Asian Spa — Local services in New York

I came here for an after-workout massage. The waiting room was full of people who appeared to be employees or perhaps friends and family. They all stared at me as soon as I walked in. A strange experience, but fortunately, that was the low point of the visit.

The massage room was a fairly typical room. Somewhat barebones. Soft music playing. I could hear the group in the waiting room hanging out and chatting. The door had a clear glass or plastic window, which is unusual.

I went for a 60 minute body massage. The massage itself was fine. It was a deep tissue massage, which is the only style of body massage that they offer. My masseuse asked if I wanted strong or medium pressure, and I indicated medium. Medium turned out to be somewhat lighter than an average deep tissue or shiatsu massage. I assume strong would have been more typical. Hot oil and stones were a part of this massage. Their technique was fine. Maybe one or two small technical mistakes where some motions were performed on one side but not the other.

During the massage, someone (not my masseuse) opened and closed the door briefly, probably to check whether the room was occupied. What was the point of that window?

$38 for a 1 hour massage isn't bad. There are plenty of massage places that charge 2-3 times as much, and that gets you a quieter, more relaxing environment. But for $38, this...

This place changed their prices and now demand a mandatory $10 tip, saying it’s up to you is a complete lie. I got yelled at for taking too long to pay and a woman yelled and shook her fingers in my face repeatedly. I tried to ask questions like when did you change prices and why is the $10 tip mandatory and she was huffing and puffing in my face telling me “pay pay” so they could rush more people in. The people in the hallway were yelling to the masseuse on my room so he started yelling back and they rushed him out of the room and my last 5 min he just went “okay I’m done now” and left early so he could go to another room. Other occasions I’ve had people randomly walk in and out of my room while I am laying there. There is zero privacy with sound since the walls don’t go up to the Cieling. If one client decides to talk in their “private” room for an hour it sounds like it’s in the room with you. Very hard to calm down. I’ve only had a handful of good experiences here and I only chose it for the prices. Now that they raised all the prices and the tips and the service has fallen hard I am looking for a new place, as should you.

Bad service all around. Can’t even say one nice thing except the...

My partner and I moved into the neighborhood about a year and a half ago and have been frequenting Asian Spa ever since. We go separately, together and have treated a friend for her birthday twice. The massages are generally good to great, and the price is fantastic. Today, we decided to try their foot massage together. The massage took place in the back of the salon, in semi private area with two chairs. We asked for 30 minute massages and sat down in the chairs. I reached over and held my parter's hand. The two massage therapists talked for the majority of the massage, one of them loudly, gesturing towards our hands, both laughing. While we couldn't fully understand what was being said, the tone of voice and facial expressions made us feel very uncomfortable. We felt pretty sure it not well masked homophobia. The massages lasted 24 minutes (I timed it on my phone).

Despite this zero star, disappointing experience, I gave two stars due to previous good experiences. However, I wanted to leave a review to warn other queer folks that it is not a safe or...