No-Nonsense Nurturing in Koreatown

If you're accustomed to the typical upscale day spa experience, Koreatown's Olympic Spa might be a bit overwhelming upon your first visit. This is no Burke Williams - the facilities are strictly no frills, and, at least during the weekend when we visited, packed with women of all ages, shapes, sizes and ethnicities chattering away as they soak, scrub and steam themselves in the spa's expansive collection of steam rooms, saunas and whirlpools. (This spa is for women only. Sorry, fellas.)

This is also no place for the timid. While clients are supplied with towels and robes upon check-in, most of the clientele go about their business au natural, and the body treatments take place in semi-private nooks around the perimeter of the main communal bathing room. But if you don't mind foregoing a private room and the peace and quiet that comes with it, you'll be rewarded with a no-nonsense treatment that will leave your whole body glowing and deliciously smooth.

Our 85-minute treatment Milk and Honey Body Smoothie included a very thorough body scrub, a full-body massage and body shampoo, an invigorating facial, and a deeply massaging shampoo and conditioning treatment with yummy-scented Fresh products. Our attendant covered nearly every inch of our body in her vigorous exfoliation treatment; we were amazed, and frankly, a little grossed out, by the amount of dead skin that was sloughed off of our body. The Body Smoothie is recommended for people with sensitive skin, which leads us to believe that our fragile dermis couldn’t handle the more heavy-duty scrubbing treatments offered.

At $100 for the entire treatment, along with free range of the spa's comprehensive facilities, this is probably the most bang for the buck we've ever enjoyed at a day spa. If you book a treatment at Olympic Spa, we recommend arriving at least 30 minutes prior to your appointment time so that you have plenty of time to enjoy the jade steam sauna, warm mineral pool, hot herbal pool, oxygen stone therapy room, and other spa facilities that are purported to be the secret to Asian women’s eternally youthful skin.

Review originally published 9/22/2005.