Room 209

I’ve been going to Room 209 for almost five years now, and Sam has been my barber the whole time. He’s honestly amazing — super skilled and always knows what he’s doing. I got a perm last month for the second time, and it turned out exactly how I wanted. Sam’s personality makes it easy to trust him completely — I can sit down and let him do whatever he thinks looks best with 100% confidence. There’s a reason Room 209 has been around in Philly Chinatown for so long — great people, great service, and always consistent. Highly recommend!

Had a wash and blow dry here! The stylist was very thorough with washing my hair and also gave me a nice scalp massage. Vanessa took her time with blow drying my hair and using top quality products to achieve a polished look that lasted a week!

The one star’s for the service. Today, I went in for hair coloring. They started from 12pm until 8 pm and I showed them the effect I wanted (the pink ombré). They said they could do it, but all those hours at the salon resulted in a solid purple color close to my natural hair. I paid over $400 for this. Waste of my time and money

First initial reaction, the shop is really trendy compared to other Chinatown salons, the place looks super cool! My stylist, Hapi asked me a lot of questions and pulled up reference photos, which made me feel extremely comfortable because he put in the effort to understand me and my vision. What I left with was with choppy layers and something that visualized almost like a bowl shape. For $45 I expected a lot more. But, I’ve heard good things about the other stylists Sam and Vanessa, maybe others have better experiences with them

I have been a loyal customer since 2020 and have recommended many of my friends to this place - all of them had very positive feedback as well. Although they never ask their guests to leave reviews and do minimum marketing, I still want to leave a review as it breaks my heart to see this many negative reviews about Room 209. Yes, this is not an inexpensive place, but the quality of service and their skills do worth the price. One of my friends would get a cut somewhere cheaper but would still choose here before big occasions and I believe that speaks a lot about this place. The stylists (Sam for my perms and Venessa for my friends' coloring) are very thoughtful and creative that, if you are looking for honest advice and good designs on hair styles, I would totally trust their opinions. During my first experience I went with an empty brain after a long week of work, yet Sam helped me find the best style that I am still going with and getting compliments about today. I used to fly to Asia or drive to NYC to get my hair done, so finding this place really made my life easier and my hair better too. I would say definitely set your expectation about the higher price, but the quality would not disappoint.

If I could I would give this place no stars. It’s horrible. I wanted a chocolate brown color for my hair. They dyed it and my hair is two colors. The top part is overly light and the bottom of my hair is jet black. In addition, they didn’t wash my hair completely. I have to go home and wash my hair again two times because of the dye left. The water when I showered was brown. Completely waste of money and time. This place is the worst salon I have ever gone to. In addition, the price for hair color was outrageous too. At least $200 including tip. Don’t come here, worst place to waste your time. PLEASE AVOID THIS STORE.

This place overcharges for a wash + simple cut. I did not know the prices beforehand thinking all Chinatown salons would be reasonably and similarly priced. I was charged $60 for a wash and cut before tip and then found out the prices were determined by the stylist rather than a fixed fee based on length of hair / the type of cut etc which is pretty standard for other salons. This means the stylist can up charge if they feel like it and the price does not include styling either. They also cut your hair after blow drying and washing rather than cutting it wet. The stylist did not blow dry or style my hair after so I came home to find short strands of hair everywhere even after brushing it out multiple times. I’ve never had this happen at other salons that charged way less for delivering better quality. Overall, I’m very disappointed with my experience and would not recommend this place if you’re looking for a simple wash and cut without spending a ton.