Spring Garden Spa 8 — Local services in New York

I work in this area and have been to this spa a few times before and have gotten fantastic service. There is a young man at the register who is very straight-forward with prices and service, and the massage therapists always listen to my needs (I had a back surgery so you need to go gentle with me!). Unfortunately, I had a very bad experience this afternoon with an aggressive older woman who would not listen and I had to interrupt her massage 3 times and ask her to go softer. It was only a 20 minute massage and most of it was painful, I did not feel relaxed afterwards. I went there with a friend and she was going to add the tip for us and this lady rushed when we were paying at the end and kept raising her voice and aggressively demanding a tip. When my friend entered the tip for the two transactions (mind you, the guy was not there this time, it was a younger woman who felt intimidated by her), she kept yelling 'TIP!' and then stopped me and demanded a tip. I tip, but I believe/HOPE customers are still allowed to customize tips and they are also, believe it or not, not an obligation, certainly not a moral one with that nerve to be aggressive and rude towards customers as if they were 'getting away' with an unfair bargain. The $2 fee for paying with a card instead of cash also feels misleading and old-fashioned, and I don't remember paying for this before. I know times are tough but instead of advertising for a $25 massage, just be honest and say it's a $35 massage ($2 for using a card, $8 for the high percentage tip you expect). I felt uncomfortable and I don't think I will be going back. I don't like being ambushed by someone who feels entitled to tips and I also feel embarrassed that I overhyped this place to my friend and told her what a great experience she would have.. only to experience an employee's meltdown over a tip, after not even giving...

The ONLY thing this place has going for it is cheap. 1 star rating due to:

A) the massage therapist walking out of the room 6 times to deal with other customers - 3 times to speak to a new customer and 3 times to answer the phone. Can you believe she then answered the phone and continued giving me a massage at the same time twice?

B) Continuous loud chatter between her and the therapist next door, who was giving my husband a massage. I even told them to stop talking once. This only stopped for a few minutes. Several times a third person walked into my stall to ask questions (I am guessing as I don’t know the language) and the three would chatter on and on and on

C) Credit Card charge (beware buyers) was way above NYC tax. The staff just stated it wasn’t due to them but due to boss, if we paid cash there would be no tax, and offered that we could call the boss. Pretty sure the charge added on credit card charges, which is not legal in US. SHAME SHAME SHAME on the owner

The sad thing in all this was that the therapist was actually pretty good. But the overall experience was awful. Look I should have known better - you get what you pay for. Got it, but I shouldn’t have to deal with all the starts / stops, phone answering, continuous loud chatter and incorrect tax charges etc. if you are ok with all of this and just want a cheap massage - go for it. ...

I was torn about whether to even write this review. On one hand, I support local businesses and this is definitely one I will return to again. On the other hand, I also selfishly do not want it to become so popular I can't get an appointment! In the end, my sense of altruism won out lol.

I just moved to the neighborhood from the UWS. I had my own situation and routines there, but it's like a whole new city down here, so I am starting from scratch. One of the staff at Thread (that reminds me, I need to write a review for them too) recommended this place.

I popped by on a whim in the middle of the day. I was more than happy to come back if I needed to make an appointment, but they were able to accommodate me right then. I got a 30 minute foot massage and 20 minute neck/shoulder/arm/hand massage from Summer. It was much needed bliss.

They have so many other interesting services too. I tried to attach photos of the service menu but kept getting errors. Next time, I'm getting the Head Therapy massage thing. It...