Wonderful place to do swim lessons with your little one! I've done at last 3 Cuttlefish sessions…read morehere now with my daughter, which have been fantastic. You sign up for day of the week, and get a 1 hour swim lesson with other children around the same age (6 months - 6 years for Cuttlefish). The first 15 mins of the class are free time in the water, you can play with the various water toys. The next 15-20 mins is Karaoke in the Pool, with nursery rhymes in a circle time. The last 15-20 mins of the class are divided into age groups, with the youngest kids on one side, and older kids on the other. Some of the teachers are really wonderful, Mary is my favorite, as she has a passion and affinity for working with the little ones. All the teachers are great though in different ways. My daughter loves swim lessons here, even though the class week after week is the same thing lol. The classes are also inexpensive compared to Le Petite Balen. The makeup sessions are very flexible too - just be sure to call Monday morning at 10am the week you'll be needing a different day - and generally they're able to fit you in. Or even in my case, they couldn't, but said to call the following week to have me do the make-up, which was so kind. Parking is super easy here too, and conveniently located next to the Zoo and Sunset district.

Enrolled my baby into the Cuttlefish class and he enjoys it! Some instructors are more enthusiastic…read morethan the others, but that's okay. I like that the pool is heated since it gets pretty cold in the area. The first 15 minutes is free time, then the rest of class consists of sing-along and additional activities. I thought an hour would be too long, but it goes by pretty quickly. One session isn't enough to teach them to swim, it's nice to get them acclimated to being in the water and getting their whole head wet. Especially when we don't know anyone that has a pool near us.

Last Saturday, I brought my 3 year old son into the women's locker room to use the bathroom…read more There's a vanity area where women get ready, however there was an older man just sitting there, watching the women get ready, completely naked. I went over to the front desk and told them there was a naked man in the women's locker room just sitting there, watching everyone and he responded that they are legally not allowed to remove him. Please educate me because this doesn't seem right. I told them I usually let my 11 year old daughter go to the bathroom herself and I don't feel like it's safe and yet, YMCA did nothing. I was at the YMCA because my daughter had a game. After her game, I checked the women's locker room (about an hour after I took my son to the bathroom) and the naked man was still there, sitting there and putting lotion on his body. This is not okay. Please be careful everyone, especially those with children.

Extremely disappointed by the accessibility practices here. A YMCA towel truck was parked and…read moreunloading large crates of towels directly in the designated handicap parking space. We waited and politely asked them to move so we could park, but they refused. When we brought this to the attention of YMCA staff, they defended the truck and dismissed our concerns. Accessible parking spaces are legally restricted exclusively to vehicles displaying a valid disabled person placard, and standard delivery vehicles are prohibited from using them. Keeping these spots clear for qualified users is a fundamental accessibility requirement. Since the YMCA staff refused to address this, I plan on reporting this location's vehicle code and ADA compliance violations to the proper local officials.

Natalie J from customer service was AMAZING! Kind, professional, prompt, SUPER knowledgeable, and…read morebeyond helpful! Every company should have someone like Natalie. Made my experience with the school quite a magical one.

My son has been enrolled at Waterworks for over a year with weekly lessons and still hasn't fully…read morelearned to swim -- and the main reason is constant cancellations. Since December 2025, they have canceled 10 of his classes. For young kids, inconsistent instruction isn't just inconvenient -- it causes them to lose momentum and regress, because swimming requires routine, repetition, and confidence-building week after week. Not to mention, we plan our day expecting this class to happen and week in and week out we get a cancelation notice on the same day, completely messing up our schedule. It's completely unacceptable to run a swim school with this level of inconsistency and no real accountability or effort to make it right. Families aren't paying for "weekly" lessons that get canceled constantly.

This review is specifically for the use of the event space. While the space was good for events…read more(overall I'd say a 4), the experience we had with a staff member was very alarming and needs to be known to anyone who is considering using the space. We had received a referral from using this space from the ease of rental and no frills set up and involvement from the staff. I unfortunately have to seriously call out the behavior of a staff member Cynthia who not only was so condescending, overbearing and disrespectful to us as we held an event for a family birthday but she also extended this behavior to guests. Extremely appalling and unacceptable behavior. She was not a guest but domineered like she knew everything better than we did, proceeded to try to demand to have my mother who is disabled try to help set up when she was sitting down and practically yell at her when she didn't comply. I had to repeat many to her without calling out her disability that she was just helping us look at the final result to which Cynthia did not immediately pick up and proceeded to say under her breath "well she's just sitting there she should help". Cynthia had no business bossing everyone around as we had a plan. At most helping set up the tables and chairs was probably all that we expected and even then we had hired people to do that, all she needed to do was tell us where to get them. It got worse during the day. She would go around like she was a guest helping at the event and her interactions were rude and belittled everyone she interacted with. She stressed all of us out the whole day and had many guests on edge, several of whom came up to us asking who she was and why she was so angry and mean. She put a cloud on what was supposed to be a joyous event frankly and we will never forgive her for taking that away from an otherwise special occasion. To top it all off she at the end of the day as we were cleaning up and waiting for the trash guy to come said "I've already done more than I'm supposed to do" - WHEN WE DIDN'T ASK FOR YOUR HELP OR OPINION!!! I expect so much better from a center geared towards bringing the community together - she certainly is not a representation of SF or SF Rec and Park and should seriously be considered to not be involved in these events in the future. So if you decide to use this space make sure you ask who will be working and demand a different staff if you find out it's Cynthia or get another place. She will absolutely RUIN your event.

