CHICAGO BATH HOUSE

Best sauna place in the city, don’t expect luxurious amenities, but everything works and the saunas are great, cold plunge pool amazing, but the food is amazing. Just a great place to spend a fee hours weekly.

I was disappointed with my experience here. They do not make it clear up front that their SOP (or "admission" fee, under the FAQ section of their website - who reads those when booking at a spa?) is to charge $45 a head to use all their communal facilities, which include their locker rooms with your own locker, sauna, jacuzzi, cold pool, and steam room. You can opt to just get the services you booked, but when I initially said I wanted to do that, the woman behind the desk got hostile and gruff. I decided to go ahead and cough up the money to get the full experience, and she slapped down a robe, towel and shower shoes on the desk in front of me. I'd wanted to have my massage first and then my facial, but she informed me they'd do my facial first and then the massage. My friend and I sat at the bar, where the bartender was the only semi-friendly/gracious staff member I encountered there. Then we checked out the downstairs. The locker room area was small and choked with people. We enjoyed the jacuzzi and steam room, but the sauna was disappointing - most saunas have a pleasant, relaxing heat to them, but this one was like stepping onto the planet Mercury. I jumped up in pain after attempting to sit down on one of the benches in it - it almost burned my skin, it was so hot. When it was time for my facial, the facialist was even gruffer than the receptionist chick. She directed me to lie on the table and pull down my robe a little so she could do the treatment. I told her it I'd be most comfortable just leaving it off and covering myself with the blanket. She actually said, "I don't care what makes you comfortable, I'm just here to do your facial." I should've just left at that point. However, the facial was decent. The massage was disappointing. The massage therapist didn’t ask me if I had any areas I needed her to focus on, as is customary. I asked her for more pressure a couple of times, and she let me know that what she was doing was the best she could do. It wasn't good. In summary, all but one of the staff were amazingly rude, the services were mediocre, and I didn't appreciate the steep, mostly-hidden fee. Will not be returning.

Great banya with good old Soviet and modern food. Love pelemeni, chebureki, pickles and a whole chicken dish is to die for. Good selection at the bar, they even have my favorite Baltica beer. Friendly staff, great massages for post workout and overall good crowd there, so I always make sure to visit whenever I am in Chicago.

A local friend recommended this spot to me, I called for an appointment one day in advance and booked a facial and massage for the time of my choosing. Both services were EXCELLENT, the facial was so professional and a true skincare facial with extractions, infrared, etc. (not just one where they later on a million creams). Massage was amazing and attentive. I didn't sauna but everything looked clean and cozy, this will definitely become my spot for affordable treatments when I'm in Chicago!

Would not recommend this place specifically for massages. My partner and I got a couples massage and the woman who did mine was really terrible. I asked her twice for more pressure, and she was very inconsistent with it. Both masseuse’s were using LOTION instead of massage oil and they paused the massage literally every 30 seconds to grab more lotion. I’ve never experienced that before and it was incredibly frustrating. I had asked for the masseuse to work out the knots in my upper back and she chose to use only her fingers to move the knots around, not her elbow or any part of her forearm. It was a very useless massage that we got to pay $225 for.