Piedmont Family Spa — Local services in Oakland

In summary: for many this is a good deal. But Be careful if you have an injury or surgery. Masseuse may not listen to your requests for less pressure.

This review is really a blend of 4 star and 1 star. For me, 4 stars because I don’t have any major injuries and don’t mind an intense massage. The massages here are not as professional and targeted as at a place that costs a lot more. But I love the specials and the ability to come over and relax on short notice. I’d suggest directing your masseuse to the spots you want as you’re getting the massage as they aren’t as trained to home in on knots as a higher end establishment. But again, my experiences have primarily been relaxing and at least enjoyable, albeit painful at times.

1 star for my girlfriend, who had a bad experience and who I want to encourage the management to talk to the staff and ask them to be more attentive. She had a spine surgery and marked the middle of her back as a no go area. The masseur did avoid this spot, but repeatedly used too much pressure elsewhere on her back despite her repeatedly asking for less pressure (she had put “medium”). From looking over reviews, I see this is not an isolated experience. If someone asks for less pressure, please LOWER THE PRESSURE and do not increase again without them asking for more. She now has back pain the next day and what I hoped would be a relaxing experience turned into a nightmare.

Hopefully, nothing with the surgery was damaged. While I thought we might get massages here and she might not have the most heavenly experience, I at least hoped it would be relaxing and not painful and borderline traumatizing. I’m not expecting a 5 star spa experience for the price. For many people, this place is a hidden gem and a good experience. But please, just listen to people and try to be sensitive to them to avoid...

Me and my husband went here for our honeymoon looking for couples massages! They where available and so we jumped on it and we where very excited! We check in, they guide us to our rooms and we loved the the lighting, the music and the set up. During my experiance I felt very overwhelmed with the amount of pressure that was used during my massage. I did ask to use a lighter pressure, but then my masseuse went back to using the same amount of pressure used previously. I was in alot of pain during my massage & the areas I circled that needed to be worked on more than the rest of my body was not worked on enough, I felt that my masseuse spent more time on the areas that I didnt need worked on more than the areas that I truly needed to be worked on. The massage was also fast pace meaning that the motions where not slow and attentive, they where fast and just not enjoyable. The masseuse also hit my legs and back (which is a technique used in massage) but it did bring me pain. I remember the masseuse wiggling my arms all over the place, and I didnt understand the purpose of it. After the massage me and mg husband both felt the same way! And had the same bad experience in our massage. Hours later my back hurts very bad. It hurts to lay on my back. It hurts to lean up against a chair I sit on and I do feel very sore. I understand that some people do like and need intense pressure, but if you are a person looking to relax, unwind, and feel like a person is actually massaging you because it is something they love to do and not something they have to do, I do not...

Great price and easy parking. Front desk girl was not very welcoming but it’s ok I figured I’d wait to experience the massage and judge from there. Although the price chart says 60 mins you actually only get 45 mins. My masseuse was Sophie & her massage was subpar so I only tipped 15 % and she went to the front desk attendant to show her discontent by holding my tip money out & making gestures showing it wasn’t a large tip. I would tip more if I had a satisfying massage for 60 mins. She did not massage my foot with much care, more like rubbed it, didn’t even hit any of the pressure points. I have had much better foot reflexology massage elsewhere in the past. Her massage was not balanced either, what she did on the right side she did not do on the left and vice versa. Then ended my massage early so I decided it was not fair for me to tip a whole 20% since my massage was shorted. Tipping is based on the service rendered, people don’t just hand out money if one does not show effort. I hope I get a better masseuse next time since the price is reasonable before I completely give up...