Imperial Spa

Definitely not the biggest or best spa I’ve ever been to. As far as Korean spas go, this was about as basic as it gets. I can only speak for the men’s side but there was a cold dip pool, a jacuzzi, a very small steam room and a very small sauna. When we were in the steam room there was enough room for about 5 comfortably. After that it got awkward fast. My biggest issue is that after going from steam room to sauna to cold dip, there really isn’t another room to hang out in. So, although it’s basic and small, if you need an escape I guess this could work for ya.

I really like this place.
Great price, low key, no snobs.
I have been coming here for years.
The only place in the City that offers Whole Body Scrub. I also like the Deep Tissue Korean massage. Great package deal. But, I always ask for «Medium» pressure. If you are NOT familiar with Korean Massage, please look it up. If you want to be surrounded by snobs, sorority parties, and Millennials glued to their cell phones, don’t bother to visit.

This is a pretty crappy Korean spa, but it doesn’t seem like there’s much to choose from in SF.
The jacuzzi and sauna area were ugly and definitely not relaxing with people blabbering away loudly. The scrub was at least a standard scrub like I’ve had at other Korean spas, which is why this doesn’t receive one star!
I wouldn’t return here. It’s really a run down, ugly place and for that money I would rather scrub myself at home.
FYI: I do not recommend getting a massage at any Korean spa. They have no idea what they’re doing. If you’re even going to go here (don’t) just get a scrub and expect people to be talking loudly.

My friend and I went to this place to get a massage. We felt like we both got nerve damage because of how unskilled our message therapists were. Also I was sweating profusely during my message because I could not judge where and with how much pressure my massage therapist was going to massage. Avoid this place unless you want to walk away feeling like you just got into a fight.

So my friend and I decided to go to this spa from a groupon special. (you get what you pay for apparently) first of all, I never really been to a spa so I didn’t know how this all works. Overall the experience was nice, but I wasn’t comfortable with being naked around other women so I kept myself covered .
Hot tub, cold tub, sauna, clay room was all nice. 3 stars overall.

I returned hoping that this experirence would be better than last time’s. Unfortunate, it wasn’t and the noise/​chatter level was abit inappropriate, so i won’t consider returning.
There is no etiquette and common courtesy of some patrons, it’s appalling. Go there on a weekday and it’s still too croweded, so can’t imagine how the weekend would be like. Three Russian ladies came in and did not stop talking in the ladies’ locker area. They then went into the dry sauna, where there were 2 others besides themselves. Kept whispering and nonstop chatter. If you can’t stop chatting amongst yourselves while ppl are trying to relax, perhaps you should go to the park or café. It’s so rude.
Then, you have the employees who also start chatting in the «lounge» area. Not sure if they’re just venting about work. But, that should really be done in the employee’s lounge.
It’s overall so hard to relax. The salt room is popular. But with the noise level right outside (locker area) and the employees coming out and barking out the numbers for the scrubs/​massages it gets to be too much.
Will try Kabuki for a quieter zenlike experience.

Who’s in charge there?!?
Groupon users beware!!! I had an issue with my Groupon. The front desk person was not being helpful so I asked to speak to the owner. She said that I had to leave my phone number and the owner would call me back.
What kind of business doesn’t give out the owner/​manager/​supervisor number?!? Clearly one that gets a lot of complaints that they don’t want to deal with.
It’s been 3 weeks and not surprisingly never heard anything back…
It’s not good business practice to not deal with your customers and give them the runaround.
I would love to hear back from somebody and make this right. Does anybody care over there?!?

A body scrubber never smiles it’s like he hates his job and the customers. He sits in front of his laptop at his station and smiles only to his Korean TV like an idiot. It’s ok if his English is not fluent but I see him talking to other people he could have added some pleasant facial expressions to make up for the language. Maybe he’d rather be at the woman section scrubbing the women.
But a spa is a place for people to go relax, especially after work. The unpleasant impolite face of this staff is worse than any my worst clients. They have good jacuzzi tho. Didn’t feel like strong chemical. Good strong stream. Wish they fix all Jetstream not all working. Perhaps a fruit basket?

Your review helps 04.04.2016 Very NÎCE and PeåcefüL

After being in the steam room for 10 minutes I look up and see 4 other dudes giving each other hand jobs. Not kidding. Now I’m not afraid of a bit of sexual expression but I was worried that the longer I stayed the higher my chances of me seeing bodily fluids would be, which is not what you want if you’re trying to relax from an intense work week.

