Sandoony

The one and only for us now. So, the Neck Road banya does not have a hot tub which my toddler likes and the walkways around the pool are so narrow, I did not feel safe even holding my little one’s hand. The Mermaid Spa does not take kids till 8 years old, huge loss on their part. The banya on Ave C and Coney Island is under renovations and that left us with no choice. We have grown to love Sandoony and came this weekend to celebrate my hubby’s birthday, there were 10 people. We got a table situated between the pool and the hot tub. The saunas were really nice and hot and the steam room was infused with eucalyptus which helped to clear my son’s sinuses. The food was terrific, we made a mistake, though, of over-​ordering in the pool area so did not go to the café to eat which we normally do after. The calamari and the shrimp were delicious and plentiful.

What can I say… after any of the races I do this is the place to recover– chill atmosphere– authentic Brooklyn for sure– good price and I feel great after a trip here

Just so you know you are not going to a fancy Spa. This is traditional accustomed place with best to offer to those who value relaxation and healthy lifestyle. I could not find a better value for my money! I read reviews of people saying other people look grumpy, and maybe if you cared about your own being everything would have been much better, sit back and try to enjoy in this case Relax and let the steam take care of the rest!

The best part of the spa is that the saunas and steam rooms are nice and hot. However, the cleaniness of the change room were mediocre, I saw lots of hair on the ground and in the drains. We sat down and had a few beers (which were excellent) and a calamari (average and served just mildly warm. The worse part of the spa was the service. On two separate occasions, we went in for a steam and the staff cleared our table. Including throwing away our food and tossing our reading materials aside. We when brought this up to the staff, they moved the people sitting there but didnt apologize or replace our food or drinks. Since the entrance fee is 40, the same as the Mermaid spa, I would rather go there.

Had a epic experience! Great people with a awesome atmosphere! Me and my wife really loved it. Was worried at first because of the reviews and we aren’t Russian but took the chance and Glad we did!

Nice place overall, good saunas, cozy, warm and great food. Pool could be a little cleaner, but I dont really go there to swim.

Wish I could give 0 star review. Boring, needs remodel, massage guy was awful — he left me to «rest» twice during my 30 min massage that was supposed to be 45 min, each time returning stinking of cigarettes. The food staff was super nice and helpful and the reception guy tried his best and took my complaints well — but all I really wanted was a deep tissue massage or something similar… that one thing I wanted sucked and the rest was blah

Love this banya, it’s clean, you have a great variety of hot saunas and steam room. There is a backyard with lounge chairs. Large pool, jacuzzi, and ice bath! Good is great too, the sesame calamari are a must get, lamb chops so good and other typical Russian food they have. FYI typical standard is you get a key with a number to a locker in the beginning, all the food you order and anything else, along with the day pass price, you pay when you leave.

I have come to the conclusion that this place is prejudice against non Russians. I am an Italian American and every time I come here I get treated not so nicely. Especially by the wait the staff. I tip well and always say please and thank you. So now I’ll take my $$ elsewhere.

Having a rough week? Try Banya :)
Sandoony is a casual spa where you don’t have to shell out $ 100+ to find relaxation.
It has 2 saunas, a steam room (that clears your sinuses), a jacuzzi, a small ice pool (not complainning) and a large pool (still at a low temperature).
Around the pools and jacuzzi are patio style chairs and tables. You can sit in your swimsuit and read a book, chat with your friends or watch tv.
Feel free to order poolside! My group ordered fruit and tea and were content with the portion sizes. There is also a casual eating area/​restaurant if you don’t want to eat by the pool.
The locker rooms are clean as well as all the facilities. One rule they enforce is to wear sandals at all times. If you forgot your sandals they are happy to provide you with a pair. Banya is great during the winter ! They provide hairdryers in the lockers so no worries about catching a cold from wet hair.
You can stay as long as you want and everyday they close at 11:30 pm which is pretty awesome for only $ 35.You can also purchase massage packages which includes your entry fee.
This Russian bathhouse is a hidden gem. Don’t knock it till you try it !

