My friend and I just left our appointments, and we're now sitting on a couch contemplating the…read moreceiling. Our brains are delightfully empty and our auras are humming pleasantly. I feel like how my cat looks when she's laying in the sun and purring.
If you're looking for a no-frills place to park your body and then mentally check out for awhile, this is the place. The prices are good, the rooms have great vibes, the music is boppin' (in a relaxing way), and the massage is bussin'.
My friend and I have never been to a spa before (we're broke college students) so we weren't quite sure what to expect. Their website is pretty generic and their online booking system (which, spoiler alert, isn't actually used) has you pick a day, but no time or type of appointment.
From the outside, it doesn't look like much but again, it's a no-frills kind of place. There was an older Chinese man at the front desk who looked confused when we said we'd booked appointments online (it doesn't look like they use their website or at least, the online booking system), but he still let us get an appointment right then. It was 2 PM on a Tuesday, so I guess they weren't too busy.
Heads up - the "menu" of services they offer was completely different there than what their website listed (honestly, I'm not sure why they have a website). My friend and I were pretty happy though, because the prices listed in-person are even more college-student friendly than we originally expected. They have a few different types of basic massages (body, foot, etc) and time lengths. We opted for the hour-long full body massage for $60, although the 90 minute body + foot massage (60 min full body, 30 min foot) for $75 was very tempting.
The rooms were clean and kept dark during the massage, and they had Chinese-style ambient music playing, which greatly facilitated my mental zonk-out. They don't give much instruction/direction, partially because of the language barrier, which can be a little off-putting if you're not expecting that or not very comfortable with strangers touching & moving your body around.
The "full body" massage starts with you on your front, and they go over your back, neck, arms, & legs. They do pull down your underwear a bit to go on the top half of the butt, but I had a female masseuse and she tucked the sheet covering me into my underwear so I was still covered. At one point, she left the room without saying anything and I was confused (was that the end? am I supposed to go??), but she came back with a hot towel (which felt DIVINE) & rubbed all the massage goop off. She then had me flip onto my back and worked on the front of my shoulders, arms, and legs. She did this thing where she pulled my arms & legs a bit to stretch it (not unlike how I sometimes help my cat stretch), and then jiggled them while holding them up. I was mostly boneless at this point so the change of movement was unexpected but ultimately very welcomed.
The employees, both at the front and the masseuses, don't chat or talk more than necessary, which I personally liked but others may not. Part of this was probably the language barrier - their English is enough to get by, but they seemed much more comfortable speaking Chinese, which I understand but can't speak. They were very nice - they offered me a chilled bottle of water afterwards!
Some of the other reviews said that the employees were rude and "berating" when there was an issue. As a first-generation Chinese American, I'd bet that they probably just don't know a lot of English and thus are more blunt. Asian customer service is also generally more direct and doesn't bother with somewhat pointless platitudes that are only said/done to maintain a facade. It's not bad customer service, more just a different style with some quirks that come along with not being very fluent in English.
All in all, my friend and I had a great time and were super zen-ed out afterwards. We probably sounded a bit drunk or stoned, because we were so relaxed. 4.5/5 - 5 for the experience, 4 for the wonky website. I'll round up because that's what my second grade teacher taught me to do and I also gotta look out for the Asian homies. Would come again!