Older facility in a pretty small space, and it desperately needs an update. There’s really no area to lounge around except the area by the mirrors where you do your beauty business. I want a real lounge like with mats on the floor, TVs, and pillows. There’s nothing like that here.
Here are some tips on what to bring:
–Shampoo, conditioner, face wash, etc.: So you know exactly what you’re using; the amenities here are nameless and look cheap.
–Food because being in water just makes you hungry and there’s nothing available besides what’s outside in Japantown
–Robe because my friend found a stain in hers
I got a foot acupressure massage ($ 60) and that was okay but not worth the price. It’s equivalent to a Chinese foot massage you can get for half the price. The lady even asked if I felt a difference before and after getting a foot massage. Guess she wasn’t trying to sell it to me.
If you pay in cash, you can choose between 2 free face masks or 2 free Korean scrub cloths. There’s a small parking lot with about 5 spots and street parking available.

This place is absolutely incredible, my go to for stress reduction. This review is a bit belated, as I have been coming to Imperial for 3 years at least once a month and up to 2x a week during stressful times.
Having been to Korean Spa’s all over the country (Spa Castle to all the cute spots in LA), Imperial is a bit utilitarian but always clean and inclusive of all the elements for a true Korean bathing experience.
The scrub, massage combo is my go-​to treatment, all of the women are excellent and I always leave looking and feeling like a new born baby. Not a flake of dry skin on my body, polished and relaxed to perfection. Expert tip, bring your own products if you are particular (my hair is keratained so I bring my own shampoo), otherwise they have a nice basic set of lovely body products included in the pampering.
The herbal steam room, sauna and salt clay room are perfectly coupled with a deep cold plunge pool for maximum bathing circuit rejuvenation. The spa is always clean, even when it is busy.
The only improvement I would like to see is some light relaxing music and an upgrade in tea quality; otherwise, for the price, Imperial is perfection.

This is completely perfect if you need a small check-​out session but don’t have the time for a 3 – 6 hour drive to get to a «check out» location. I cannot believe I haven’t found one of these sooner! In dire need of some pampering, a gal pal and I decided to indulge ourselves and release our inner queen for this experience.
The location itself is kind of small, but larger than I expected being in SF city! We are still in a drought and so excess towels are not in abundance, so be courteous of the world and use what you are provided smartly.
You are to arrive 30 minutes prior to your appointment so that you can soak in the hot tubs and open those pores up. We arrived and checked-​in and grabbed our facial masks to use later. Took a mini self tour of the place and then found our lockers disrobed and began our experience. Get comfy walking around nude and we brought our $ 1 old navy flop flops which worked perfectly for the entire experience.
There is a red clay sauna, steam sauna, wood sauna, hot and cold tubs, plenty of asian and western rinsing stations, 2 stalls for the bathroom, and small lounge area with complimentary water and animal and ritz crackers for snacks.
The Korean body scrub was amazing! Left my skin feeling so smooth and I’ve never felt so pure and radiant even. LOL Definitely a necessary for deep exfoliation! The massage wasn’t anything to write home about, I have always been told that Korean massages were the best you could get as far as deep penetration into muscle tissues etc so I was expecting to be a completely limp noodle after the scrub and everything. that didn’t occur, but I am still not complaining!
You can even just pay $ 25 and utilize the pools and saunas.
Perfect for a little detox and unwind, we lost ourselves for 4 hours and it was a battle to get dressed and join the real world again, but hunger called! Luckily Sweet Maple is a few blocks away and delightful!

After a long day at the beach, my friend and I needed to clean up before we head out to another event. Since we aren’t from San Francisco, we couldn’t shower at home. We decided to go to a Korean spa instead.
Imperial is very clean, but small. The fee was $ 25 per person, which is $ 5 more than where I always go in South Bay. There are two pools (hot and cold) and the lounge area consist of a couch. I wish there is a bigger place to take a nap. There is a red clay room to nap in, but the capacity is 5 people. I had to squeeze in between people to claim a spot. There wasn’t that many people when I was there, but it felt crowded for some reason. Also, there’s hot tea and some cookies to munch on if you are hungry from sweating so much in the steam room or sauna.
Overall, it meets my needs and gets the job done. However I would probably stay with my regular Korean spa, since it is cheaper and has warm floors to nap on.

Worst spa ever went I to the wet sauna and a guy was handling his package and someone joined in never returning

The Imperial Spa is located close to Japan Town On Geary in San Francisco. For $ 25 you can purchase a day ticket with no in-​and-​out privileges. While the price is pretty standard and reasonable, I was not fully satisfied with my visit.
The amenities consisting of a cold pool, a hot jacuzzi which can be controlled through an external switch, a dry sauna and a steam room are all great. Traditional Asian and Western showers are provided. Toothpaste and toothbrush as well as other shower and shaving items are also complementary.
There were two reasons why I wasn’t satisfied with this place. First and foremost: The personell is rude. Initially I was provided with two towels. Unfortunately, they were not the newest and had holes. When I asked a staff member inside the spa for additional towels they made me go to the front desk to pick them up by myself. Mind you, I was naked and a bunch of 40-​year old women were standing at the front desk, so I had to live off my two gross towels until they were gone and I could finally rush to the front desk wrapped in one of my towels. Other patrons brought up the same concerns to me. They are not offering additional towels in the spa which I have never seen in any Asian Spa anywhere in the world and I have been to a lot. Also, there is not enough space for relaxation after sauna and bath. They definitely need to work on these issues. Considering the fact that the Kabuki Springs and Spa is essentially next door and the price is the same, I would highly recommend going to the Kabuki if you are looking for a more relaxing experience. Nevertheless, I enjoyed their amenities and I would come back if it wasn’t for the rude personnel.

