Ocean Spa

For my 1^st experience it was ok, could’ve been better due to the fact that the older masseuse woman kept pausing to answer her personal calls on her cell phone, Which took time out of my 30 min session not to mention another gentleman walked in and all of a sudden my session was over. I totally felt that she was rushing through it to attend the next customer. Short staffed? No there was another staff member there. Then why do you ask? Because she didn’t complete the full body massage !! She forgot one leg. Also she left my wife out in the front lobby/​hall which I thought was very discourteous and impolite. The worst part was that she actually asked for a tip ! I told her I didn’t have cash and without letting me finish my sentence she said «can you use your card again» overall my body feels great except for one quarter (left leg) –1^st timer Steven

Wow, didn’t know there was a Unilocal page for Ocean Spa. Most negative reviews seem to be from a few years back. The ownership changed? Not sure. I’ve been going there regularly for massages since summer 2013. I get a lot of neck and back pain from my desk job, and sometimes arm pain too from intense typing and mousing. The ladies there have definitely helped me relax my muscles and eased the pain. Since this is the sole reason I go get massages, I’ll give Ocean Spa 5 stars. I don’t care much about the fancy spa atmosphere. The skills of the masseuse and the legitimacy of the place are my top priorities. The staff there are mainly Chinese speaking, but are able to converse in English. I find them friendly and helpful.

If you don’t speak Chinese (which most of don’t) communication can be a problem, but I’ve always found them to be honest and pleasant and find a way to understand what you want. The place is filled with natural light and everything is clean and simple. The masseuses tend to be petite, but don’t be misled by that, those lithe bodies can bring all the pressure you would like, using fingers, hands, forearms. elbows, and sometimes feet. They also change positions, occasionally getting up on the table to increase leverage. They are so very well-​trained and gracious. And, oh yes, strictly legitimate. Tremendous massages at bargain rates.
Louie Lewison

I got a gift certificate for an Ocean Spa massage for Mother’s Day and went to use it today. They weren’t answering the phone and nobody was there around 10:30 though the sign on the door said open. I walked around and came back an hour and a half later and they were open. But the worker would not honor my gift certificate, which was handwritten in Chinese on the back of one of their business cards. She said anybody could have written the certificate. I asked how I could find out about the certificate and the person who issued it, and she just kind of shook her head and said I don’t think so. I pressed her to find out, so she called someone she called her business co-​owner or business friend, named Gina, and Gina said she had never ever sold a gift certificate before. So I don’t really know what to do, seems like they are insinuating that I created this certificate myself? I don’t really feel like ever having a massage from these people who treated me very rudely, not sure how my sweetheart can get his $ 80 back.

I really enjoy going to Ocean Spa for a weekly massage. Yes, weekly, because their prices are reasonable enough to make it a routine indulgence. The advantage of Chinese massage places is just that — reasonable prices and flexible schedules. Some places have substandard quality or environments — but Ocean Spa is consistently well above average and pleasant.
The shop is on the second floor of a storefront. It’s clean and quiet. Chinese massage places aren’t usually known for fancy spa décor — and that’s fine. There are 2 treatment rooms and a few seats for foot massage. Two lovely ladies run the spa and they are consistently friendly and engaging — asking me about my kids and work, etc.
The massage quality is usually a B/​B+ with a few A sessions and nothing below a B-​. They are well-​trained, don’t mind deep tissue work and are quite perceptive about where to focus their attention. One session stopped a migraine in its tracks — so I’m grateful for that.
It’s not a fancy place but it’s a warm, friendly down-​home place that consistently works out the knots after a long week.

I’ve read nothing but bad reviews about Ocean Spa and feel compelled to update Ocean Spa’s reviews in 2011. I have only been going to Ocean Spa for about a year and a half and I have seen a régime change during my time and the women there now are fantastic! The only downside is they don’t have a fancy large spa feel, but at the same time you won’t pay large spa prices.

