Nobody asked for a Kabuki vs OnsenSF comparison, but here…read moreyou go. 1. $$$ Price Kabuki is $49/pp 2.5 hrs OnsenSF in the tenderloin is $50/pp 2 hours 2. Environment & Ambience: Kabuki has a much wider space, calming music, great ambience, wonderful smells and decor. OnsenSF is a dining space when you enter and spa in the back. Everything looks modern and nice, relaxing environment despite being located in the tenderloin. 3. Hot Tub: Kabuki has a rectangle shaped hot tub as opposed to OnsenSF's square shaped tub. 4. Cold plunge: Kabuki has a cold plunge that's perfect for people who don't need it to be extremely freezing. OnsenSF has a cold shower with many heads in place of a cold plunge. Both are enjoyable experiences 5. Steam Room: Kabuki's steam room is also rectangular as opposed to OnsenSF's square room. Kabuki's steam room also has a shower to rinse off excess salt and sweat before entering the common area. 6. Showers: At Kabuki, there's also a line of stools for the seated handheld showers where you can fill a tub of water and pour it over yourself in addition to the traditional shower stalls, where OnsenSF only has the traditional showers if I recall correctly. 7. Sauna: The sauna was great because you could adjust the heat by moving up the wooden bleachers. There was also plenty of space to stretch out and lie down. There were wooden half-cylinder blocks to place under the neck and back to promote blood flow. My partner's favorite standout was the salt scrub they have that's free to take at the refreshments table. You use it to scrub away dead skin in the shower and steam room. My favorite was the bowl of towels buried in ice cubes that helped me keep a cool head in the hot tub and sauna room. I will say that the thing that makes OnsenSF stand out is their dining pop-ups, but there's plenty of dining options on Fillmore and in Japantown. I would definitely go back to Kabuki again. The experience was incredibly relaxing. Highly recommend.

Possibly the best bathhouse in the Bay Area…read more Kabuki Springs is tucked away off a busy street in Japantown and feels like a portal to another dimension, one full of warm water, a quiet atmosphere, and plenty of lemon ginger tea. I was instantly drawn to how intentional everything feels here, from the dark wood of the sauna to the sleek tile in the showers. It feels carefully crafted to be both modern and timeless, with the Japanese motif flowing through all of the design. Personally, I love the dim lighting in the baths; with no windows, it feels like time is suspended. Is it midday, or midnight? Sunny, stormy? Early, late? You can't really tell when you're there, and that feels like the point. It's an escape in its truest, most relaxing sense. Attendants are constant in the baths, which makes it feel far more luxurious than what the price would suggest. Cucumber, lemon, or plain water are all on tap, as are iced hand towels, salt scrubs for the steam room, and hot lemon ginger tea. I loved how cups are encouraged to be reused (I hate seeing the giant pile of single-use cups in the trash at other spas). I'm holding out hope, however, that traditional green tea may make an appearance in the future! I'd recommend attending on one of the single-gender days, as I found that lent itself best to the fully immersive experience. Shower sandals are available, though I found them a bit uncomfortable. Next time I'll be sure to bring my own. As a bathhouse enthusiast, I cannot recommend this place enough. I can't wait to bring my friends here to learn for themselves just how relaxing and rejuvenating the sauna, steam, soak, and plunge rotation can be.

Can't say enough good things about this place. Beautiful studio with a convenient location…read more Megan is an incredible provider. So kind and gives a hell of a massage. I left feeling like a new woman. Definitely will recommend Redmint and Megan to my circle. I will be back!!

Very zen ambience, Iove the decor and the space. People are friendly and helpful. Review is mainly…read moreon masseurs and their skills. Both my friend and I asked for female masseurs but we were both offered a male masseur. No explanation was given for the discrepancy. This is most likely the admin issues. We didn't bring it up as both of us are okay with male masseur as well despite what we have requested. Asked for a deep tissue massage, but was provided a Swedish massage instead, so as my friend. The massage was not bad but I can tell that the masseur is quite green in massaging based on my massage experience. Mentioned the work needed most to work on before we started the session. I felt that the masseur was trying to cover his course of massage, may be with just spending very little extra time on the tight side as needed. When trying to loosen a knot, he would still use his elbow to just push through the knot over and over. Knot is still there. Imagine how uncomfortable it was. He didn't work on the pressure point or may not even notice where the tight area was. My body was not relaxed after the massage. With the high price of this place, I have high expectation but was very disappointed. I guess if you just want to have a relaxing time, it may work. But if you have areas to work on, it is not the place.

