Sarah "slygirl" L.'s Profile

I had my second visit with Maria last Tuesday. During my first visit she used sugar wax. This time she used a dark wax (with strips) for the front of the house, and hard wax for the interior and back of the house. Never ever double dips, always tweezes strays. She's the best!

$45 without gratuity. In and out in 20 minutes.

The Lowdown:
- 51 treatment rooms, including 3 couples' suite, 7 facial rooms, and wet rooms with Vichy showers
- Credit card needed to secure booking.
- No cancellations on the same day as the appointment.
- Arrive 30m before appointment for a tour of facilities and have time to change and use heat and water areas. Suit optional.
- Booking a treatment or day pass is valid until the close of business so you can leave for meal and return if you like.

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If you've never been to a spa before, and decide to go to Qua, be forewarned that your experience here will spoil you for other spas. Seriously, the spas in the City of Sin should be in a category of their own when it comes to rejuvenation and relaxation. Hell, I work in a spa, and while I think the spa I work in is one of the best in the DC area, the moment I stepped into Qua, I thought, "Wow, this place is amazing! It makes my spa look like [insert colorful language here]."

I called earlier this week to make appointments for Friday, October 30th.  I work as a spa concierge for a hotel spa, so I have the very same job as the agent I spoke with. As such, I tend to be a bit more critical than your average spa guest. The phone call is your first point of contact with a spa, and therefore, is their chance to establish a positive "handshake" with a guest. The agent, while polite, kind of mumbled and spoke in a monotone voice. While I knew exactly what treatments I wanted and how much they cost, she didn't go over the price, or asked any questions to see if that treatment was right for me. This would never fly at my spa, because we have guests who book massages, not knowing the cost, only to get pissed at check-out and blame the concierge who made the booking, which results in management getting involved. She answered a few questions for me, but spent more time describing the amenities for the vanity instead of say, the heat and water areas. I hung up the phone and thought, "Wow, do they not get mystery shopped at Qua?" Also, there was no confirmation call the day before the treatment, so make sure you remember the date and time of your appointment.

Qua recommends arriving 30 minutes prior to your appointment time. Now at check-in, Vegas spas do things a bit differently. They make you pay for your treatment upfront. Gratuity for your therapist may be added after your treatment using the same credit card you used to pay. They give you a ticket in an envelope which you will present to the front desk staff when you enter the spa. They will ask you what size shoe you have, and after getting some slippers, will lead you on a tour of the facilities. The locker rooms are digi-locks, so you can pick a 4-digit combo. There is a private changing area next door if you're feeling modest.

There are three areas for heat and water. The Roman Baths contain three pools of varying temperatures. There's one for body temperature, a hot tub, and a cold plunge pool. In this area there is also a shower located in the center of the pools. There are also two shower stalls to rinse off. I particularly liked the heated stone loungers in this area. On one wall, you can turn on the jets and the showers and set how long you'd like them to run. There is also a lift available for disabled guests, which is great, but keep in mind that this area gets slippery easily.

The second area is the jacuzzi, which is located near the showers and vanity. The third area includes an herbal steam bath, a cedarwood dry sauna, and an arctic room. I was impressed with the arctic room--it wasn't too cold, especially after sitting in the steam room. I loved that there was an ice fountain and that foam floated down from the ceiling.

There are showers, restrooms, and vanities stocked with a variety of products and equipment. They supply things like soap, shampoo/conditioner, and lotion, but they don't have facial products or makeup. There is mouthwash, dental sets, razors, q-tips, tampons/pads, shower caps, etc.

The tea lounge is where your therapist will come to pick you up for your treatment. Qua offers a different tea menu for men and women. The variety of teas for women is greater than for men. The men's tea menu had a lot more traditional teas such as Silver Needle, while the women's tea menu had more flavored teas, like White Peach. You do not prepare your own tea--rather, a spa attendant will make it for you. Other food amenities include coffee (regular/decaf), pretzels, oranges, apples, iced tea, and a mini fridges stocked with little cans of juice and water. Bottled water is plentiful.

The staff here is extremely professional and will wait on you hand and foot. They do a fantastic job of keeping the facilities immaculate. Honestly, I cannot say enough good things about this spa, and I haven't even gotten to my review of my spa treatment yet! If you're in Vegas (and you're not pregnant or can't use heat/water facilities), you really should make it a point to stop here. You won't regret it!

Yechon was my first Korean food experience without the guidance of my sister, and my boyfriend's first time trying Korean food that isn't the frozen kalbi from Trader Joe's. Funny story, he was buying the frozen kalbi a couple of weeks ago and the cashier says to him, "Dude, these are good, but you should totally take a cute girl to a real Korean restaurant and try the real thing." So here we are!

I decided to order on the safe side and picked the kalbi and bulgogi. I wanted to try the pork belly but our server said we had to get two orders of that, not one. Oh well, maybe next time. Our food was cooked in the kitchen and came out in short order. The panchan are a decent variety of different flavors and textures. I am not really accustomed to Korean food so while I will definitely try things, there are some I don't really like (like kimchi, for example). I loved the basket of fresh greens and I don't know if I ate it right, but I did it Viet style and put a bit of rice, meat, and picked a random panchan and rolled it right up. It was gooood. My boyfriend thought the same as well. Two entrees were just the right amount of food for us with no leftovers to take home.

It was around midnight when we finished and the place started picking up. It was interesting to see what other people ordered, as we were sitting by the sidebar where they set the food before bringing it to the tables. The grilled fish dishes and dol bim bap in particular looked mighty tasty. I am convinced that the one of the servers has lost all feeling in "these three" fingers, otherwise, how can he just pick up those scorchingly hot metal bowls of rice and not even grimace?

It took about 20 minutes to get our check and that's after I flagged the server after he brought the check to the party sitting next door who came in way later than us. Also, they refilled our glasses when we were checking out and did not refill the panchan. But that's typical Asian service so I don't really much care. On the way out I noticed an ART or Fairfax Connector bus stop near the restaurant so I will have to see if it's worth it to make a daytrip there via public transit. But on the other hand, the beauty of this place is to go in the wee hours of the morning so maybe I should just pretend I didn't see it. We'll be back. And definitely leave your coat in the car if you don't want it to smell like meat.