Descanso Garden Spa — Local services in Los Angeles

I would emphasize that this is a lovely place with lovely people and I will return time on time again however I was not fully prepared for my first experience so here it is.

Number one if you are going to a Korean spa, you should know what happens at a Korean spa. It is nudity that is what happens. We are all equal and naked and clean and scrubbing. The body very thoroughly is part of the tradition of the spa, so you’re going to see things , but they’re going to be seen of you as well.

If you’re going to Korean spa, get a scrub that is what the hokey pokey is all about. Upon arrival, you will takeoff your shoes and be given a uniform that is all you were allowed to wear, and that is what you were upstairs in the lovely saunas and the cedar oxygen room. I really love the cedar oxygen. I fall asleep almost immediately when I lay down in there, best napping place in LA.

Inside of the gender specific spas, there is required nudity. I did not quite understand what that meant, but it means what it means. You are very naked. You must’ve immediately shower upon entering a shower along the walls and then there’s a hot tub and a cold tub, which isn’t super cold. It’s very comfortable , steam rooms and one dry sauna there are also showers everywhere along the walls and salts available if you want to sit and do your own scrub out in the open, and there will be many people very thoroughly cleaning their nooks and crannies at the scrub stations.

Eventually, a lovely older woman and her bra underwear will come and find you in the hot tub to take you back to a scrubbing appointment. You are completely naked and she will dump giant containers of water all over you and scrub you vigorously with some kind of special mitt Chunks of your flesh roll off your body and you have no idea where it came from. I weighed myself before and after the scrub for the first time and I lost three American pounds of skin from my body.

This might sound horrifying, but it’s really quite lovely. You’re going to feel younger and softer and so incredibly clean. They recommend this happening once a month to maintain your skins health and circulation. Highly recommend highly on an invasive just know that...

Decent facility, horrible management. I was going to say “terrible” but horrible sounds worse. Had a very disappointing experience here last year and haven’t returned since. I was so excited when I discovered this place near my house and was taking a new friend every month. i was even planning to take groups here for different special occasions, my birthday, etc, and was going to make a weekly ritual of it for myself when possible. Then one day I brought a friend 3 hours before closing. The steam rooms weren’t working, and when we went upstairs, all the hot rooms were significantly BELOW their normal temperatures. Like 20+ degrees below. It wasn’t up to par with what i had experienced on past visits, so I went to the front to let them know and said i felt like we should get a partial refund because half the facilities were not functioning properly and i wasn’t getting the experience and benefits i had paid for. They said that was fine, but when i went back on my way out to leave, they got their actual manager, who told me to my face that i was wrong, essentially called me a liar, and refused to address my complaint, or even check to see if what i was saying matched reality. He was beyond rude and dismissive, and i don’t know how someone like him even has a job unless he’s related to the business-owner. Regardless, having someone like him around is doing more harm than good. It would have cost him very little to turn a good customer into a loyal one, but instead he’s lost thousands of dollars in revenue from me and all the referrals i would have made and people i would have brought. Now I tell people NOT to go there, because i can’t support a place that shows so little concern for customer satisfaction. Just yucky. Really...

I usually don't leave negative reviews unless a place leaves a bad taste in my mouth. First and last time at the spa. I booked two Acupressure massages, on for myself and one for my wife as we're celebrating our first year wedding anniversary. When we got to the massage portion of our massages we were put in the couples massage room, now you would think if I purchased two of the exact same massages, we would get two of the exact same massages. My wife did not receive anything anywhere near a massage, ON TOP of having a loud vibrating noise going off every 5 minutes THE ENTIRE TIME. How could you relax???- no it was not our phone. Those were turned off before entering. Anyway the massage my wife received was mostly a lady just digging her knuckles very lightly on her skin, no oil, nothing. The entire massage there was a sheet and towel on top of my wife which is how they were performing this "massage" while on my end my back was being walked on, the pressure was great. Now if both massages I paid for were the same why did my wife not receive anywhere near the same treatment I did? Also, in the middle of our massages some one in the hallway was screaming and crying yelling at what I'm assuming is some one that works at the spa. The workers seemed to be trying to calm her down and eventually after about 10 minutes of it, it stopped. Once the massages were completed, and I spoke to my wife to let me know how upset she was at the service, we decided to head out. Now I don't know how guests are expected to relax at a place like this with everything going on but this is going to be the last time for us. Definitely not a good experience....