My friend and I went to the spa today not knowing what to expect, and it was 100/10 best…read moreexperience. Steven checked us in and made it really comfortable and fun from the beginning. Chad helped us out with the towels and even found my earning! The uncle regulars were so nice and supportive and helped us navigate the bathhouse, and made sure we didn't burn our hair off by laying down too close to the heater in the sauna lol. We highly recommended, you will have a great time! Oh yeah and the pools were amazing, facilities were great. Lean in friend. Love Thelma and Louise

First time went to unwind and actually really enjoyed the community vibes…read more They offer everything you need to relax, there's honestly not a lot of places like this and I appreciate it. Two things that I can't ignore and hope management reads this. 1. There is room for improvement on the locker room getting so crowded. 2. Do NOT trust the sandals. They are plastic and incredibly slippery when wet. Since they are not sized to the individual, it's dangerous. I slipped out of my sandals and fell down the stairs in the large Russian Sauna. This resulted in multiple abrasions and a large laceration on my forearm and I actually got stitches for the first time. Sandals have to be fixed, there's stairs everywhere here. The people in the sauna were super nice and helped me, luckily, I'm pretty fit, but it could've been really really bad. Credit to the staff for not charging me for my time there, honestly, I would've rather paid and left uninjured. I'm not 100% sure that I would return, it just happened today so maybe in time that will change.

Absolutely amazing experience!…read more Highly recommend both of the bathhouse and the dining experience! Order all the add-ons - they were all amazing! Beautiful space, great food, great atmosphere!

This review is from my visit experience at Onsen several months ago, so I hope their system is…read morebetter now. I hate to leave a bad review, especially since the lady at the check-in desk was extremely kind, polite, and nice. However, various aspects of this place were unacceptable. It was my first visit, which I will never revisit due to the following reasons. First, Onsen charges $50 for an entrance fee, which we are allowed to stay for two hours. However, the overall service I got was not worth the price at all. 1. I was there for the ladies-only day. The locker room area was TOO small and fully crowded to use. I waited for 7-8 minutes until people started leaving and had more space inside to squeeze in, while other people who were standing, naked and covered with towels, tried to get to their lockers. That was the check-in, and when I left, it was the same case for getting ready for check-out. I became one of the towel-covered naked people who were waiting to get to the locker, while other people were staying in the same form. I felt like I was in a low-budget high school female locker room. 2. The lotion in the female locker area was out. I purposely placed the bottle at the edge of the amenity area so that they would refill it, but in the end, the empty bottle was returned to the original spot with the inside still empty. 3. The bathing area is relatively small. And there are only two shower heads we could use, with very low pressure and dripping water, besides the larger water shower head for those who prefer cold water after bathing. The pressure was too low, and we could hardly wash our bodies to rinse off the soap. Nobody was washing their hair, and I couldn't wash mine either due to the amazingly TOO low pressure shower, which was rather dripping water from the showerhead. 4. Including the empty lotion in the powder room, their amenity inside had no label, only a self-posted "shampoo" label. It would have been nicer if we could have known what we were getting for our body, such as organic, vegan, not animal-tested, or a decent brand, etc. 5. During my two-hour stay, the cleaning person came inside the female bath area a few times to remove the used towels, but didn't care about cleaning other things inside. In such a small bathing space, there were about 20 used cups left all over, which was quite disturbing. 6. I know this is not their fault, but two young ladies inside KEPT talking for two hours quite loudly. At first, I thought I was being too sensitive, but when I moved to the sauna area, people inside whispered and complained about the chat noise they were making. I couldn't relax at all because of their private and personal stories about their work, guys they met, etc. In the end, I couldn't stop wondering if those types of young ladies are regular customers at Onsen. 7. This is the most disgusting part, which, as mentioned, I will never go back to this place. When I was getting ready to leave at the exit spot, I saw a cleaning person using the same wet cloth she had wiped the floor with, rubbing the used sandals they were providing to their guests. According to my common sense, those shared sandals/slippers are sanitized after each use, or if not, they are at least rinsed with hot water and soap, and possibly treated with a sanitizing spray. I've been to other spas in the city, like Pxxxx Spa, which constantly cleans the shared items, such as slippers, combs, and hair dryers. I didn't see any of those "caring" and "safe" considerations to maintain cleanliness for shared items for the guests at Onsen. Lastly, I felt like naming this place 'Onsen' is almost a big joke and an insult to real onsens in Japan, where we could relax in such a clean and pampering atmosphere in tranquility.

