The Best Independent Living Communities in Marin County, CA

"Upside is that I'm eating healthy and downside is that I'm gaining weight because the food is so fabulous and beautifully served. My favorite dish is a full plate of anything the Chef serves. From their servers to their Director the service is impeccable. The food here makes everyone happy and everyone wants to be together at meals to socialize."

"My mother is with Aldersly. They offer many activities for residents and provide services. The staff is very friendly and accommodating. It's a totally different living environment than what I'm used to, but the room sizes were plenty for my mother. They have workout areas for the retirement community. Of course, they're very different from the workout gyms that people my age would use. Their dining facilities are very nice, and they have excellent cooks. I think it provides good service and good living facilities for the money, so we're satisfied. We have no complaints about the financial situation."

"We toured Cogir of Vallejo Hills Senior Living. Their staff, as far as the interview went, was good. It was clean. The facility was good. What I liked about Cogir was that it was local. I would be close to my family, so I didn't have to go far to visit. They have to share a room."

"My life has improved since moving to Cardinal Point . I enjoy my quiet apartment, meals in the dining room, many opportunities to exercise, join reading/discussion groups, play board/card games, work in the garden, walk along the estuary and thru the lovely neighborhood. With advance planning, transportation to neighboring cities, medical appointments and local errands is provided . The laundry rooms, reading rooms and library, all public spaces are well maintained. Staff is helpful and pleasant."

"We've lived here 3 years. We find the accommodations we live in, the apartment, 2-bed/2-bath, with sitting room and so forth is very comfortable. We have a little deck and the property is beautifully landscaped. In our area we have some roses and in-season azaleas. Lots of roses and quite beautiful flowers. Our apartment is relatively modern. We're in the Salem Woods building. Has a kitchen. The food is ok. It's nourishing, there's plenty of it. You live in an institution with 100+ people; it's not like going to hotel. There are plenty of activities. There's music, art, puzzles, history, walking outdoors. All kinds of activities. You can do it or not. The activities are good. I do some; others I don't. They have a bus that will take you to the doctor. The same bus will take you shopping. They offer amenities, excursions, such as a drive to the Port of Oakland, or to the observatory in the hills. For people who have a car, there's parking (garage and street). My daughters come over; there's handicapped parking. When I first came here, I had 2-3 good caregivers who were really helpful to me. "

"My experience with Serra Highlands is relatively new, but so far, the facility and staff has been very nice and helpful. "

"Waters Edge Lodge wasn't super nice, but it was OK, and the location was great. The staff was really nice, and the place seemed happy. I saw the dining room, exercise room, a little café, and a rec room. The apartments that I saw were good but smaller than I thought."

"I have an application to Carlton Senior Living Pleasant Hill. I saw the assisted living, and it was a very good experience. They're so friendly, I like the layout of the apartment, all the services, the laundry, and the meals in the rooms. They have very nice one-bedroom apartments. The people I saw in the hallways seemed happy."

"Redwood Retirement Residence was very nice. However, it wasn't as open and it just seemed more along the convalescent side just down some of the halls. Their dining room was great. The people were friendly. The food was amazing. The person there, Laura, was fabulous. It was very close, but they just didn't have a room that we felt was suitable for Mom. The rooms were just a little small. We met a couple of the staff members, and they were very nice."

