Fullerton, Four Season Spa

If you’ve ever been to a foot massage, especially in Little Saigon, you know that most of these are run by Chinese people. This one is no exception. Located in the Amerige Heights shopping plaza, next to Target (where the old Payless shoes used to be) is this foot massage place, which opened up last week.

Pros:

– you are fully clothed during the session

– you don’t have to go to Little Saigon for a foot massage

– it’s very clean, it should be since it’s brand-new

– the services were very quiet. I could not hear the other people that were receiving their treatment.

Cons:

– they don’t speak a lot of English. Mandarin (Chinese) is the primary language here. 

– it’s a bit pricey. Without the grand opening specials, foot massages start at $30. That’s $10-$15 more than Little Saigon.

I stopped by at 8:15 pm on a Tuesday night. I asked what time was the next available appointment, and the lady said if I can go right now, Jeff could help me. I typically do not have good experiences with a male masseuse. I’m afraid this was no exception.

I selected the combo package: 30 minutes foot massage and 30 minutes body massage for $40 ($35 with the grand opening special)

Jeff started me in the common room, which is right by the front desk area, laying face up and my feet in a bucket of warm water.  He draped a towel over my body, as he massaged my scalp, neck, temple, legs and thighs. He removed my feet from the water, and with oil he deeply massaged feet, toes and even bones and he used his knuckles and elbows to really dig in. A few times I had to yelp “ow!” because he was tenderizing me like a slab of meat. 

If you watch the tv show, The Amazing Race, there was the segment the contestants were getting a painful foot massage. I was getting one of those. My muscles would involuntarily tense up to counteract his deep kneading. After the half hour was done, he moved me to a semi-private room and asked me to lie face down. I assumed it was still fully clothed since there was only a bath towel on the table.

He MAN-handle me. Deep tissued me. Kneaded me. Pulverized me. Take your pick. He was using his entire 200+ weight on my 120 pound frame, using elbows, forearms, knuckles and whatever method to work my neck, back, shoulder, arms, rib cage and thighs.

Quite honestly it wasn’t relaxing at all. I felt like I was a car in one of those gas station car washes, getting pulverized by rolling brushes, with enough force to shake the car. There was no smooth, gentle long Swedish strokes. It was an earthquake or convulsion of movements used for circulation, rather than relaxation. 

Multiple times I yelped “ouch!” or better yet: OW! OW!  I do wonder if these Chinese massage people are trained or have taken one anatomy or kinesiology class. There was some times he was massaging bone, other times he was deep tissuing my buttocks.  

Overall I wasn’t happy with my treatment, and genuinely disappointed because it’s literally 2 minutes from my home, and I was so looking forward to using this location. I woke up the next day very sore, like I got my butt kicked.  I actually feel worse than when I started.  My lower back hurts, and my shoulders are still tense.  I thought going to get a massage should remove my tense knots. Instead, I need to find another place to fix the tightness I received from this one.