Wilshire Massage — Attraction in Los Angeles

I didn't mind the shabby exterior that makes it look like a massage place that serves GIs, or the bare boned, small interior rooms. It was the front desk dudes (FDDs) that grated my nerves. The first one kept emphasizing how "busy" they were when I made the appointment and conflated the Sports massage with the Deep Tissue one. When I got there, it was pretty much empty and a different FDD had me complete an elaborate chart. He handed it to the masseuse, but I doubt she read it as what she gave me was just their standard. I asked for deep tissue and she, an experienced hand, provided a combo of deep tissue, thai and chiropractic. It felt relaxing but not THAT relaxing. Not the best I've had by a long shot. I paid in cash b/c it was cheaper but b/c of limited cash, I tipped less. That drew the ire of the FDD who lectured that b/c this was my first time I should've reviewed the gratuity rules posted on the walls of the rooms. I didn't see anything in there as it was pretty dark. He told me he knew the value of the services they provide and I shouldn't undercut them. Those eyes! He looked like he was about to do some cutting himself! I nodded and walked to my car, wondering why the place just didn't add the gratuity to the overall amount. Better yet, why pass the burden of paying your employees properly to the consumer? The employer's irresponsibility and nasty customer service harmed the zen of this place. First...

Had a 60 min massage here - it was only $65 before tip which is unbelievably cheap, so I figured it was worth trying out, but it unfortunately very much felt like a cheap massage :(

The front desk lady and my massage therapist were both very nice. The facility has no frills, but I didn't really mind it. What I did mind was that the massage itself felt a bit lazy and not super pleasant - lots of digging and rubbing with the elbows and forearms and very little work with her hands (which was the only part that felt good!) I felt that my massage therapist was doing a LOT of repetitive motions in places that absolutely didn't need to be massaged (like the side of my calf and the side of my arm? it's so bony in those areas that it just started to hurt after the first time, but she focused on those areas for DOZENS of strokes...) and I honestly felt like they were just being focused on because they were easy to reach.

This is probably a decent enough joint for some people for the price, but personally I'd happily pay $30-50 more for a better, more relaxing, and more thoughtful/skillful massage. Won't be coming back...

For some reason she did not get my right back/neck basically at all even though she spent a lot of time on my left back/neck. I would have said something but earlier she had lectured me about how she does things step by step and was annoyed when I would ask her about specific spots. My right side is still in a ton of pain, and considering that I got 90 minutes that's pretty annoying. Furthermore, the main reason I came in was to treat my neck/shoulder pain which I told her, yet she focused most of her time on my legs. I understand they are all connected, but still this was too much time to spend on my legs compared to how little she spent on my neck/back. This is the next day and I have basically no pain reduction, I know how I should feel after having a good massage and this is definitely not it

Also, please stop using styrofoam cups, they're bad for the environment and paper cups are super cheap.

Also, an expected $20 tip on a $75 massage is quite high, and is almost like hidden fees

The owner is...