Anushka Spa & Salon — Attraction in West Palm Beach

UPDATE 2/20/23: After writing my original review, I was contacted by Alysa at Anushka Spa & Salon. She was very apologetic for the bad experience that my friend and I had and offered for both of us to come back for complimentary massages. That was TOTALLY unexpected and much appreciated! We just had them today and it was a totally different experience than the first time. We couldn't be happier!! I had James and he was phenomenal. He really took his time and focused on the areas I told him were bothering me. My friend had Lara and she did a great job too. Neither of us felt rushed or disappointed in our experiences. We were so relaxed when we left, we felt like we were floating on clouds. I am really, really happy with both the massages and the customer service at Anushka. You can tell a lot about a business by the way they respond to criticism and Alysa was so professional and eager to make the situation better when she called. We will definitely be back! Thank you Alysa and Anushka!

Original Review: My friend and I wanted a spa day for my birthday and we didn't want to spend an outrageous amount of money. We discovered Anushka and were excited about the January deal they had going on of a sugar body scrub and 30 minute massage for $119. The spa was easy to find and had valet parking (which is comped after your service), which was very helpful. We were buzzed in and rode the elevator up to a very lovely salon & spa entrance. The receptionist was very nice and gave us a tour and led us to the Oasis, which was a large ladies room with a steam room, showers, lockers, changing rooms, and an adjoining room to lounge/wait in with complimentary water, coffee, and snacks. We changed into our robes and slippers and went into the lounge area to enjoy some snacks and champagne we had brought with us to celebrate my birthday! Unfortunately, that was where the fun ended...The massage therapist was very nice and polite and brought me back to the room and had me lay down on the massage table. The massage however, was unfortunately terrible. It was a VERY aggressive Swedish massage. I typically get deep tissue massages so I know what that feels like when someone is working on a muscle, but that wasn't what she was doing. It felt almost like pinches on the skin as opposed to muscles being massaged and it felt very, VERY rushed and aggressive. If that wasn't bad enough, while I'm laying on the table trying to enjoy the abuse, someone was drilling something into the wall in the next room. It was very loud and you could hear the drill for a solid 20 minutes. The massage therapist was just as upset about the noise as I was, so she started banging on the wall. That didn't stop the drilling, so she eventually left the massage room to go in the other room to tell them to stop, which they eventually did. After the massage, we moved on to the scrub. Because of past experiences elsewhere, I thought she would gently rub the sugar scrub into my skin but this felt like someone quickly and aggressively rubbing sandpaper all over my body. She asked me if she was being too rough and I said yes, but she still kept scrubbing away. The whole process was about 45 minutes, definitely not the hour I thought it would be for the two services combined. I thought maybe I was just being too sensitive about the aggressive rubbing until my friend was led back to the showers and said the same thing happened to her. Our skin was raw! Overall, it was NOT the relaxing experience either of us thought we were going to have. I realize we got the discounted "monthly special", but every patron should be treated with respect and care, not made to feel rushed and like a number and DEFINITELY shouldn't feel worse when they leave. We will...

If I could give them zero stars , I would. I have been using Anushka directly since the late 90s in NYC. then she joined with cosmo and Co and it became Advanced Aesthetics part of georgette klinger and then somehow Gilded Spa got caught up in the mix ( where I was talked into putting a ton of money on this “black card” , basically a gift card... for prepaying bonus money was added for services- approx 10-20%) - then they decided to go bankrupt and not honor my card and “NUSH” opened w Cosmos phone number, but she wanted nothing to do with my black card. It was so crazy and unethical. No one wanted to accept the remainder of my prepaid gift card with $1300 on it bc the business didn’t exist! So where did my money go? Well, back then you didn’t have all these avenues to voice your anger ...BUT Now it happened again!! I went in to see nurse Bonnie as I have for many years and I purchased 1 syringe of Restylane-L and when I walked out the medspa front desk girl (she had very short hair, very pretty face was there for yrs, but I can’t recall her name) said you can pay the difference for the special w 2 syringes and use your manufacturer credit and “ bank “ the other one. Every time I’d come in for hair, facial, massage or nails I would say to Bonnie “am I ready” and she said no so finally the day came for me to use it and I called to schedule and they said I had a credit but not for enough for the 2nd syringe THAT I PAID FOR AT THE SPECIAL OFFER???!!! So I said why would I have a credit then... but THEY didn’t know why I had the credit and the old front desk girl was not there anymore I want to say her name was Celeste?? WELL THEN I SAID I WANT MY MONEY BACK AND THEY SAID I HAD JUST PASSED A YEAR AND COULDNT HAVE IT BACK!! LOL THIEVES SO THEY LOST A CUSTOMER OF OVER 20 YEARS! MANAGEMENT COULDNT EVEN RECTIFY...

I've been twice thus far and would go back.

The spa is upstairs. Checking in was easy. Lockers are small, hard to fit shoes inside. Locking/unlocking with keys are annoying.

I've had two massages two separate times seeing both Krissa (first on dec 5th) and Ruta (second on dec. 11th). Both times I specifically asked to work solely on my back and neck. For me Ruta really got rid of all my knots. She felt where they were, traced her fingers along up my muscle. Tried different techniques to loosen the knot, which I appreciated so much. Not gonna lie I was really sore for 2 days but omg the benefits still are worth it. I can sleep without pain, have full rotation turning my neck.

So besides the massages I have to say that if you're looking for peace within the added amenities this is probably not the place to go. For one, the bathroom is shared with employees. That means there is constant movement. They either enter through the "relaxation/no cell phone use zone" or through the shower area. If they enter through the relaxation zone they have to go through two doors. These doors do not shut quietly and then theres the bathroom door. And it's not one employee. In one hour 5 employees walked through. Not to mention other people fussing with their lockers and hearing the door jamming. It was a joke. But If i wanted to relax I'd be home tbh because i dont have kids, I'm not trying to escape. I'm trying to reap the benefits of the massage and the steam room. Which is so nice..no one goes in there. The shower sprays in the handicap shower dont work. The door opens awkwardly in the other one and to get your towel your basically exposing yourself (if you're topless/naked). The figi sugar scrub was always out, it's a sample tho but if it's out then remove it.

All in all I go for the massage...