I have only been to this spa 8 times, so I admit that my rating may be narrow. But I have been disappointed with all 8 massage experiences. This place is very cold, and you never know what you will get, regarding the experience level of the therapist.

I had been very upset with my experience at Ocean Spa. Shortly after the business opened, I went there for massage because I heard that a previous masseur I used was going there to work. Then I learned that this masseur could only be booked by appointment as he would not work on site due to very limited requests for a male doing massage. That was fine. So, I took my friend along and opened a package with 24-​hour body and 24-​hour foot massages. We were each given a free facial for opening a package.
In the beginning, we would go there weekly. But after a few times, then I started getting calls from the owner that this masseur would not be able to make to the appointment. She was able to find another masseuse and said she would be good. That happened a couple of times. But after the massages, I found that those ladies just did not have the strength I needed. And one lady was even giving me bad facial expression as she was not satisfied with the tips I gave her. She even questioned about the small tips. But that was not small. It was 20% off the original rate (and more than 20% for the package rate). I started getting upset already.
Then at a later time, the owner still could not arrange the masseur I wanted. But then she said she could find another good masseur. So, I was willing to give it a try. This time, the masseur was good. So, I was again happy. Again, this masseur was coming on demand. And a few times when I or my friend tried to call to make an appt but the owner went out on vacation, the other staff did not even know about this masseur and would not be able to book for us.
So, we had been on and off doing the massages. When we were getting down to the last few times on the package, we started to find it difficult to make appointment with the same masseur. Often times the owner would want us to use someone else (those are her staff). But we did not want to risk again. Finally, my friend got the masseur’s phone number and we would just call to check his availability and then book the appointment.
Then this one time we found that the owner started lying. We still would try to go through the route of asking her to make an appointment and then we would follow up with a call to the masseur. Then the owner called us back and said that she could not get a hold of the masseur. Yet, on the other hand, the masseur had tried to verify with her but she told him that she could confirm the time with us. So she was lying with both ends. Then my friend just told her that she already confirmed with the masseur. She just made herself looking like an idiot.
And then we asked about the free facial and tried to set up the time. Then she said they were no facials service anymore as there was no staff there doing it. Another lie! Those days I still could see on Craigslist their ads advertising the facial and massage combo. But I did not want to argue with her. She also complained that it took us a long time to finish our package. She was expecting us to finish our package in about 3 months. Yet, it was never mentioned about such a policy. For 24 times (each time we would go for 1-​hour body and 1-​hour foot) split between 2 people, we each would have 12 times. If we had gone weekly, we probably would have used them all up in 3 months. But it was them sometimes that often could not set up with the appointments. Plus, sometimes we would get busy and could not go as frequent. But we finished up in about 7 months. I would not consider it to be long. Typically many other places give you a year or 2 to finish your package. She complained that since it took us long she would be losing money! What a joke! We paid everything up front (over $ 1000) and so she started getting some cash flow in such an early stage. And, after we opened the package, there were times that she had specials going on which would give lower rates than what we had on our package. So, in reality, who was really losing?
And also, I could not believe that for the foot massage, my feet was being soaked in those home-​style foot spas, with nothing disposable to cover. Typically in other foot massage places, bamboo-​style buckets would be used and a plastic covering would be put on for each customer and disposed afterward. Sometimes I was just really concerned how good the hygiene was. In the first couple of times, she did use the plastic covering but not anymore after the first couple of visits.
And sometimes she would be talking to the masseur during my massage. I was always trying to sleep but I could her her conversation well. Sometimes I could hear that she said how much tips some customers were giving (like giving $ 20-​$ 40 tips for one hour of massage because those customers used to go to those $ 80 – 120 hour massage but now with $ 45/​hour it would still be much cheaper even with a big tip). That made me feel insulted as I would not tip that much. I’m glad my package was over. I’m now going to other places which I found better service and cheaper rates.