Spa Castle New York — Hotel in New York

I'm going to start by saying I spent 9 hours here on a Saturday and had a pretty decent time. I'll list the good stuff before the bad.

However before I start listing things I'll first say that Spa Castle is NOT handicap accessible. Whether or not they passed inspection I do not know but I do know that their elevator is essentially solely used by staff. The entrances/exits on the 1st and 2nd floors are hidden away in the back without any signs and have narrow hallways where they keep there stocks of sodas and other misc. stock items; the hallways were not even big enough for me and my mother to walk shoulder to shoulder. If you use a wheelchair I am unsure of how accessible anything would be as there are no ramps to get into the pools or saunas. I simply use a cane and had a hard time due as the stairs are not that safe. Not only are the stairs slippery (duh water) but the railings are not the greatest, and I actually fell getting into one of the baths towards the end of my day.

Good things - Saunas are indeed relaxing and there are plenty to choose from as seen from my picture. Spa Castle is open almost all day on the weekends from 8 am to Midnight, so you can run your errands etc and still get a spa day in. They also have no age limit so you can bring anyone with you and the pools/baths are heated in the winter as well. The food and drinks offered at Spa Castle are decent to good depending on your taste. Spa Castle gives you a small towel, uniform and watch which acts as both your locker key and wallet for the day making it easier not to lose track of your belongings or having to deal with soggy money.

Bad things - The price of everything. Starting with entry; while I understand the price point for Adults, as of February 2018 it is $50/adult on weekends. It is kinda hard to justify $40/child on weekends. To do the old family of 4 pricing, would mean that 2 adults and 2 kids would cost $280. That price is just to come in and use the saunas, pools/baths and gym equipment. This does not include food, drinks or even massages. Speaking of food, they have a very small buffet area that unfortunately I did not pay close attention to the price and paid $14 for 2 pieces of watermelon, 1 slice of tomato, 2 slices of avocado, 3 pieces of kiwi and 2 strawberries. When I ask why the price was so much, I was shown the sign $10/per pound a plate for fruit and $12/ per pound a plate for everything else. What they don't tell you is that they include the weight of the plate in their calculation and that the plate must weigh somewhere between .6 - 1 pound in of itself. You are better off getting food that the price is already set. As for drinks, for a place that is designed to make people sweat they only offer free water on 2 out of their 4.5 floors and that is ridiculous. Dehydration is a serious problem that could seriously hurt someone if they are unaware that they are losing so much water from such activities as being in the water or having a steam. While the fact that this place is open most of the day is great, unless you really like noise and crowds I suggest coming early because this place starts becoming a weird almost club like scene around 5/6 pm or so. Lastly I'm going to put this under the "bad" column simply because many people are shy, the locker room is strictly a naked place. There are signs that strictly prohibit changing in the bathroom stall for privacy and threatens to evict you for not following this rule.

While I don't think it is a horrible place, I feel there is room for improvement. I would likely go again if someone else paid or if I felt like splurging and Groupon had another deal of 2 for...

First time back since reopening. Haven’t been there for years (BOH and Covid). Here are my thoughts on “new” Spa Castle:

Went on a weekday, not crowded. “Lifeguards” at the indoor pools are probably a good idea even though the water is 3 feet deep.

Who came up with the remodel? The entire place is now bright white with a garish blue trim that looks like kindergarten fingerpaint. It is neither a) stylish or b) soothing. It is on everything. All of the wacky details that made Spa Castle so endearing are gone. Starting downstairs, the multicolor lighting in the downstairs men/women area has been replaced by bright white lights. The T shirts and shorts have been replaced by robes. Which means women have to wear bathing suits instead in the saunas upstairs. Nothing worse than spandex/nylon on your skin when you are sweating in a sauna.

Upstairs, the Willy Wonka-esque sauna alley has been repainted with that awful generic white and blue. The salt sauna has been enlarged and replaces the loess sauna. It’s probably good since the salt sauna was always crowded. But when I laid down I almost screamed–the ceiling (which used to be made of salt) has been replaced with wall-to-wall mirror. On the ceiling! Not exactly calming. Whose idea was that?! And the loess sauna is gone! It was the best and most authentic sauna there, with its high heat, dark lighting and wonderful Korean drawings on the walls. Why? Who is the audience they are catering to? I’m sure Korean people miss it, but so do I.