This is a great sauna. It has 2 Russian-​style dry wood saunas, 1 Turkish steam sauna, and 1 Finnish tiled sauna which allows you to pour cold water over yourself to cool down. There are plenty of patio-​style tables and chairs, but be warned: it can get pretty packed during the weekends. BEWARE of children on weekends and summer months, who love to run around and generally act obnoxious while you’re trying to relax in between heat sessions. In contrast, it is very quiet on weekday mornings.
A tip that not many people know about: If you go on their website and purchase an entrance ticket at least the day PRIOR to you being at the sauna, you save a $ 10 entrance fee per person, AND get either a complementary beer (men) or robe (women) during your stay. This is an awesome deal and can easily save you $ 20 – 30 if you’re in a party of 2 people.
Their food menu is great, and has some of the best Russian food I’ve ever had. Their chicken kebabs are very juicy and cooked to perfection! Their fries are delicious, especially with that green sauce they provide. The «Kharcho» soup is also very tasty, albeit on the salty side.
They have two choices of beer from the tap: Weihenstephaner, and a Polish beer whose name has slipped my mind.
Overall, a great sauna that I have been coming to for over 6 years with great food and good beer. Will definitely recommend to anyone who is looking to melt the stresses of life away!

Head here when living in NY has put you over the edge. Make a day of it. Bask in the heat of the sauna, then jump into the icy cold pool. Watch TV in the pool with old Russian dudes. Don’t get offended if some stranger offers to beat you with venik (oak leaf branches). Have a Russian beer. And some crepes with caviar. Repeat over the next 5 hours. Don’t expect a 5 star spa — this is a Russian Banya for crying out loud. It’s supposed to be a little grimy. When you get out you will feel like you can conquer the city again. At least for a bit longer.

I just got turned on to this place. Awesome. Don’t expect a fancy spa, just a very utilitarian and effective sauna and pool space, one big room, like a tiled cafeteria setting with plastic chairs set around hot and cold baths with a few saunas on the periphery and really very decent food in the restaurant (and some dishes can be served by the pools). For me a place like this is great. In the Middle of winter in New York, a few hours relaxing in a steamy place doing hydrotherapy really goes a long way to offsetting the miserable feeling of overheated buildings and windy polluted streets — it tricks my body into thinking I’ve been on holiday to the tropics.
Amazing that they are open until 11:30pm every day. Love it.
Tip: the portions are huge so don’t over order — we kind of did– you can request half portions of some dishes like the soups and they are very accommodating. The soups are great — I loved the «chicken ball» soup (basically matzoh ball soup) and the borscht was good too. The goat cheese salad has fried goat cheese on it and is big enough to feed three people as a starter…

Walked in today and treated like returning royalty! Felt very cool to be treated like a regular.

For sake of relevance I can only compare it to the other Russian banya’s I have been to so that we are comparing apples to apples, if we rated this place as a spa the stars would go way down.
The good:
–cheaper admission than in the city banyas ($ 30)
–tasty food in restaurant, and you can order fresh fruit
–decent amount of saunas
–not crowded (this could be due to the «bad» below
–parking lot adjacent and free
The bad:
–half naked people getting into fights at the front desk, police was called
–my friends getting a marriage proposal by their masseuse «for papers»
–kids allowed, and running around unguided.
–no swimming pool
–when you order a beer bucket, you get a large plastic paint bucket as opposed to the metal buckets everyone else gets

ive been coming here with my friends for years, and my father has been there tons of times as well. the owner is very friendly and caring, if you go from time to time, they may end up giving you some beer or food on the house which shows how much they appreciate the customers. the staff is very caring, however in the winter this place is packed especially weekends so if you have at least four people call to make a reservation for a poolside table, otherwise you are going to have to sit in the restaurant near the smoking room in the backyard. they have chairs you can lay on throughout the whole year which feels amazing after the steam room. I never had a massage there but those who have tried the therapists there loved the service, the prices are decent year round, 30 for entrance plus 5 bucks for a robe which isn’t mandatory. you can bring your own food and alcohol if you wish, and you can smoke in the backyard whenever youd like. this place isn’t fancy, but it still feels like home.
ps you can bring kids as well.

