Amenities: 3/5
Cruisiness: 1/5
Price: $20
Pros: Quiet, practically had the place to myself, unlimited towels, inexpensive massages, TV room
Cons: Inconvenient parking (unless you valet) and hard to find, 4-hour limit
I'd stumbled onto a Groupon a few months ago for a one-hour massage and spa admission for $39 at Meridian Spa, which I thought was a great deal, but I'm always a little skeptical about some of those "spas" on Groupon. But after looking it up on Yelp, it sounded like Meridian Spa was a real spa, and had a lot of positive reviews. Not a Korean Spa, but sounded pretty similar. But hell, even a mediocre massage is a good deal at $39. So I bought it.
I made an appointment for a weekend afternoon. On the phone, the receptionist told be I could "bring a swimsuit if you want" which seemed weird and of course I wouldn't want to wear a swimsuit. It was at the Commerce Casino and Hotel in Commerce. I wasn't sure where to park. It looked like the area up in front was valet only, and I didn't want to valet, so I went to the huge self-parking area. After circling the lot for a bit, I found a relatively close spot.
Then the task of finding the place. I was pretty sure it was in the hotel area, and the address listed it as "Suite 200", so I assumed it was upstairs somewhere. So I walked around the casino building (I guess I could have walked through it, but I didn't) and through the throngs of smokers around every door into the casino (next to the "No smoking within 20 feet" signs) until I got to some doors that I figured were more hotel than casino, and went in. Still no signs anywhere, but there was this ornate staircase, so I decided to follow them up, and I eventually found the spa!
Note that their website doesn't even have their address on it... it'd be nice for them to at least have an address, and even better to explain where to park and how to get to the spa!
I got there about twenty minutes before my massage so I undressed, got into my robe, and explored the spa a bit. When you enter the men's spa area, the locker room is basically in front of you. To the right is a sleeping area. Down the hall to the left, there's a TV lounge and then the wet area. When I got there, there was a single person sleeping in the sleeping area, and the rest of the spa was empty.
I stopped in the TV lounge and looked to see what they had: a Roku with Netflix, Hulu, etc. I don't know why you'd pay to come in and watch TV, but it was there if you wanted it. The room had a bunch of home-theatre type seats, but I'm not sure if there had ever been that many people in the entire spa at one time.
I had the massage, which was actually pretty good (and I still think it's a good deal at full price, so I may be back again) and returned to the spa where I ditched my robe, and didn't wear a swimsuit. ;-)
(Note that I think you also get access to the pool area, in which case you'd probably want to wear a swimsuit. But I didn't check it out, and, in fact, I am not 100% sure you actually get access.)
The spa area had the basics: showers, a hot pool, a cold pool, a sauna and a steam room. The showers all had doors, unlike most Korean spas, but otherwise very similar to a basic K-spa. The pools were on an elevated platform, with a weird floor-level window into the dry sauna. So you could watch the pool area from the sauna, and vice-versa. The hot pool temperature was nice; I liked it a lot. I stayed in there for a while with the one other guy there (different guy than the guy in the sleeping room earlier), who eventually left. The dry sauna wasn't that hot. It wasn't terrible; in fact I kind of liked it. But I could imagine some people who prefer a hotter sauna would complain. The steam room was a perfect temperature. Hot enough to feel like it's doing something, but not so hot that you had to leave after 30 seconds.
The spa was very nice though, and clean.
I stayed for a couple of hours. It felt weird being the only one there. Sometimes weird thoughts start going through your head, like "what if I pass out or something, how long would it take for someone to find me?" I saw an attendant come through in the main hallway, but I don't think I ever saw him come into the wet area at all.
When I checked out, the receptionist wasn't the same one that had checked me in, and she couldn't find my Groupon info, and it took a while... it was weird and awkward and I just wanted to leave. I asked how to leave a cash tip for the massage therapist and she acted like I was the first person ever to ask to do that. She finally gave me an envelope, so I hope he got it.
Anyway, it seems like it'd be a good place for a massage, or a good place to go with a buddy or two or three if you want to go somewhere without a crowd or a cruisy scene.
Meridian Day Spa
@Commerce Casino
6121 E. Telegraph Rd, Ste 200
Commerce CA 90040
http://meridiandayspa.com/
