Flaming Lotus Tattoo Studio Inc

Go to Christian! He's done two of my tattoos and he's great - friendly, and does a really good job putting your idea to skin. I had sort of vague ideas for my second tattoo with him, and he took my little sketch and my  "yeah well, kinda like this maybe" to exactly what I had in my head, asking lots of questions about color and my input on his design, and then he was meticulous about placement (especially crucial for a first arm tattoo, when there are plans for future work on the rest of the arm). It is healing perfectly, and the lines look great and the colors are brightening as he said they would. The shop itself is clean, and has a friendly vibe. Definitely going back.

I can't believe I'm the first to review this because this is one of the best tattoo establishments in the Tri-State area, from what I know.  Certainly, I am no tattoo connoisseur by any means, but I have done my fair share of research and have lots of tattooed friends and family who swear by this place, including myself.

The owner is Anthony Civarelli (the living legend otherwise known as  CIV)...remember that song, "Can't wait one minute more" from like 10 years ago? Or from the Nissan commercial a few years ago?   Most importantly, he was the founder of one of New York's greatest hardcore bands, the Gorilla Biscuits.   When that band broke up, Civ opened up Lotus Tattoos and the rest is history.  

That being said, I was 18 years old when I got my first tattoo and was very much into the hardcore scene. It wasn't just for the bragging rights that a living legend inked my body, his work is truthfully amazing.  At the time, I worked with a girl who had like 14 tattoos done by him and I was completely impressed with his style and the way he mixed the colors. I went down there, met Civ and he helped me design the tattoo I always wanted.  9 years later and the tattoo still looks like it did in 1999.  

When I was 19, my best friend and I made a retarded/impulsive decision while on vacation in Venice Beach, Cali to get matching nautical star tattoos.  Hers on her leg and mine on my back.  Hers looks great and mine is a mess.  The douchebag tattoo artist was too busy hitting on me to concentrate on what he was doing and completely fucked my shit up.  For the past 7 years, I've been putting off getting it fixed and didn't think Civ was still around to redo it since he is the only person I trust.

One Saturday morning last month, I decided to just take a ride to Lotus to see who was tattooing there and what their work looked like.  To my surprise, Civ was still there and although he's booked straight through to January, he squeezed me in between appointments and fixed the disaster on my back right then and there.  Now it is beautiful.  He actually even remembered me from the first time and the tattoo he designed for me.  He's just a genuinely nice person and the other guys in there do ridiculously amazing work.  I would never trust anyone else to ink my body than the dudes at Lotus.