This review is for the multipurpose space and kitchen inside the rec center for events and parties…read morebooked on the sfrec website. I booked this place for my son's first birthday because of its location - there's a playground and parking is not too difficult! Thankfully it didn't rain so guests got to enjoy the indoor party with food, drinks and other activities while also running out to the playground.. a perfect way to keep restless little kids entertained! The staff member was kind and helpful. He helped pull out all the tables and chairs from the storage room and helped us with take down as well. Another pro was the weather was really nice and sunny and the room was bright and had high ceilings, so it felt very spacious. Unfortunately some tables were broken so we couldn't use them. The permit did say that it was not guaranteed. However this impacted our party because we had many guests with not enough seats/tables. Maximum capacity written on the wall was 130+ also and I know I had a little less than 100 show up, so that was a bummer! Another con is that you do have to remove the trash after your party is over. I am not sure if this applies to all sf rec reservations but at Lake Merced Boathouse they have the same policy. It's pretty challenging to remove the trash from the site as they expect you to bring your own bags and to bring it home to toss...but we got it done. The kitchen is rather small but has everything you would need. It's not the cleanest but it did its job. We actually didn't use it as much as I thought we would but it was nice to have access in there and use the sink to clean off any food trays we had. Heads up that it does cost an extra fee per hour to rent the kitchen. They also have a keurig coffee maker if you're interested in that! I accidentally left my half and half in the fridge too...oh well. All in all I would recommend this location for a party especially if you're inviting kids. Booking the space was a little troublesome because I had issues booking online on their calendar with the right time frame so I emailed sf rec instead. I suggest looking into the prices online as they change and check the availability online as well.

why close the sauna and pool area 2 hours before closing T_T like what .... i can see 30 mins or…read moreeven 1 hour but 2 whole hours....

Summer hours were stupidly short being from 9-5 on weekends, 7-7 weekdays. I work from 8-5 most…read moreweekdays and every Saturday, get home by 5:40, rest for 20 minutes and have a single hour excluding walk time to the gym. At least summer is over, and I'm not working anywhere as much. This week has been extremely frustrating. Wednesday, the pool was supposed to be open. I walk in and it's closed. I asked if the pool would be open the day after, and they said yeah. I go Thursday, and the pool is closed for filming. Friday, they're open from 9-5 as stated in their new hours. I walk over and they're closed for Employee training. Each of those days btw, I had a pre workout in my system, so the feeling of a thousand needles prickling away at me, along with the frustration of having the middle finger raised in my face.. These occurrences aren't announced. Sometimes they are over Instagram, but only through stories not through legitimate posts. Keep in mind, these aren't the only times instances like this have happened. I've gone here for 4 years, and there have been so many inconsistencies as such. The gym itself has plenty of equipment, it's maintained to a degree. I've come here for the last 4 years cuz it's paid by tuition and the most convenient for me, but damn. Who is managing the hours of operation?

Very crowded pool Snorkeling equipment allowed so pool is…read morelike swimming in the ocean. Swimmers are wild and you can expect to get kicked! Swimmers constantly cut by not going to end before turning for return lap. Swimmers hacking spit in pool wells! Saw a Swimmers get in pool with dirt covering her bottom feet! Some lifeguards need to do a better job of managing pool activity. Large fins make for unfair swimming conditions! Overall Balboa pool could do with some user friendly changes. Very disappointed experience. A lifeguard made me get in the slow lane to accommodate a Snorkeling swimmer so I had to wait for clearance to do my laps! I felt discriminated because I wasn't on the scuba team!!!​

Great pool, surprised myself that I really enjoyed the heated water…read more Thanks for the swim, Balboa - keep it nice!

My experience at City Sports Club is great! I signed up for personal training with Edwin whom I…read morehighly recommend. He's a Master Trainer at the club, very thoughtful, well experienced to his clients and know what he's been doing.

This gym runs itself as if the complaints from clientele do not matter. If anyone is reading this…read moreon yelp, change the yelp review sort to "recent" & u will see the true reviews. The stairmasters have been broken for some time now with the first one being broken for 2-3 months. One by one they broke & now they're all broken. I understand gym equipment can break from time to time but the fact that ALL stairmasters are broken, 30% of ellipticals are broken, a handful of treadmills, & the weight machines upstairs are missing pins, broken cables, etc is just pitiful from a gym like this. VARIOUS THINGS HAVE BEEN BROKEN FOR MONTHSSSS!!! The LEAST they could do is communicate to us what is going on & what they are doing to rectify this situation. I usually do not write reviews unless necessary to make a change to the establishment. I hope this review finds its way to someone who can do something Side note: this gym also is starting to have an issue with people hogging machines while doomscrolling on their phones between sets as they are "resting". If that grind your gears, this is a heads up. Side side note: notice how management only replies to "positive reviews"; this is a critical review from an intermediate gym goer(3 years of hypertrophy training) for some context.