My first banya experience… not bad!
Came here on a Monday morning/​afternoon. $ 30 if you’re paying cash… we were charged $ 65 for two people to use a credit card.
Wet/​dry saunas were cool… note that if you’re going to use the jacuzzi, you should set the timer for the jets before you get in the water, haha.
Definitely no-​frills (no bathroom products besides ambiguous body wash so BYO everything, hair dryers didn’t really work, etc.) but everything was clean and the fruit platter we got was GIGANTIC (more than two people could finish) and really fresh.
Didn’t feel uncomfortable even though the crowd was largely male/​older/​Russian, although I did have my male cousin with me.

I don’t visit Saunas often, but had a really great time at this one.
The sauna cost $ 35 dollars on a Sunday and you get a huge locker to put all of your stuff in
It had a pool, large jacuzzi, tqo dry saunas and a wet sauna.
The dry saunas were my favorite of all of the offerings, as they got extremely hot, had tons or room and were very clean.
My favorite part as you can imagine was the food, which we got Jacuzzi side:
Sesame Calamari, don’t leave home without it!!! Seriously amazing, and addicting, perfectly fried with sweet sauce and topped with seaweed.
The large fruit bowl, had tons of fresh fruit, sweet pineapple, apples, grapes, etc.
Pickled vegetable bowl, my second favorite after the calamari, pickled watermelon, apple, cabbage and pickles, all fresh and delicious
Fries, thin and crispy
Fried Potato Dumplings, fried perfectly, and good potato filling
Best part, this place was not oozing with the Sheepshead bay crowd that I am usually less then fond of, when I am try to relax

I went to this banya for the first time today. Maybe I came here a little nervous not knowing bat to expect from a «Brooklyn banya».
I thought we came pretty early at only 12 noon. But nope, Sandoony was PACKED. Not a single parking sort in their mid sized lot (looked like 25 cars min).
When we found parking around the corner, we walked in and there was automatically that steamy, chlorine-​y smell. Kinda ick, typical public pool smell, so I didn’t make a big deal.
My husband paid, it was $ 35 each for admission. I guess not too bad. And then we had to separate to go to our respective locker/​shower rooms. They gave you a lock and key to a huge personal locker, I literally could have fit my entire body in their comfortably. Then I walked down to the banya, where my and my husband dramatically reunited lol.
We both thought the pools were going to be a little bigger. It was packed with young kids running around everywhere. They have the regular pool which is close to freezing. The hot tub in the middle (with kids splashing you) and then the ice tub, which you have to be crazy to go into. I stuck in my toe, and had chills through my entire body.
There are three saunas, and they’re huge, and really pleasant. AND HOT AS THE DEPTHS OF HELL. I have a pretty good tolerance for sauna heat, and can usually stay in for 10 – 15 mins. There the saunas where so hot and humid, really 5 min maximum. The steam room is also, but that’s usually more difficult for people to handle anyway.
We weren’t starving, so we sat in the restaurant to have some soup. The borscht was one of the bests I’ve had, EVER! So yummy! They have cheap beer. I think it could have been 5 bucks.
It’s definitely a fun place to go, that’s different than just going out to the movies, or something regular and boring.

Sandoony is a nice old standby, my go-​to «discount banya» when I have a promotional coupon (they also do $ 25 weeknights). The 2 hot rooms are solid and usually working. There’s a porch and a smoking lounge (ha), standard Russian banya features. Food is OK. They do carry taranka and other smoked/​cured fish jerky. There’s also Weihenstephan on tap (major props) and Krusovice, in addition to Baltika bottles. Of course, I see people BYOB all the time despite regulations against this.
Decent crowd, with higher proportion of Bukharians than the average Brooklyn banya. Russian conversations in the saunas cover well-​trop topics: money, cars, real estate. Bring a book if you’re going to spend a whole day. This is where print books still have mileage.