Continuing upstairs, one of the most beautiful features of Spa Castle, the giant 2-story wooden door, has been completely painted that awful blue. And what a job–they covered all the metal hardware, the rivets, hinges, just everything, with bright blue paint. It looks like the paint job a landlord would do to get a cheap apartment ready for the next tenant. I looked out the window (the outdoor pools were opening the next day) and the hinoki bath (another favorite) had been covered by a blue dome that would fit in perfectly on Mykonos. This is a Korean spa? There used to be nothing more relaxing than being in the hinoki outside on a winter day looking through the gazebo at the sky and watching snow fall. Now, it will be like lying in a hot igloo.

I spoke to another longtime customer who had one word to describe it all. “Bland.” And indeed it is. It’s not authentic Korean anymore (like King), and neither is it a high end spa (like Soju) Basically, it is neither here nor there. At much higher prices. Who decided to get rid of all the features that made Spa Castle unique?

I tried the restaurant upstairs and found the sizzling seafood tofu soup I always got had been replaced by a tofu soup that was, yes, bland too.

All in all, the giddy joy we always had going to Spa Castle is gone. Would i go back? Not that often, but probably, just for the scrub from Joyce, who is incredible (I thought no one was as good as Gina, but she is!) Also, no more traditional black bathing suits for the scrubbers. It’s as if they are wiping out everything that made Spa Castle a Korean spa. If I want a fancy spa, Spa Castle is not that. If I want a Korean spa, it is not that either. Identity crisis much? So, Spa Castle, good luck. And maybe have a conversation with whomever spearheaded this redesign. Because it’s...

I haven’t been here in 10 years, but was in flushing area and decided to stop by again. I don’t believe this is a true korean spa/bathhouse anymore. It’s more of a playground with indoor pools/saunas. In the bathhouse- the signs say no swimming in the hot tubs… i saw a few young girls swimming like jumping into the baths/ doing mini dives under the 94 degrees water and FaceTiming while we are all naked! (signs posted for no videos&pictures)

2nd, my korean scrub was scheduled for 6 PM at 5:30. The lady came to ask if I was ready for my scrub? Being puzzled I told her I’m scheduled for 6 and I just got here so I’d like to go at 6.

At six, I was called for my Korean scrub, which was good however, I was not expecting a non-Korean employee to be scrubbing me, which is what I’m used to. I decided to proceed and trust that the owner of the queen spa trust us employee to scrub like the older Korean ladies do. The scrub was OK. She was not as thorough as the usual Korean ladies…For $95 for 40 minutes it’s no longer worth it.

After my scrub, i went up to meet my husband upstairs, which should be where all the community rooms are. The decor and cleanliness was good. We went into some of the rooms, Himalayan salt room was crowded. We skipped that and we went to Jade room. Other patrons came in. They were super loud, and their language was pretty ghetto lots of cursing. They definitely took away from spa experience. We went into the cold room- found more patrons that were young, loud and poor language.

We decided to check out the other floors- found outdoor pools/hottubs etc filled with a lot of people that were excessively splashing around and lot of kids jumping in and out of pools. Plus at least four couples making out in the pools….Pretty distasteful in my opinion this place felt like an outdoor amusement park?

Lastly we went to get dressed to leave… i didn’t see any hairdryers in sight on the counters. I asked the attendant where can i find one- she replied there are none- no longer in service. I was pretty surprised at that- first time for me to see a Korean spa not supply hairdryers. Definitely not coming back as the owner of this place turned this into a amusement park and cater to residents in the area who probably do not have access to a local pool to stay cool during the summer. After 6pm its 30% off entrance fees so it was crowded!

I did bring to the mgmt attention that there was no hairdryers- they were not aware that was happening in the female side. I was then offered a hairdryer after i paid- but i was ready to run out of there.

Its a nice indoor amusement park i guess but NOT...