The most complicated thing at Embury Spa is the lockers, whose electronic combination keypads need to be navigated to keep your personal belongings safe. Everything else is taken care of for you, so don’t worry your (well-coiffed) head.
Until recently, Graves 601 Hotel guests and downtown residents were referred to Block E’s now-defunct Jewel Spa. Now the swank hotel has been sold and rebranded as the Loews Minneapolis Hotel, and its full-service Embury provides massages (including a unique rubdown featuring honey and beeswax), body wraps, and facials, as well as hair, makeup, and nail services.
The recently renovated sixth floor now holds the spa lounge and four treatment rooms, a nail and hair salon, and a parlor space for group gatherings in addition to a number of guest rooms. The space is as sleek as the rest of the hotel but doesn’t intimidate. This could be due to the ultra-soft robes, relaxing rainfall showers, and friendly aestheticians and therapists who are as happy to chat as
they are to rub your shoulders.
Relaxation continues beyond the massage table: Spa goers can relax in the adjacent lounge, where velvet-covered furniture, textured wallpaper, and glowing candles inset in the reclaimed-wood walls add to the warmth of the space. And a menu of spa-worthy small plates from hotel chef John Occhiato (including edamame with yuzu, sesame-crusted ahi tuna, and an eye-opening green juice) provides light nourishment to replace any calories burned in your meditative state.
•emburyspa.com.
