Zhen & Yuan Acupressure Center

Thee absolute worse massage EVER!
I wasn’t expecting much from the get go, but I know how my skepticism runs high. I traversed through the thin corridors into the back room that was lit with an orange glow. The woman asked me to take a seat. I sat in the back room for about ten minutes. While waiting a man walked out in his towel from some sort of bathroom. He said, «hey babygirl», smiled, nodded, and walked merrily along back to his room with the kinda swag walk dudes get after they just got laid, or had some sort of sexual release. Either way, when a dude walks out of a bathroom in a towel and gives me a smile, wink, and a head nod. I already knew what took place…
The woman came back and ran the water for my foot soak. It was piping hot when she placed it in front of me and attempted to shove my feet in. I pulled out and waited for the water to cool. She left again…
Fifteen minutes later she came back again and started my «massage». It was HORRIBLE — that’s the only word I can use to describe it. She basically did everything but flip me over! Why the rough violent slappage? She was roughing me up chop shop style! There was no massage at all. All she did was slap me up and send me on my way. I quickly went to pay after she stopped the torture. When I got up there. She demanded a «mandatory» ten dollar tip. She hadn’t even given me a full hours worth but with those scissor hands I definitely wasn’t complaining. I damn near left with open wounds! Nevertheless I paid the lady her tip. There’s no way I’d ever be going back to this little shop of «horrors»
EVER AGAIN!
NEVER AGAIN!
NEVER EVER AGAIN!
Horrible customer service, horrible massage, just plain out F*%&@$
WHORE-​ABLE!

They flat out denied me service. I went in and asked if I could get a foot massage. They said no. I asked if I could make an appointment. They said no.
Edit: I’ve since been told that this place is a thinly veiled brothel.

The accupressure foot massage that I got was fantastic, and the price was great. ($ 25 for 45 minutes of intense and conscientious work.)
The vibe inside was sort of a fusion of a spa massage studio and a nail salon. All of the physical trappings of a spa were there, but don’t expect soft music and aromatherapy candles.
I don’t know whether or not they do happy endings. A guy walked in off the street for a massage while I was there. They made me pay up front. The curtains in the window obscure the reception area. All of these things made me wonder a little. But I got to thinking that giving a happy ending is about as gross giving as a Brazilian wax… and I haven’t quit my nail salon b/​c they do those. As long as I don’t see it or hear it and am getting a fabulous treatment, I’m not going to worry about the details of someone else’s massage.

I walked in and was happy that they could take me in for a foot massage, after a few minutes and help of another person to translate for the front desk person who spoke no English, I was led to a chair next to the restroom, the laundry room and basically in the hallway to get my foot massage. I paid up front $ 25 for a 45 minutes foot massage that started at 5pm and ended at 5:30 and a good 10 minutes of this time my feet were just in a tub of warm water and no one was massaging them. The front desk lady was also the one who was to give me a massage, she kept walking away to get the phone, or see who is in the front and etc. so all her activities, people going to the restroom, and the noise from the dryer, the loud dryer buzz as it went through the cycles, the stale air in the place all this made me even more stressed than when I went in and at 5:30 even though they were shoring me 15 minutes, I could not wait to get out of there and will never go back. Apart from all this atmosphere related issues, the massage left much to be desired, I had never had such a terrible massage.

Horrible customer service and shady business practices all around. My husband had gotten a «gift certificate» for me there (in quotes because what he received was a business card with something written on it in Chinese on the back — as neither one of us reads Chinese, this was pretty hard for us to decipher). So I went in once and they were «booked» (although I didn’t see anyone there, but whatever). I wasn’t really impressed with the vibe and finally gave my husband the card so that he could at least get the massage and that is when the fun started. We dropped him off and he went in. Several minutes later, he texted me to ask to pick him up. When I got there, I found him and the woman behind the counter in the middle of an argument. She (the woman who worked there) was YELLING at my husband, telling him she didn’t trust him and telling him that, for all she knew, my husband had already used the «certificate» and that it was «too old» (the certificate was purchased in January and this happened in June sometime — no date was written on the card from what we could see, nor was any communicated to my husband at the time of purchase) and that ownership had changed and she had no idea what the old owner had done. Then as I walked in, she changed her tune. Apparently because I am a woman, she could trust me (she said this, «you are a woman, I trust you») and then said «fine, you can have your massage» to my husband. Naturally at this point, he was creeped out and pissed off as, having worked in customer service for many years, he was pretty sure that yelling at a customer was pretty extreme behavior, and decided he didn’t want the massage any longer. Finally the woman agreed to give us cash back (first she wanted to pay only half, but more discussion brought the negotiation back to our favor), threw the cash at us and we left. I might be paranoid here, but I swear I saw people watching us get into our car through the curtains.
One point, apparently the ownership had changed between Jan 2010 and June 2010. So maybe this is when things went from simply tacky to decidedly wacky. There was definitely a shady/“happy ending” vibe here.

Uhm, pretty sure this is a «happy ending» place. Unless you think a massage with acrylic nails is comfortable, and those said acrylic nails are attached to a person wearing a terry-​cloth tube top dress.
My neck and shoulders were killing me after a long drive up the 5, and every place I called in Oakland and Berkeley were booked up for the night. So I saw this place, and walked in. It was fine at first albeit a bit stale on the air in the building. Then man walked through the door, asked who was working today, and then asked if he could LOOK at them. Then my masseuse was ready for me and that’s when I noticed her nails and was appaled by her outfit. Really?
Noooooooooooooooooooooo thanks. I asked for my money back. No one knew how to work the machine. 5 minutes went by with 2 ladies trying to call someone, & then a dude came out from behind a curtain and pushed two buttons and then I was in the clear. I ran out of there as fast as I could. SHUDDER!
STAY AWAY FROM THIS HOUSE OF ILL REPUTE!

The phone number for Andy at my beloved Ta Li had been disconnected, and my other favorite masseuse, Lucy, was a long bus ride away, so, in my desperation for a massage, pronto, I went here, which I had noticed walking by. It’s relatively new to the downtown area. You can call for an appointment or walk in. I called to make sure they do Tui Na, and the answer was yes. Then I walked in. There are four massage therapists. Amanda was the one who assigned herself to me. You should see her only if you are able to withstand intensely deep pressure without Unilocaling. What happened when I Unilocaled led me to Unilocal.She laughed. Heartily. Like the sound of my crying out in pain was the funniest thing she had ever heard. It’s possible it was, but I don’t think a massage therapist should laugh at her client because of her inability to withstand deep pressure. No one has before. In fact, at previous massages, all I have had to do is say once that the pressure is too hard, and the masseuse readjusts the pressure for the rest of the massage. Throughout my massage with Amanda, I kept telling her that her pressure was too hard. She kept saying, Good pain. Pain good. She readjusted the pressure for that point, then applied pressure deeply to the next one. Tonight I discovered bruise marks on my legs from her fingers. Next time I need a massage, I will brave that long bus ride!