Russian Baths on Neck Road

This place is the bomb. Dry sauna, wet sauna, cold water drenches, full size pool, etc. At $ 45, one could consider it a splurge. But you can spend as much or as little time there as you like. It’s a bona ride Russian bath house. The staff welcome you, inform you (if you’re a first timer) and the rest of the patrons do, too. Everybody is so comfortable! This place is the epitome of chill — it’s that relaxing. Whether you want to go the detox route or have a couple of icy cold beers of the world — all of this is at your disposal. And I was given free salty snacks! Of several varieties! And you can swim laps and laps in the pool! No lanes! No wannabe swimmer jerks!
Normally, I feel my inner germaphobe coming on when someone tries to take me to a «spa» kinda place. No worries, here. There’s lots of staff constantly on top of this — endless supplies of clean, dry towels. Non-​scary surfaces to sit and lie upon. And clean, well-​maintained women and men’s locker rooms. A lock is given to you when you first check in. Bring flip flops, wear a bathing suit and bring your own personal woolen wacky hat to wear (if you wish — I just admired the ones I saw). Just remember to get your personal effects and give the lock back as you slurp out the door. My muscles have not been that seriously relaxed in decades. I’ll be back.

Great Russian Banya with a good restaurant. It is pricy, but so are most «spa» like places.
Admission is $ 45 (although I remember back in a day it was $ 20 – 25, but that was decades ago). It has been renovated while back and is looking great. There are hot drys saunas — great heat and plenty of space. There is a west steam sauna — good way to start and clear out the respiratory system. Pool is full-​size and good water temp (bit on a cool side, which is good for taking a plunge after sauna).
Overall the place is very clean. Locker rooms are clean and spacious.
Restaurant has russian food staples of very good quality, and one can sit in restaurant while wet in a towel, so don’t need to fight for a poolside table.
Would recommend to any old-​school comrades, as well as, adventurous Americans looking to experience a taste of Russia or just to get a relaxing day with healthy sauna.

The original Russia bathhouse (banya) of Brooklyn’s late 80s and early 90s Soviet (mostly Jewish) immigration wave, tucked away between two apartment buildings on Neck Rd. This place has seen a lot of changes throughout the years, but has maintained itself as a cultural hub, especially so for the massive Russian-​Jewish community in the neighborhood. I remember getting my first autograph from an NHL player here, when I was 8 years old (NHL stars have often frequented this place). So I have been a customer, on and off, for 20 years as I write this.
Positives —
–The main positive this banya has over any others is that the food is exceptional. I mean it. Yes, it may seem overpriced next to Russian restaurants in Brooklyn, but it’s absolutely not; the prices reflect the quality and the quality is seriously up there. Patrons come in here just to eat lunch or dinner.
–It’s kept it’s classic feel, despite being updated and renovated many times throughout the years.
–The service is generally attentive and above satisfactory
–There’s a pool, but that serves as a negative, too.
Negatives–
–The layout is absurdly poor. The actual saunas are tiny compared to the competition, and they have been this way for years. The largest sauna is maybe five times bigger than the rest of them. The problem is: ITS ALWAYS EMPTY because it’s in the back of the men’s locker room, behind a small additional sitting area. Which is also where you’re allowed to have glass bottles out in the open. So lots of vodka. Point is, the nicest and largest sauna in here is available to men only, is in the very back, and there’s a wall of wasted old men with their weenies jiggling about guarding the door.
–Price point ($ 45 as of this review) doesn’t seem worth it compared to some other banyas in Brooklyn at this point.
–The pool is nice, but feels like 90% chlorine and takes up way too much of the main area. There are tables around it, so you are often side stepping to get from one point to another. When it gets even a little crowded, it feels like it’s overly crowded. Not a good time, trust me.
–Attracts a MUCH older crowd than other spots. You sort of feel like you’re interfering with a geriatric home outing at times
–Also attracts a LOT of kids with the pool, who tag along with their parents. That gets annoying too, but at least the kids wont roll into a sauna like a berserk commando and blast the oven with 20 ladles of water, sit there for 3 minutes and leave like the crazy drunk old bastards will.
All in all, the negatives here exist, and they’re much more noticeable during the peak hours and busy weekends. I try to go when I have a day off during the week (early on in the day, too) since you can dampen a lot of the negatives and really enjoy the place.