The absolute worst. I received a $200 gift card for my birthday but since my husband had really bad…read moreknots, I recommended he utilize it for a deep tissue massage. I called to book him an appointment the day before and told the receptionist that I would prefer someone good and I asked if a male masseuse would be better. She stated that actually the female masseuse would be better if I was comfortable and I appreciated that and said yes I would love the female masseuse for my husband. She the tells me all the accolades the female masseuse that will be working on my husbands back has. Next day, my husband arrives and ends up with Rafael. My husband said Rafael did what he could but unfortunately did not get most of his knots out. When he got home, I massaged his back and was surprised with the amount of knots he still had. It was as if he never got his deep tissue massage. I'm deeply saddened because my husband still ended up paying out of pocket (expensive massage) and he did not feel relaxed after. On top of that, my husband sends me pictures of the locker room that was under construction and said guys were going on and out while he was changing. Very disappointing experience compared to the many other massage spots in SF.

This place was AH- Mazing!! Was a little worried from the outside but it did not disappoint…read more 4 seating areas were all ZEN. Exquisite staff and all areas cleaned and stocked. Nora was my massage therapist and she was 10/10! Will def go back next time I'm in SFO!

Most recently I had a 60 massage with Eva who is one of the best therapists I've had here. I had an…read moreacupressure massage and she was very good, checked with me often about the pressure and was able to release tension in my neck that has been there for years. I have been going to this spa for a few years and have had consistently excellent experiences. I have tried every wet treatment , scrub and combo along with a variety of dry room massage services. The first time I had a scrub I was a little shocked at how effective it was. While the exfoliating technique is between medium and intense, the results are undeniable. The basic scrub is 30 minutes but I highly recommend going for the body scrub acupressure 90 minutes service. Having tried all the spas in the area I can say with confidence that the water temperatures at Imperial are the most reliable. The hot tub is perfectly scorching and the cold dip is perfectly icy, almost unbearable, as it should be. They offer hot and cold water, sometimes have tea. They have a really nice selection of hair dryers to use on the way out, Dyson style. I prefer to go during the week when it's slow but I have also found that during the busiest of times here, the staff does a great job of enforcing the rules of silence. Overall I have enjoyed every single experience here. I can't post pictures because it's not allowed to take photos inside, but the facility is clean, inviting and enjoyable.

First time checking this place out. Not bad for a $100, 45-minute "Swedish massage," though the…read moretechnique was a bit unexpected. Instead of the usual kneading, there was a lot of poking, finger-tracing, and some elbow work. I ended up opting out of the back-walking part. The facilities are a bit tight--the parking lot only has five spots, and the steam and sauna rooms only fit about 4-5 people at a time. The men's and women's areas are separate, which is nice, but the shoe lockers don't actually lock (though you do get a bracelet for your main locker). A few quirks: the water cups are so tiny they are like shot glasses, and they leave the massage room doors open during the session. I think I'll try Kabuki Spa next time to compare.

I utilized a generous gift card and got a facial with Joy today. She lives up to her name and I…read moreleft glowing. Seriously. I highly recommend her services.

Who knew this type of spa would be found on such a busy street. Although it's only down a short…read morehallway it feels like a whole new place. I got a lymphatic detox treatment and genuinely felt different after though I do wish they got a little deeper. This may just be my new spot!

Had been a few years since I visited…read more I could tell that my 515PM appointment during the week would be good as I had no trouble finding parking despite the time of day. Greeted right away. Spoke with Nathan who would be my therapist. explained all the problem areas on my ancient carcass, issues, etc. he not only listened but explained in lay terms what might be going on. I booked the 90-minute, as 60 minutes always ends too soon. Unlike previous "deep tissue" massages at some other, I did not fall asleep. Nathan kept me engaged and feelin' the burn. Two days later, I am still feeling so much better. For some reason, the ubiquitous massagie-music stopped for about five minutes during the process -- my only complaint. Will definitely return. Check it out. -- workingman's gourmand

Had a message with Ana today and it was amazing. She helped me work through some tightness and pain…read morethat I was having in my back. She listened to me and my body. It was a wonderful experience I'll definitely be back. The spa is very clean and calming. You get great calming vibes as soon as you walk in.