I spent 4 hours at Imperial Day Spa today, with a one hour massage with Susan. Susan was great and walked on my back, it was a good vigorous oil massage. $ 80 + $ 20 tip
I agree with the review that Imperial Spa is «the hillbilly cousin of Kabuki Spa
;, Imperial just isn’t as nice as Kabuki and has cheap (free) products. however, they did have animal crackers and ritz crackers, so that was a nice surprise.
I did enjoy the himalayan salt and red clay sauna, the steam sauna was great and had a cold faucet with a bucket inside to splash over you when you got too hot, the dry sauna was good, the cold plunge was nice, and the hot tub was ok too which is why I spent 3 hours rotating through each.
btw — it is clothing optional and I did see a few women wearing bathing suits and the rest of us were naked. I can’t imagine sitting in a sauna and then doing a cold plunge in a swimming suite but to each her own.
the lovely pregnant front desk lady with beautiful hazel eyes was very nice, but the MEAN DARK HAIR GIRL was nasty as hell (shoved the pregnant lady aside when I was at the counter) and SHOULD REALLY WORK SOMEWHERE ELSE.

I went to Imperial Spa expecting to have relaxing spa experience. That was not the case! When I arrived I bought the most «popular» package the body scrub and massage. The receptionist was polite, but didn’t make much effort to take anytime out to explain or show me the spa. «go through the hallway and there’s the spa, «The locker room was brightly lit, there were dirty foot matts and towels on the ground. The products they offered were clearly from the dollar store. Stuff I would never use.
The hot tub area was very noisy and bright with florescent lighting. People were talking very loudly. It did not feel like spa atmosphere at all!! I didn’t feel relaxed.
When my time came to get my treatment. My therapist yelled «37» over the balcony. I was little taken back by that. When I got up to the place where my treatment was going to take place. There were 5 other women in the same are. Zero privacy. The body scrub was ok but the massage was horrible. It very clear my therapist had never been to massage school. Sticking your elbows in someones back with no technic is not a massage. I kept telling her to go lighter she wouldn’t listen. I could hear the loud conversations going on as I was receiving my treatments. It was hardly relaxing! When I was done with my treatment, my therapist handed my envelope with her name on it, hustling me for tip. How tacky !!!
I will never go back or recommend Imerial Spa

The only way I know how to describe this place is it’s the hillbilly cousin of Kabuki Spa, where I usually go. When there was a wait list one Sunday, they told me about Imperial.
At Kabuki, everything is beautifully decorated, this place, no. At Kabuki the lounge area has wood and teak accessories/​loungers. Imperial is all plastic. Kabuki is quiet, dark and peaceful. Imperial is loud, boisterous and brightly lit. At Kabuki the free extras include quality hair and body products, delicious tea, lemons, cucumbers and salt for scrubbing. Imperial has plain water, tea that tasted like an old shoe, and that giant container of pink Dollar Store lotion that has a slight medicine smell to it and it sort of stings. One major thing that needs to be noted… BOTH THESE PLACES ARE THE SAME PRICE. $ 25.00 admission.
Also, their website boasts «IMPERIAL SPA is a complete Korean-​style spa offering
steam room, red clay sauna, hot and cold Jacuzzi,
and shower facilities. There is also Jade Fomentation Room, and
Yellow Clay Fomentation room.» In reality the only room they have is Yellow Clay Fomentation, and the flaw is a bright light shines in through from the hallway… FAIL! I booked a Reflexology appt. and it WAS NOT Reflexology. It was an hour long foot rub. Relaxing granted, but I went specifically for the detox, not relaxation.
The one and only thing that will keep me going back to this ghetto ass place is Jill. The best acupressure massage EVER, she is a true healer.

I got a Body Scrub & Oil Massage (90) here a while back and still remember it like it was yesterday. I had no idea my body could contain that much dirt. I am a disgusting human being…
Anyway, after I got over the initial shock of being naked with multiple other people standing around me, it was actually quite nice to just lay there and have someone viciously scrub you. They really get in there and clean every nook and cranny. This place isn’t luxurious or the most relaxing. You kind of feel like a rushed conveyer belt guinea pig in a slightly questionable facility (is this plastic? can i touch this? this is clean right?), but it’s extremely efficient and to the point, which I can appreciate. And you leave feeling soooooo clean and your skin is super duper soft. Amaze.

I love this place. Its my place where I go and hide from the world. The women are great, and I love my massages. It nice to just sit in the hot tub, sauna, and just relax.