Many of us fail to realize that we come to the USA for a better life which means better opportunity. A place that welcomes everyone, every culture, and every religion which makes us great and the best country on this planet. My colleagues and I are two professionals who live in Downtown Brooklyn who went at the Russian Bath on Christmas because of the rating. The only problem that we have they did not mention for Russians only. As soon as we entered the place, we felt the tension– a few good Russians came to apologize to us and the two young receptionists asked us not to leave. As soon as we entered the steamed room, everyone left at the same time. They disregarded the fact that they were not in Russia but the USA– land that accepts everyone and gives us the opportunity to be ourselves. We have met a few good Russian people who told us to ignore those who feel uncomfortable to have us around. The management promotes this racist sentiment by not having a sign states any form of discrimination is prohibited here when they know what is going on the premises. I want all the good people who go to the Russian Baths to stand up against racism. By not fighting against racism, you are actually sending wrong messages to the management. It is not ok to discriminate against anyone.

I work at an office of all Russians and my co workers have been slowing integrating me (or converting me, which ever you prefer) into russian culture. My co workers really wanted to take me to a russian banya, and it sounded like fun, so I was down! Although we had planned out our trip to the banya in advance, the day of, most of my coworkers dropped out for one reason or another, so it was just me and my one coworker. Well, not to fear, we were going to go anyway, and have a good time!
Finding the place was a little difficult, we walked right past it. There is a sign, but in the dark, it wasn’t the easiest to spot the entrance. The place wasn’t so crowded when we got there, but I could see how on the weekend, it could definitely fill up and be very crowded. I could see if someone wasn’t russian, they might have a hard time. It’s not that anyone was rude, quite the opposite, everyone was super friendly, however, pretty much EVERY conversation was in russian and my coworker had to translate everything for me. We walked in and told to hand over our phones/​wallets for our locker keys. I was a little nervous at first, but front desk puts the phones and wallets in a sealed zip lock, in a lock box behind the desk that coordinates with your locker. No mix ups!
The locker room was well kept, clean, had showers with soaps. Although, the shower curtains were see-​through… I would have preferred like a shower door on the stalls, or something. We collected our towels and staked out an area by the pool and dropped our things. I let my co worker lead the way because, well, I’ve never been, didn’t know what to expect.
First up, the [wet] sauna. I haven’t been in a sauna in a long time. But, I’m a fan. But then again, I love the heat. I’m a summer baby, the heat is my friend! I especially enjoyed that you had cool buckets of water to cool you down. Although, as an older russian man in the sauna instructed us, don’t use the water if you can help it, better to sweat it out! The point is to sweat out all the toxins in your blood! Okay, whatever you say! After that, we showered off, and took a dip in the pool. The pool was freezing. And it’s not because we had just been in the sauna. I get it. The way your supposed to do it is, you sweat it out in the sauna and then jump into a freezing pool. But this was just WAY to cold for me. Before we even got in, a couple of older men had warned us that the pool was cold.
After the pool, time for the steam room! I love the steam room. We did a body scrub and my skin felt amazing! It still feels amazing! Big fan. After the steam room, and a quick rinse, we ordered some food, because that’s what you do at the banya! We ordered a greek salad, vereniki (dumplings) and my co worker got shrimp. I didn’t have that high hopes for the food, because, let’s be honest, this is a bath house, but I was wrong, the food was delicious. The salad itself was huge and delicious. Perfect radio with the dressing. My co worker said the shrip were to perfection and the Vereniki, so good!
There is a ‘mens only’ sauna where the men can go naked, like they do traditionally. Obviously we didn’t try that out. We also didn’t check out the dry sauna. The next time we come back, because there will be a next time, I definitely want to try out the platza treatment. I do wish they had a jacuzzi or hot tub, but I guess that it’s traditionally russian? It’s less expensive then spa castle, entry is $ 40. Can’t wait to come back! We had fun!

This is our local «home» banya. I wish it is less crowded on weekends but understand business shall have a lot of customers not being washed out. Though personally I do not like noisy kids; I’m not a big fun of kids at all. It is what it is. Actually it rather good: they are growing in good Russian tradition.

Nice plase with tasty food. The only disadvantage is size. Recommended for weekdays only. On weekends this bath is full of drunk people

Filled with LOTS OF DRUNK PEOPLE. Audience is RUDE, LOUD, LOTS OF CURSING. This completely ruins the experience when you’re there and the staff doesn’t do anything about their visitors behavior. I will not be returning and do not recommend this bath house, it is also overpriced.

Nice place! Was there many times ! Delicious food. Can be better selection of beer besides that everything is cool.
Will recommend.

Simply the best. Best Russian cuisine by far. Plus the baths are exceptional. If you don’t know, now you know!!!

