Water Lounge Spa — Local services in Millbrae

*Edit to Respond to Water Lounge Spa (1/16/2024): Hi Zuyi, I appreciate the due diligence in your response. Having lived in Chinese-speaking countries for years, I know there are cultural differences in conversation styles. But even in China/Taiwan, in my experience, a massage is NOT a place to having a conversation. I've also never been smacked on the head during a massage.

Further, the fact that he is married makes it EVEN stranger that he was asking me to hang out when he's off work and telling me that I'm cute (followed by asking if I understood this statement when I stayed silent).

I'm sure Leo is a skilled masseuse and would be a match for a male client. But since I was so uncomfortable for the last half of the massage, I can't even recall his massage skill--and I left feeling far worse than when I went in.

Honestly, I'd rather not run the risk of having to interact with Leo again. I'm sure you'll understand why I wouldn't feel comfortable going back to get a massage, even from a female masseuse.

Hope that other female clients paired with Leo have a much better experience than I did. Original Review (1/14/2024): Watch out for the male masseuse, Leo. My experience with him was massively uncomfortable and invasive.

Massage started silent (because who wants to carry a conversation during a massage?), but halfway through Leo asked me what ethnicity I was, which alone was strange. Worse still, once he found out I could speak Chinese, he kept trying to talk to me for the rest of the massage: asking me abt my job and income asking my age and what kind/cost of apartment/house I live in asking me about my preference in men asking if I would date a Chinese man

Then he suggested that I come by on his days off to hang out? He even paused the massage, walked around and had me look at him, as if to consider him for a date. After I declined, he lightly SMACKED my head (like in an admonishing way). I think it was his style of flirting?

At different points after that head smack, he commented on my body shape and how “cute” I am—when I didn’t respond, he asked me if I understood his compliment. Incredibly uncomfortable.

Keep in mind, all of this occurred while I was UNCLOTHED. I couldn’t even comfortably report this to the woman at the front desk because Leo hovered nearby the entire time.

Overall, SUPER UNCOMFORTABLE and disappointing to experience. I had heard good things of this place but now I don’t know if I would risk it again.

2 stars because the reception lady was very friendly and quick to lead me to the massage room. The room itself was comfortable and the music was pleasant. Just my experience with Leo was incredibly invasive...

I am writing to formally express my dissatisfaction with the 90-minute deep tissue massage and hot stone session I received last Friday, conducted by Zoe.

Before the session began, I clearly informed Zoe that I had significant pain in my shoulders and neck, and requested that the majority of the time be focused on those areas. However, despite my request, she spent approximately 70 minutes solely on my back. Because I was lying face-down, I couldn’t track the time precisely, but I could already feel that it was far too long, and the prolonged position actually made my neck and shoulder pain worse.

I reminded her during the session to focus on my neck and shoulders, but she insisted on “finishing the back first.” When I finally turned over, only 20 minutes were left for shoulders, neck, head, and limbs — which were rushed through with minimal attention.

This is not the first time this has happened with Zoe. During my previous session with her, she used the same explanation and again ignored my specific concerns. A deep tissue massage that ignores the client's actual problem areas is not just ineffective — it’s a waste of time and money.

I hope your team takes this seriously and ensures that therapists listen to client needs rather than rigidly following their own routine. At the very least, I expect a proper resolution for this poor experience.

relpy：

I know this is just part of her scripted response. Just like the first time, I trusted her, even though she didn’t follow my request to focus on my shoulders and neck. I thought during the second massage, she would pay attention to that area—but she didn’t, even though I had clearly emphasized that I needed shoulder and neck work. At the end, she repeated the same excuse, which I cannot accept.

First of all, my lower back has been examined by a doctor and there is no issue. That was simply her excuse. She is not a doctor and should not provide treatment services based on her own judgment.

Secondly, the reason I chose the 90-minute massage package was because I urgently needed at least 30 minutes focused on my shoulders and neck. But that was never provided. She even said that the shoulder and neck couldn’t be massaged while lying face down, and that I had to wait until I turned over. But she didn’t let me turn over until 70 minutes had passed and then claimed again that the shoulder and neck couldn’t be massaged face down. That’s completely illogical and frankly, ridiculous.

It’s been three days, and not only has my shoulder and neck tension not improved, but my lower back is now sore from being over-massaged.

Thank you for taking the time to understand what happened. I will not...

After having been to this location quite a few times and reading many of the Yelp reviews I felt it was time to address the main issue I have with this place, which is the Asian woman who runs the front desk.

Unfortunately, she sees it fit to be her place to chastise customers who have Groupon passes. Every time I come in with them she always says I could have got the same price from her directly. She puts on this big frown and makes a fuss over it repeatedly.The last time I was in I said it’s not up to me to come in and negotiate anything with her on the side and she then backed off. It’s always like a garage sale deal with her when it comes to trying to push the salt soak options for $10 extra. A couple of days ago when I came in, she asked me If I would like a regular massage or deep tissue massage.

After I opted for the deep tisdue massage without even asking she tacked on another 10 bucks. Once again, I had to talk money with her and call her out and she then reversed the $10 charge. I see from other reviews here she’s all over people for not tipping enough as well. I always tip 30 bucks because with the exception of the masuers milking the clock for 10-15 minutes with an unnecessary amount of time to soak my feet the masuers do pretty good work here.

Lastly, there was a conversation I had with her this last Easter Sunday that I feel needs to be addressed by her supervisor. We were making small talk and out of the blue she indicated Biden was choosing that day as a LBTGQ recognition day with a very condescending tone and disgust on her face. It bothered me at the moment and all I could say is that here in the Bay Area people are able to let their freaky flags fly and I could tell she took unbridge with it.

Such an ignorant take on a date that just happened to have fell on Easter Sunday, but why try to explain the obvious to someone so dumb that talks to a stranger with a loaded topic.

The other issue is that you can hear her from the the massage rooms as she is either upset with other staff or customers for their groupons or tipping practices as you can hear her critical tone whether it be in Mandarin or English.a

At the end of the day, this lady needs to fade into the background, take appointments and the rest but stay away from constant attempts at trying to bleed the customers for more of their money.

Who needs to go into their massage feeling like they just got through haggling at a flea...