Spa & Restaurant Review: Ummelina & Campagne

Matt and I have been with each other for a year now--woo hoo. We celebrated by just spending a relaxing day at the spa and taking advantage of the 25 for $25 menu at Campagne.

We decided to go to the Ummelina International Day Spa downtown where we got the Pacific Rim package, including a massage, and he got a pedicure while I got a facial. Overall, my thoughts...
Pros:

Great location, it's downtown

I love the international theme--smells great inside, nice decor

AMAZING massage. Really great therapist--was very impressed. She spent a good amount of time giving me a nice, deep massage and really working out the kinks in my shoulders.

I was also really happy with my facial. For the first time, I had a male skin aesthetician and he was awesome. He warmed up every cleanser & moisturizer he put on my face so it was really relaxing the entire time. He also gave a nice hand and foot massage. Interestingly, Ummelina doesn't like to manually remove skin impurities like other salons do; instead, they prefer to use a gentle fruit enzyme peel for top exfoliation. Something to keep in mind if that's something that's important to you for getting a facial.

Cons:

Because it's downtown, space is limited and they didn't have enough space for everyone to sit in the waiting area/lounge. When we arrived, we had to go into this temporary overflow area, which was in some tea cafe that no one was in. Furthermore, it was right next to a door that led outside--so it was rather awkward to be sitting in a spa robe all on display. Plus, some guy who was changing the towels kept coming through. Not really fun. They eventually cleared up and moved us into the main lounge, which was much nicer--but they definitely need to find a better overflow area

Walls are thin. The room I got the massage in was right next to a room that had a multi-jet shower. Halfway through my massage, someone started taking a shower and it was like the pipes were bursting through my ears...it was really loud. I could also clearly hear anyone talking in that next room. It's rather disruptive during a massage--they should've planned better and perhaps had all the massage & facial rooms on one side.

The changing area is small and unisex, which was odd for me---most spas have separate male & female changing areas. Also, there wasn't a shower or anything in the changing area for after a service to clean out the oil that was used. I thought that was anoying.

Overall, I think the major issues with Ummelina are due primarily to their limited space as a result of being a downtown business; however, I was really happy with the services and would return again.

Dinner at Campagne was lovely and romantic as expected. The service was so-so with the waitress being rather hands-off with us but diligent at her job. I ordered a chicken dumpling in mushroom sauce appetizer and a duck confit entree. Matt ordered the Saveurs du Provence appetizer and Boeuf Bourguignon entree. I thought my dumplings were delicious but nothing special. The duck was rather tasty and moist but the squash gratin that accompanied it--while yummy, I felt the duck jus that surrounded the dish degraded the taste. Matt felt his appetizer was too salty with the olive tapenade taking over the flavor..and the beef dish a bit on the dry side. We both finished off with a Gâteau aux Chocolat dessert, which was very good. Overall, food was average--thank goodness it was a $25 meal. I think I would've expected more had it been at regular price. I loved the atmosphere as we sat right at the window, in front of the Public Market sign that so defines Seattle. I'd return again as the other dishes on the menu looked quite good.