Great place to come with kids and let them swim.
The waiters back in January/​February were horrible. You can see a culture of bazaar yelling and shouting over customer’s heads. We complained to the manager and, to our surprise, he listened. We came back this weekend and that issue has been solved. Much more mature staff working now.
Great place, will come back again and again. If you want to learn how to swim, I have seem trainers come to do personal sessions. Together with a steaming experiece, I think that this place is really good for healthy life style oriented people.

Among the numerous «Russian Bath houses» in Brooklyn this is by far the best place to go to when you are looking for a good sweat. The locker rooms as well as the saunas are always clean. The saunas are extremely hot and well maintained. The staff is super friendly and I recommend the tradition «venik massage» and the Swedish massage. This place is like mini vacation every time I go I feel rejuvenated. Their body scrub service is great and your skin feels silky smooth every time. The food is the best in Brooklyn. I’ve come many times to just eat in the restaurant without even going to the sauna. If your looking for a great and healthy time definitely check this place out I highly recommend it.

My first ever Russian Baths experience was wonderful. I chose this place based on other Unilocal reviews and photos. It is super clean, with very welcoming staff, lots of space in all rooms and around the pool (on a week day) and the food was delicious! My partner and I both had the body scrub and platza treatments and, although the heat from the platza was a lot to deal with for these new kids, I cannot ever remember my skin feeling so smooth! In general, I left the baths SO happy, intensely relaxed and babbling to friends about it and encouraging them to come next time we visit!
BYO swimmers and water-​friendly footwear (flip-​flops). They have plenty of towels for all and you can keep changing out wet for dry.
A crowd of seemingly local people, mostly adults, a few young people, and one little kid being escorted by an adult. A mix of groups and couples of varying ages. A higher ratio of men (and a mostly all male staff) but, as a gender non-​conforming person, I felt very comfortable and safe. The guy who did our scrub and platza treatments (Eugenie?) was super polite, responded to requests for pressure or heat changes and very professional — only left us with positive things to say!

«Russian Baths in Brooklyn» (former Neck Road Banya) is the oldest Russian Bath in Brooklyn. It is not the biggest or the most popular, but overall it is currently my favorite Russian Bath in New York City.
If anything, this bath excels in the management’s talent to make the best out of every small detail. For example, the place had no space for another sauna around the pool so a few years ago they built one for men only behind the locker rooms. It is a huge hot Russian sauna where men can be traditionally naked. They keep the temperature in this sauna hotter and next to it men can hang out in a separate men-​only area drinking beer and having long conversations — exactly like so many Russians used to do in the past. Creating the men-​only area made the main pool area more family-​friendly with less men, gentler heat in saunas, and more space for children to run around. Everyone wins, genius! If not forced by circumstances, this layout should have been designed originally.
The bath’s main hall is dominated by a full-​sized swimming pool — it was a bit on a cold side, but it is really pleasant after a sauna. The ceilings are relatively low giving the Bath a cozy feel. There are tables on two sides of the pool. On the opposite sides they have 3 saunas. The most popular Russian sauna has decent heat and is a great place for platza. The second — shvitz has faucets for cold water buckets. I visited the steam room with children, who usually are not particularly fond of the heat. This time they were very happy and busy playing with water and pouring it on themselves and everyone around while adults were sweating on the upper benches. The Turkish steam room is hot, foggy and clean — what else could you wish for?
The staff is the best I’ve ever encountered in any of the Russian Baths. Young, smiling, professional — the type of staff you expect to run into in a high end spa, or top restaurant, but you never get in a Russian Bath. Talking about the restaurant — fantastic! The restaurant has a hockey theme — the original owner was close to some famous Russian Players in the 80’s. Framed jerseys and memorabilia decorate the walls. The plates and glasses are super clean and look unexpectedly expensive, the beer has good selection and is served in chilled glasses, soups are to die for and everything we’ve tried was very tasty. Note, it can get expensive quickly. We snacked more than ate, but for a family of four, the restaurant bill including 2 beers, a teapot and a tip was over $ 120.
As with any other Russian Banya in the city, on weekends Neck Road Bath gets crowded. I suggest coming earlier — the younger generation shows up later.
The place is not perfect, it is missing a cold plunge to jump into after a sauna — I wish they’d build it in the corner of the pool. It has no whirlpools, but that’s probably a plus — less chlorine in the air. Like in most Russian Baths there’s no attention paid to music to compliment the experience. And a simple bowl of eucalyptus leaves under the steam faucet in the Turkish room would cost nothing and would make the whole place smell heavenly. But, these are small details that do not distract from the fact that it is one of the best places I can imagine to spend half a day with or without kids. Just go if you want to see what Russian Baths are all about. And if you are new to Russian Baths, join a Russian Bath meetup where someone experienced would introduce you to all of it.

