The Best Assisted Living Communities in Manatee County, FL

"My friend is at Freedom Village of Bradenton. It's a very nice place. They're very caring, and that's what I like best. The upkeep is very good. The rooms are just recently renovated, so they're very nice. Their food is very good. It tastes good, and there's a choice between two different meals, so that's nice. There are activities there. They're kind of challenging for some of them, but they are nice. They are good. The cost is kind of high, though."

"We looked at other places and Elan Manatee Assisted Living & Memory Care was the nicest. It has the highest Google ratings. It was the cleanest. Walking through, the staff seemed to be attentive to the residents. We had a good feeling about it. The only downside is it doesn't accept Medicaid, so it's the most expensive. We looked at both assisted living and memory care. It was the best we've seen. The rooms were bigger square foot wise than many of the other places we've seen, like 340 square feet compared to 220 or 250 in the other facilities we visited for a studio. The dining area looked appealing. We didn't try the food."

"My husband has been a resident of Brookdale Palma Sola for several months. We are extremely pleased with his care. The staff is wonderful and if I encountered an issue, it was immediately addressed. His room is perfect for him and generally very happy with the food. I felt welcomed and comfortable from the first time I visited. Highly recommend for those looking for a warm atmosphere for their loved one ."

"Inspired Living at Lakewood Ranch is a beautiful place, and I would love to live there, but I cannot afford that rate. I looked at their assisted living, but they have everything. It seems spacious to me, and there's so much to do. They have a beautiful swimming pool, which I would like to use. They have walking paths, and they have bridges that go across their waterways and come back around to the complex. If you want to take a nice stroll, you can go through the woods. It's gorgeous. The people there are fantastic. They're very friendly. The people who are living there now are very friendly, too. I got to talk to a few of them. The staff members were wonderful. The building was excellent. I met one of the maintenance men, who was cleaning while we were there, and he was very thorough. I was impressed with him. The rooms were amazing. I was impressed with them. I looked at a two-bedroom and a one-bedroom. For myself, I would want a one-bedroom. They're spacious and very nice. There's a refrigerator and a little kitchenette in there. The bathroom is very accommodating. It has a nice big walk-in shower."

"I toured the DeSoto Palms Assisted Living Community. It was very nice, very clean, and very comfortable. The people inside were very friendly, and the food was great. The staff was wonderful. The size of the room was adequate."

"I'm moving now into The Windsor of Lakewood Ranch. I already paid the rent since the 1st of the month. It is a very nice place. It's clean, well decorated. The food is excellent. They do have a lot of things on their schedule. I have a one-bedroom apartment, 604 square feet. It's got a bedroom, bathroom, kitchenette and a living room. It's fine. The common areas are nice. They take people to the doctor and all that stuff, they have transportation, and I think they have outings also."

"My husband stayed in Heron House for 5 days for respite. They did a lovely job, they were lovely, lovely people. Uniformly outstanding, caring, proficient, and professional. I was very impressed. Great communication skills. It was just altogether an impressive group. They were very generous in their suggestions. They introduced him to people. They seated him with interesting people at mealtime. And they made every effort to engage him in activities, none of which he was interested in because he's not that kind of a person. But they did a great job at trying. I had lunch there and the food was very good. It's a very nice facility, they do a good job at keeping it up. His room was very pleasant, had a lovely view, and was spacious . He didn't like the chair, but they did provide a nice recliner. I thought it was thoughtful but it wasn't his, so he didn't like it. But at that point in his dementia, he didn't like most things that were familiar."

"I like the location of Alderman Oaks Retirement Center. It was near the hospital and our physicians, so that was ideally located. You had the stores and other activities of Downtown Sarasota. The staff was very friendly and helpful. They were as good as they could be. They had a gym, a salon, and a courtyard. It's near restaurants. It's near the shopping area of Downtown Sarasota."

"We toured the Grand Villa of Sarasota and were very impressed. We had a wonderful tour. The woman who showed us around was wonderful. It was very nice. We really enjoyed it. Everything looked wonderful and the rooms were nice sized."

"I moved to Brookdale Sarasota Midtown. Everything has been pretty nice here. The staff is good. The food is good. It's a good facility."

"The Fountains of Hope Assisted Living and Memory Care was more institutional than the others. There were a lot of people, a lot of rooms, and a lot of hallways. My dad would have been confused and walking all over the place. They're really sweet, though, and all of the staff was great. They were smiling at us. Just as far as the establishment goes and how they run the business, it was more institutional to me. It was just too large so my dad wouldn't have gotten the personal care that he deserves. We toured their memory care and the person who assisted us gave us the information we needed in a concise fashion so we were appropriately pleased during our visit. The rooms were nice too but there's a thing where you had to bring your own furniture. I think that was another big thing for us. It wouldn't have been a big deal because I have plenty of furniture but there are criteria for the furniture you bring in because they don't want the residents falling or tripping on them. They also have a thing where when you first go in there, everything is treated as though it's infected and everything you bring is going to be cleaned."

"We toured Heron East. They had more availability as far as two bedrooms, which is what we needed. We didn't taste the food, but the dining room was very, very nice and very clean. It didn't have any kind of odor. The rooms were spacious with more of a two-bedroom setup. The staff was wonderful and very informative. He gave us a good tour."

"We liked Brookdale Colonial Park a lot because everything was one on floor and it was a very big facility. When we looked at it from the outside, it didn't look that big, but when we went inside, it was huge and there was a lot to do. The sizes of the rooms were very nice. The staff were also very nice and very helpful. They already had the stuff in the room and I liked the refrigerator. Most of the places that we saw had very, very small refrigerators, but this one was maybe four feet. It was a good size and we were very impressed with that. They provide you with a microwave, too, which is very nice. The woman I met was great. She was very informative. I liked what she said, that if you're looking for champagne and chandeliers, this isn't the place, but if you're looking for a place where you're being taken care of, then this is where you want to be. I like that because we're not there for champagne and chandeliers. We're here to get the best care possible."

"I toured American House Sarasota. The rooms were a good size. The two meals that I had there were good. Everybody that I spoke to liked living there. The staff who toured me around were nice and friendly. They answered questions if I had them. The unit is a two-bedroom with a living room, an eating area, a kitchen, and two baths. It's nice. They have assisted living, so if someone who is independent needs it, they have it there. I don't need assistance yet, but I'm getting close to 90, so I figure that's probably the way I should go. They have exercise classes, art classes, cards, and entertainment. They have a lot of social things going on. I was impressed. The accommodation was great. The people that I spoke to were happy. They had smiles on their faces. I interviewed quite a few people. I liked the layout and it was a very clean place. The staff was friendly."