized service and only one time have I seen every chair filled. They do such a great job on my toes that I can go 3-4 weeks in between visits.
Also in my four decades I have gotten very few manis because I hate the way they do my nails, but one time I got a combo from the sweet older owner (who is admittedly very difficult to understand) and she filed my nails into a shape that was amazingly attractive! Suddenly I didn't have chicklets on the ends of my fingers! That's the good news. The bad news is that now I have to pay for manis because I want them now. The other good thing is they don't charge for "buffing" if you don't want a color, which is an extra $5 at their competitor.
They do one thing very differently- they have you buy/take your own emery board and buffing block with you for sanitary reasons. That's AOK with me.
My only complaint? Their nail polish selection is very small. I like Essie over OPI because of quality and they don't have much Essie. My solution? I buy a bottle of my fave color and put it in my personal kit and keep it in the car. Problem solved.
Oh and you can leave a tip on your card if you tell them ahead of time, which solves the cash defficiency issue.