The Spa

Gift Card Reviews

Victor Barretto wrote on 2/15/2011 @ SpaBoom.com
Very simple, fast and easy interface.

Nancy Bonbright wrote on 2/13/2011 @ SpaBoom.com
Super simple to order! My daughter who lives in Orlando will be thrilled to visit The Spa once again.

Robert Opsahl wrote on 2/09/2011 @ SpaBoom.com
Great job of designing the gift certificate experience.  You made it very easy!

Lanna Carpenter wrote on 2/08/2011 @ SpaBoom.com
Web page easy to use and purchase of gift certificate very easy. Nice website and usability very good.

Spa Visitor Reviews

“I recently visited The Spa on”
“Edgewater Drive, and thought it was beautiful. The Spa is much bigger and the new sauna and showers are another way to finish out your day. The new place is much more relaxed and very inviting. I received a massage from. Shewon, who was working with a hurt back, but she still gave me an awesome service. I tried the new sleep room and it was amazing. I would definitely recommend using this room if you want to get more from your massage as it gives you time to relax. The staff always makes sure you are well taken care of. They really show how much they care about the client. “

“Great staff and wonderful services.”
Renee said on February 7, 2012:
“I had a facial and massage. Both therapists were welcoming, friendly and very professional. Would definitely recommend to friends and family. Can’t wait till my next service.”

“Absolutely divine.”
Sun_sand_saltwater from Howell, NJ wrote at TripAdvisor
January 17, 2011
After reading some of the more negative reviews about this spa, I was nervous about my experience; however, I left completely relaxed and satisfied. My mother and I booked two massages (she had the Swedish and I had the Aromatherapy) at around 11am the same day and they were able to squeeze us in for a 6:45 appointment. Located in the downtown Orlando area, we were nervous that it was going to be a bad area, but it seemed quiet and safe. The Spa is easy to miss as it is located in the middle of a plaza directly on the road and the parking is difficult, but there is plenty of space on the side streets. We entered the address from the website into our GPS and had no problem getting there. When we entered, we were greeted warmly and offered a beverage (my mother had a mimosa and I had a spritzer). One nice thing is that each employee has their own scrapbook on the coffee table, complete with a little background information, certificates, and pictures. The Spa is very small, from what I am used to, with four or five massage/facial rooms, one manicure station, and two pedicure stations. The facility appeared very clean. My masseuse was very friendly, I think her name was Jessica but I have to check to see if I still have her business card, and she made me feel very comfortable. She asked if there was anywhere I was uncomfortable being touched and really tailored the experience to my problem areas. The value was very good ($95 for a 1hr Aromatherapy massage) and the staff didn’t rush you out when you were finished. It is true that I heard the train pass by once, but it wasn’t too loud. Also there were women getting pedicures during my massage, but the noise level was low. I would highly recommend this spa to anyone interesting in indulging in some ME time . I will most definitely be returning when I go to Florida again in August.

Bliss… writes Kathy M. at InsiderPages.com
A co worker of mine has been telling me about how great The Spa is and decided one day to check it out. First thing that was really nice was the look of the Spa. It was beautifully designed and the staff were more than kind. Then not only was it beautiful but the cleanliness of the place was emaculate. The music was soothing, the drinks were complementary. Then I found out about their half off club and joined. Thats when I realize I could keep coming in as a member and not burn a hole into my pocket. The theraputic message I got with the young lady Jessica was absolutly amazing. She really worked on my backs sore spots and knew all of them without me telling her. It was outstanding. The whole facility and staff really made me feel at home.

I keep going back for more! 08/12/10 writes TheSuburbanMom at Citysearch
Let’s see, I have been to 3 Happy Hours, had multiple massages, several acupuncture treatments, a pedicure, and I keep going back for more!

A lot of places I go to once, I like it, but I never go again. This place keeps standing out and I keep going back.

One of the most unique things about The Spa are its monthly Happy Hours. One Friday a month, The Spa turns into the hottest happy hour around. Each Happy Hour has a different theme (like chocolate, western, oxygen bar and more) and with your admission you get appetizers, all you can drink signature drinks and a mini spa session. LOVE it – happy hour with a massage or pedi – I am all about it!

Everything I have done at The Spa has been top notch. I can’t say enough about the staff. I’ll be going back, will I see you there?

Morgan C. at Yelp.Com
4/12/2010
I cannot say enough positive things about this spa!!   I found the staff to be knowledgeable. My 60 min. facial was top notch.  My esthetician told me all about my skin and seemed to know what she was doing.  Hours later I feel great!!  Several of my friends have visited The Spa for various treatments and raved.  I now know what they are talking about.  I will surely recommend this spa to my friends.  I am getting married this weekend and I know my skin will be at its best!!

CitySearch Contributer Sandra Carr writes…
Fish pedicures and manicures are the rage at this Ivanhoe Village spa near downtown Orlando. Relax in tranquil surroundings while having a spa treatment near eclectic shops in the historic Lake Ivanhoe district. The facility creates an ambiance where customers can leave behind their problems and be pampered under dim lights while listening to calming music amongst soothing hues. The spa offers fish pedicures and manicures, which feature toothless and harmless garra rufa fish eating away the dead skin, traditional Chinese therapy, body scrubs, waxing, massages and skincare services.

