Elm City Wellness on Orange - New Haven, Connecticut

Becca Kellner

5. Have been here for 2 massages and the experience was really positive. Nice, clean space. Lots of gifts and snacks for purchase at the front. Soft music and sound machine playing during the massage. If you’re into deep tissue- book with Adonis.

Van Mai

Just had a massage session. It was a relaxing experience but the therapist gave me a 50-minute massage even though I paid for 60 minutes. When I brought up the timing difference, she told me that she counted the time I checked in and got undressed into the session. This is not the typical experience I had with other therapists, and I’ve had many massages before. Given how expensive each session is, it feels disappointing to be shortchanged.

Brit Fleck

Came here for a facial with Gene and it was UNREAL! She was incredible -- soo attentive, knowledgable, a sweet kind presence and designed a facial perfect for my skin. She also went above and beyond massaging my face, jaw, shoulders, arms, neck. It was DIVINE!! ECW itself is a very welcome and calming space too. Highly recommend and will be coming back monthly

Paige Guthrie Cox

Elm City Wellness is such a peaceful, lovely place to visit. I’ve been going now for over a year and I couldn’t be happier with all of my experiences. If I could give 10 stars, I would.
The staff are welcoming and kind, the vibe is always so healing - I feel relaxed as soon as I walk in.
I recently changed therapists, because my former therapist moved away. Before my first session with my new therapist, I was nervous because I had such a great relationship with the former. But as soon as I met Jamie, I was completely at ease. She’s 10/10. She’s friendly, incredibly skilled and very in-tuned to her work.
All this is to say, I would highly recommend Elm City Wellness to anyone looking for a kind, chill, completely personalized wellness experience. Visiting Elm City feels like visiting friends.

Judy Dinneen

Stephanie did my acupuncture and she’s more than fabulous!! I was v nervous because this was my first time. She took all my fears away.
I would recommend her 100%. Judy D.

Toral Khunti

Editing to respond to the response below from Elm City Wellness:

I'm shocked and appalled by the response full of of blatant lies about my family. This business is attempting to gaslight me, my mother and my sister and I will not stand for it. The intake form was filled out correctly and I've verified this with my sister.

Also, at no point did my mother ever have a rash. My mother said her skin was red from her hot shower. She said Annie literally shrieked at the sight of her back as if she had some disease. I asked my mother if Annie asked her if she was itchy and if she said yes to Annie and my mother assured me that when she was asked if she had a rash, she responded that she wasn't itchy at all and that she felt fine. She never had a rash. So, again more lies from Annie and Elm City Wellness.

My sister was understandably upset at how my mother was treated after being cancelled on three times. She was assertive, not rude and again this is another lie.

Lastly, when I went to your office to get the refund, I stood patiently waiting for a refund. I think I waited for 45 minutes, but your staff was having issues. Please don't use your fragility and tears to demonize me. I did nothing wrong. It was you and your staff who were rude, unprofessional, and condescending.

I was so excited for my mother to get a massage at one of the "best" massage places in the area. I'm absolutely disgusted by the gaslighting and lies. Instead of being defensive, you could have easily called me to have a honest discussion about what happened if you were in fact so shocked by my review, but instead you chose gaslighting and victimhood to double down on your horrendous service and what I believe to be racial microaggressions.

Original review:

I read all the fantastic reviews for this place and decided to buy my mom a gift card for her birthday and retirement. She never gets massages and I was excited for her. Unfortunately, they (the massage therapist, Annie) canceled on her not one, not two, but three times. The third time they made her get completely undressed only to tell her that they would not proceed with the massage as they saw redness and assumed it was a rash. I understand that medical conditions exist and all parties need to be careful, but I wish they were able to tell her before she got undressed and ready for her massage after being canceled on so many times before.

Today, when I went to get a refund, I was tone policed by the administrative staff, as well as Annie, which I didn't appreciate. When I referenced the cancellations, they got defensive, conveniently labeling everything they did wrong as a "miscommunication." I don't disagree that there was some miscommunication - my mom isn't a native English speaker. Nevertheless, this shouldn't have happened. I am embarrassed and horrified about the way my 61 year old immigrant mother was treated.

When I entered the establishment today to speak to the staff about my refund, I noticed the blatant cultural appropriation of various products from Black and brown cultures. From the selling of palo santo (the "holy stick" that comes from the indigenous peoples of the Americas) to the dream catcher (made in Bali of all places - another place where indigenous peoples are being displaced because of white "wellness" folks) to the Buddhist singing bowls to the Hindu Om incense holders, this place has appropriated and commodified healing traditions that don't belong to them. They also sell tea, made by a white woman, that uses AAVE. As a white-owned business, it's important to respect our cultures and listen to us. The indigenous peoples of Americas have been asking non-indigenous people to not sell their sacred palo santo. They love stealing our traditions while giving us no recognition and treating us with no respect...exactly like what they did to my mother.

Anastasia

If I could give zero stars to this place that would be the case. I do not recommend this place especially for body related treatments. The place isn’t professional, stuff at the front desk is extremely rude. I have purchased a package. Regrettably, the experiences during the sessions did not meet the therapeutic needs I had outlined multiple times.

In the first session, the massage techniques used were not effective. It was not a full body massage. Additionally, the focus was not on the areas I had specified, which was essential for my health concerns.

The second session also fell short of expectations. It concluded 10 minutes early and did not cover the entire body as expected. Despite my explicit request to avoid focusing on my feet and instead use that time for my shoulders while still providing a full body massage, the therapist spent the entire session on just one shoulder. Additionally, therapist spent most of the time talking rather than doing massage, which was distracting and significantly affected the experience. I have a remaining session left. But I’m so disappointed that I’m not even interested booking it. The experience was traumatic that just thinking about that place gives me a fear and panic sensation.

All in all, I do not recommend this place. It is the worst experience by far and believe me I’ve had a lot of massage sessions in my past, yet never left a negative review.

Nikki Vang

I went in to go see Dr. Stephanie Carey-Northrop. One thing I really liked about Stephanie is that she ACTUALLY listened to my health issue. It made me feel great to have someone that really listen to me and my body. I have PCOS and I had difficulty falling asleep beforehand but after my sessions with her I always able to fall asleep faster and easier! No more melatonin! I also noticed my menstrual cycles slowly getting back to my "normal", and my energy throughout the day has improved! She showed me some great Yoga exercised to maintain my body flexibility too! I would highly recommend Dr. Stephanie!