"I'm staying at The Springs of Napa. They don't have assisted living here. It's just an independent retirement community. At the time, I needed to leave the place I was in because I couldn't take it anymore there. When I started advertising, The Springs contacted me and because I don't drive, they sent a car for me and I was able to see this place. I had lunch in the nice dining room downstairs and then they took me home. From there, I just went through the materials as I was trying to make up my mind between a couple of different places and I chose here. They have apartments here and they're great. I have a bedroom, a living room, a little dining area, a full kitchen, and everything. It's roomy and very nice. I love it. We get a monthly sheet of the activities for each day. They have bingo, which I don't attend because I don't care for bingo. Sometimes they'll have special dancing in the activity room downstairs. Once a week, they have some live music in the activity room and at that same time, every Thursday with the music they serve wine and beer or coffee and soda. That's from 4-5 every Thursday, sometimes they last up to 6. For the people that want to eat in the dining room, it's right there too. I don't do that either because a lot of times I cook my own food and I'm a very picky eater. Occasionally, I'll look at the menu and see something that might be good for me so I'll call and they will deliver it if I ask them to. The food is delicious. It's very, very good and they have a wonderful chef. I had pot roast yesterday and literally, I thought I cooked it. It was very well seasoned with the garlic and the onion and some other seasonings. The gravy was very good with the mashed potatoes. I love the cooked carrots with peas too. There's always a dessert of some kind from pie and cake to ice cream. The staff is wonderful. They're not allowed to do certain things, they can't put a hand on us, but they can respond to a phone call. They gave us this little thing you wear on your neck and it's a little box that says, "I've fallen and I can't get up" and somebody will come on and say, "Do you need help?" and you either say yes or no. I've never had to use it but I have a neighbor who used it, and she says they were there, Johnny on the spot. They responded very, very rapidly. I think I'm getting more than my money's worth. It is very nice and they will try to help you with anything and everything within their power. There are laws saying certain things, so naturally, they have to abide by all these laws. For the apartments, they have 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, and a very roomy studio. My friend down the hall is in a studio and I went there and was like, "Wow, this is huge"."

"We toured The Kensington, which we are quite pleased with. Everybody was very nice to us. The people who run the units have all been just super. We're physically pretty mobile, we still drive, and we still go to all of our doctor's appointments and do our own shopping. We're just trying to downsize a little bit and get away from many responsibilities of home maintenance and that type of thing, so independent living is what we're looking for right now. The Kensington is very good. We like the feeling of the place, and we like the amenities that they provided. It's been several months since we went out to visit it, and I have an appointment in a couple of weeks to go back and revisit. The staff members were very polite. They're very attentive to the people that they have. We were very impressed with the fact that they seemed to know the names of everybody who lives there. They call them by name when we pass them in the hallway. We met with some people in the units, and they gave good reviews. They've all said that they enjoy being there. We have no major negatives other than the gut feeling that this doesn't seem like a good fit for us. We had lunch with one of the people who lives there, and he was very informative and very polite. Everything was fine. The facilities were all very nice."

"I really liked Byron Park, it was clean. The people who did the tour and the receptionist at the desk were right on the ball and had a lot of good information. The facilities were very nice and the rooms were spacious. It had more of what we were looking for and it was well-kept and had a good layout. They have an exercise room, gardening, swimming, water aerobics, and free dining. You can go anytime, you don't have to go at certain times for the meals. The hallways and the rooms were spacious. They had movies, exercise classes inside and outside, and they have trips to different places in the community. They offered a lot."

"I toured The Heritage Downtown. It's gorgeous from the moment you enter the property. It has lots of trees, and it's beautifully maintained. The rooms were nice. They have a washer and dryer there. I would move in right now, but I don't need it right now. It was beautiful. It's a nice community. The place is 40 years old, but you wouldn't know it. It's just kept up beautifully. They're remodeling their kitchen downstairs. They have a nice gym. They have a nice pool. They have lots of patio and outdoor space. It's nice, like walking down the street near downtown Walnut Creek. I looked at a one bedroom and I looked at a two bedroom. I just met the one lady who greeted me and the one who did the tour. She was very nice. She answered all my questions. Everybody living there was having a good time. It was like you've grown up now, and now you're in a different level of the sorority house like you're back to college. I mean, that's the atmosphere I got. I enjoyed it."

"Chateau on Broadway was roomy and seemed comfortable. The residents as well as the people that ran the place were very friendly. They had a chapel. It seemed like a good fit for my wife. They had regular activities every day, some trips outside, and ordinary exercise. They tried made it like group living, which gave off the feeling of more of a relationship like a family than a bunch of people living in a hotel. "