If you want to try to wedge into a tight space around the pool and pay A-​plus prices for C-​minus product, you’ve come to the right place. This place continues to raise rates thanks to supply and demand, but frankly their competitors in South Brooklyn offer a more relaxing environment.

Well, first of all this is a clean place, which is a huge plus.
I really like the women’s locker room and especially the bathroom… the toilet has a plastic wrap on the seat that can be changed with a press of a button. This is a first time I have seen such a gadget and I think it is very useful and should be used in more places. The only complaint I have about the locker room is the hair dryer. It would take me forever to dry my hair with that thing; it is not strong enough.
The saunas are great — no complaints.
However, the water in the pool is TOO COLD! Brr…
The food was OK, but the french fries were HORRIBLE! The worst I have ever had! — so tiny and soft, not tasty at all. The grilled chicken was good though.
Also, I did not like the waiter much. I wanted to order Ukrainian Borscht and when he said they did not have it I decided not to get anything and just share food with my boyfriend. The waiter wanted to MAKE ME order something :/​… Also, we said we did not want beer after he first asked and then asked us TWO more times… Oh please, I know you want people to order more to make money, but calm down a little!
I don’t think the owner? — guy in the reception was nice enough, but whatever.
Overall, an okay place, but I am not sure if it is better than Sandoony.

Really great and laid back Russian Bath house.
While this is not the most glamorous bath house, it has plenty of space and plenty of good food to make up for that and usually not as crowded as some other spots.
They have two unisex dry saunas, and one men’s only, they have a steam room as well as a good size pool.
The eating area is also nice; I love all the food here, from the meat to the salads to the pelmenyi you can’t go wrong.
Staff is nice and attentive and they never run out of towels!
Easy choice if your in the area

As the temperatures plummeted back down into the ungodly 20’s I made like a Russian and ran to the banya. Tucked into an obscure alleyway between a gated lot and an apartment building, you could almost miss it. But trust that all the locals know where their neighborhood banya is.
HUGE, HUGE plus was the cleanliness. This place might be decorated a bit like a 1980’s social club in Europe; however every surface is spotless. The women’s locker room had all the amenities — shower gel, soap and shampoo dispensers in each shower stall. They provide you with as many towels as you need/​want and plastic slippers. I brought my own footwear and larger bath towel, as what they give you is rather tiny on coverage.
Bikini clad and ready for some steam, I made use of the sauna and steam rooms across from the pool. There was a more «hardcore» dry heat room that many an older Russian made a bee-​line for. Among the many super friendly, happy to accommodate male staff members, one kept checking to see if my friend and I would be interested in doing the platza treatment. We declined a bunch of times until the manager came over and said he wanted us to try the platza on him. Two platzas for the price of one and I thought «do as the Russians.» It was an interesting sensation being raked and beaten with a bunch of wet birch leaves. The leaves emit astringent properties that benefit the skin and encourage detoxification. The last part of the experience is having a bucket of cold water dumped over you. Takes your breath away, but your skin is tingling and you feel… umm, ALIVE!
After 3 ½ hours, we left feeling recharged, supple and starving — the one thing I didn’t try here was the food; just fresh juice and water. The manager and his counterparts were all happy to have «taken care» of us and said I should come back tomorrow on the house. Oh, how I love their «hospitality.» Needless to say, I am making this a bi-​weekly tradition regardless of sweet discounts or otherwise. Banya does a body good!

this place is the best on Sundays, to sit and relax and have nobody bother you
there’s a men’s section in the back with their own tables and privacy which is a plus If you want to have «brotime»
there is a small smoking section in the back too
the Locker rooms are very clean and well kept
the steam room smelled ridiculously good, minty and citrus and there’s a faucet with cold water and buckets to cool down
there’s two saunas. ones hotter then the other, they are fairly sized, but for the amount of people that come here vs. the space of the saunas they’re definitely not big enough in my opinion
the food there is fresh and in large portions, you’ll leave the sports bar and restaurant satisfied with seafood, meats, soups, and fruits, desserts
I have to say the service here SUCKS. they need to hire waiters that actually care about their customers, in this place you have to chase the waiters down.

Great bath house in Brooklyn. Rooms are clean and maintained well. Towels are available for free and they offer food. Plenty of healing properties available to enhance your banya experience.
I’ll definitely come again.