The Orlando Sentinel says…
I’m sitting with my feet poised above a bowl swarming with hungry fish. I’m told they are harmless garra rufa fish, toothless and gentle.But I’m thinking piranha.I’m thinking wading into the ocean when the water is murky, and stepping on something slithery. I’m not so sure I want these garra rufas nibbling on my toes. But that is why I’m here at The Spa in Orlando’s Ivanhoe Village. I’m here to sample the hottest trend in spa treatments: fish pedicures.

These silvery, inch-long garra rufas — also known as doctor fish — are about to give my feet a most unusual treatment. So, blocking out visions of a feeding frenzy, I take the plunge. Actually, it’s more of a dip. After my feet have been thoroughly washed, I slip them gingerly into the bowl of warm water and hold still, as instructed. The doctor fish attack! Just kidding. The critters have impeccable bedside — bowlside? — manners. Their nibbling is purposeful but delicate.

It tickles. It tingles. But ever so slightly. It is a little creepy, but only at first. I relax into my comfortable massage chair and let the fish chow down. Garra rufas are a type of carp native to Turkey. They have a taste for dead skin cells, but spa owner Andy Swart also feeds his regular fish food. He keeps them in a large tank filled with 81-degree water. When a client wants her piggies pampered, he nets about 100 fish and transfers them to a blue plastic pedicure bowl. Working conditions are pretty cushy. In addition to providing his tiny workers with free board and lodging, Swart has them on a rotating schedule — one day on, one day off.

The fish use their lips to gently exfoliate the feet — a process usually done with pumice stones or razors. As they nibble, the doctor fish secrete enzymes that help soften the skin. In some Turkish spas, they are even used to treat conditions such as eczema and psoriasis. Introduced into northern Virginia earlier this year, the novelty pedicures were an instant hit. Soon, women across the country were clamoring for appointments with the scaly little doctors. Swart brought the first garra rufas to Central Florida in mid-September. After 15 minutes, the fishy part of my pedicure is over. My feet feel amazing. The skin has that smooth, plumped-up feeling you get when you apply moisturizer after a hot shower. Now it’s time for a human pedicurist to buff and polish my toenails — an operation the doctor fish have not yet mastered.

What’s it like to have a fish pedicure? See for yourself at Orlando Sentinel.com/fishpedicure.

Jean Patteson can be reached at jpatteson@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5158.

The Orlando Weekly says…
So this is what it’s all come down to. The plate tectonics of our oversized socioeconomic structure have screeched and scratched against each other one too many times, pressing hairline fractures into gaping voids and smashing the jagged slabs of our seemingly solid foundations willy-nilly across the arid landscape. Ah, the revolution! Let’s just eat the rich and get on with it, OK? “So, are you here to try the fish pedicure?” an angular smile belonging to Andy, the owner of Orange Avenue’s starkly named Spa beams, then frowns. “Can I get you a drink?”

Jessica and I have somehow winnowed our way into a minnow experience that is set to be the distillation of a national aesthetic trend that has already passed through the lips of Tyra Banks too many times to matter. Jessica, whose head frequently drifts somewhere in the lifestyle-mag aesthetosphere, is already way too hip to this ectothermic exploitation of aquaculture to betray even the least bit of surprise. But for me, still amazed by the dynamics of the Hot Pocket, it all seems a little surreal. “In what way will this be any different than that feeling of repulsion I used to get when my toes became food for shiners in late-’70s Naple’s beach vacations?” I nervously giggle some rhetoric. “Moreover, will it veer into that young-backpackers-at-summer-camp, post-Vietnam War-science-of-1978 territory so terrifying in the screen adaptation of Piranha?” “This is beauty,” Jessica’s face elongates to display teeth. “There is no such thing as too much beauty.”

In a fit of marketing genius or desperation, the Spa has employed marketing consultants to smash the champagne bottle on their latest body-altering endeavor with a “media event.” The idea is to get all of the prettiest journalistas into a room and lavish them with liquor and up-and-down glances, all in the hopes that they’ll take their smooth-as-a-baby’s-bottom feet back to their Carrie Bradshaw laptops and spread the good word of fish therapy. (You, too, can take part in this experience on Fridays for a mere $30, ahem, and this is the only place in Florida to do it!)

There are a couple of girls from the Sentinel here, somebody from Florida Trend and a few other marketing types milling about. In a deft act of mood suspension, there are cocktails featuring Red Bull, vodka, and orange and grapefruit juice – or “jackass mimosas,” a term coined by Jessica’s less-frilly half, Matt – and there is new age music. And in case none of this is quite enough to replicate the apocalypse in my head, there are also giant shards of stone scattered everywhere, because for these Friday happy hour events, the fish bits are taken care of in the adjoining giant stone shard shop. It does not get any better than this. “So who’s first?” a nice pedicurist named Theresa toes over. I push Jessica into the water and pretend to scream for help. “So, um, how do you know that this won’t spread fungus or disease?” she voices the entire room’s suspicions.

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