The Best Independent Living Communities in Dallas County, TX

"I visited Meadowstone Place. It was wonderful. I saw a beautiful apartment, a beautiful pool, gym, and they served me a beautiful lunch. The staff was wonderful. I met a few people. I met the chef and the director. Everybody was nice and professional. The rooms are very comfortable and very nice. It has hardwood floors and has a private balcony."

"I have moved into Whiterock Court. I felt totally at home the minute I walked through the door. Everyone has been more than kind and gracious, and I feel like we're one big family. We're all here for more or less the same reasons. We have family, but we want to have a place of our own. I have no complaints about anything. It has turned out to be very good. I have my own apartment and three meals a day, which turns out to be very good food. There are plenty of activities and transportation if you need it anywhere. It's a beautiful setting. I just couldn't be happier. I think I made one of the best choices I've ever made. The apartment that I have is a studio, which is just more or less one big room. It has a very big window overlooking some beautiful trees. I'm on the third floor. There's an alcove that the bed kind of fits in, so it's almost like a separate room. And of course, you have your own bathroom. They're indoor rooms, and you have a balcony on the outside. There are one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments available also. I can't say much about them because I have a studio, and I'm very happy with it. I also have a pet too, which is allowable here. I'm able to keep her, and that works out very well. They have a lot of activities every single day like bingo and dominoes. They play beanbag baseball. They have a very nice library, a salon onsite, physical therapy, and an exercise room. There's a grand piano here and someone comes in and plays the piano occasionally. They have activities where they go to restaurants or shows. You get a community calendar for a whole month and it's full. "

"Landon at Lake Highlands is independent living with extra assistance if needed. The staff is very friendly. They have a very low turnover rate. This place has been open for 17 years, and they have someone who has been working here since the beginning of the conception of the agency. I like that about it. It seems like they like to work here, and they're not here for a paycheck, which is nice. They have a pool that is open during the warmer season. I like that because I can do water exercises for my arthritis. They also have a physical therapist on staff which is helpful as I'm recovering from a knee replacement surgery. I have a two-bedroom apartment, but they also have one-bedrooms and studios. The apartments are very nice. Housekeeping is included as part of the rent that you pay. They have washer and dryer hookups in the apartments, so you can do your laundry in your apartment instead of having to use a public machine. I like that, too. They provide full kitchens in the apartments. If you choose to do your own cooking, you can. You can benefit from their prepared meals as well. The chef is very good. They provide three meals a day, and they're open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., which is kind of nice. I'm blind, but my relatives said it's a very clean place. I also think it's well-kept. I have not experienced any activities as of yet because this is my third weekday. However, they have lots of activities. They also have nondenominational worship services on the premises. It is a pet-friendly community, which I like because I want to get a dog. My brother said that they have a fitness center and a gym with some nice equipment."

"I toured The Reserve at North Dallas. The apartments were very new, with huge closets and big rooms. The kitchen was very nice with some granite countertops. They had some good choices of food. And if you didn't like what they were serving, they had other food available for you that you could get, kind of what they always have. The outside was nice. The places, community rooms, and community spaces looked nice, along with all the activities they provided, and there were lots of choices. The staff who gave the tour was very nice, had lots of great information, was very friendly, and took the time. The residents were nice. Some of them were sharing their stories and what they liked about them. So, that was good too."

"I toured Emerson On Harvest Hill. Everything was nice. I didn't have anything bad to say about it. They were polite and answered all the questions that I had for them. They provide three meals a day. The facility was nice, neat, and much more than I expected."

"I moved to the independent living community of The Bentley in Dallas. Everything is very clean. The staff is friendly and made me feel welcome. The food is good, and the dining area is nice. They have plenty of activities that you could go to. I go to their bingo, and they also have movies. They have TV nights like last Thursday, where we got together and watched a football game and had popcorn. I don't have any complaints."

"I toured Signature Pointe. They have very nice and courteous employees there. The people that live there are very nice and friendly. The whole environment looked very clean and very nice. The apartments were nice and clean. They had a lot of space. They always had something going on which was good. I enjoyed that. They have a nice lake outside. You can see the ducks and all that, so it's very, very nice."

"My dad moved into The El Dorado. Everything is very well kept. He was able to move into a freshly painted room, and they had just redone the floors and everything. But I think the biggest thing so far has been the people, the concierge, and the director. Everyone we have encountered has been wonderful there. They're bending over backwards to help us, even going as far as to help us recommend different companies we could work with to assist us with the VA benefits. So, they've been great. The whole community is really nice. They have 24-hour care if needed. He has a monitor that he can click, and there's somebody on hand 24 hours. They serve three meals a day and snacks. They have scheduled activities every day. He's already gone to a casino with the group. They go to the grocery store a couple of times a week. They take people to their doctor's visits. They even have somebody come in and clean once a week. So, he's loving everything about it. I have not tried the food, but my niece and nephew did. My dad has said that everything's really good. It's a nice variety. He says they give you a salad every day with your lunch. And they usually have a couple of different choices. I think he may have skipped one meal there. He has a refrigerator in his apartment as well. Everything so far is so good. He enjoyed it. The food has been good. It's an older building. I'm sure there are some repairs that they could do, but they keep it very well maintained and clean."

"We toured The Wellington at Arapaho. It was really nice. The activity director there was great. I think he was very excited about the whole thing. The facility was really nice. It was a little quieter. So, I don't know if it was just the way it was laid out, but it was a little bit quieter, which was kind of intimidating, I think, for my dad. But it was very nice. It's a great location. It sounded like the activities that they provided were fun. The independent and the assisted are separate, so we only looked at the independent, but they were really nice. They were lovely apartments. They had a small refrigerator, a little kitchenette, and a stove. They serve three meals a day."

"My parents have moved into Brookdale Club Hill. There is a nurse on staff 24 hours. The doctor comes and sees them in their apartment, too. The food is good. The cleaning lady is good. It's all around a nice, clean place. The apartment is small but workable. There are lots of activities. Right now, my mother is in rehab with a partial hip replacement, so a lot of our time is spent at rehab. Before that, they did bingo, went to Walmart, went on outings, and went and saw bluebonnets. There is constantly something going on every single day."

"My grandma loves living at the Waterford, she loves the food and spends most of her time with friends or in the library. The staff is so friendly and helpful, and truly care about there residents. I would recommend the Waterford at mesquite to everyone. They care for the residents like they are family."

"Lakeview at Josey Ranch was extremely comfortable. It was built there with the senior residents in mind. All the furniture in the foyer when you entered was comfortable. The staff was on duty 24-hours a day, which was wonderful. We had a large lake behind it. As far as the scenery and everything, it was wonderful. It was right close to a couple of pharmacies and the location was wonderful. It was a nice place. They had five elevators. It was a larger place. The staff is almost perfect. They had people answering the phone and some of them were more conscious than others. They would leave the phone sometimes, but overall it was excellent service. The manager was very nice and conscientious of the needs of the residents. The maintenance people were on top of it. The food was excellent. They had three different meals prepared for just that day. You had different things you could order from the left side or the right side of the menu. Every Sunday they had a buffet style. They had about 12 of the stainless steel covered items lined up for you to get things from the buffet. The food was always very delicious. They had people serving you like a restaurant. They had tablecloths on the tables. They had ice cream for dessert. The common areas were very comfortable. We could go and visit each other. The mailboxes were to the left of the dining hall. They have the little humps in the door that your scooter or your walker could have trouble getting over. The activities were not very often. Other than entertaining, you could go play games and things if you wanted to. I did exercise four times a week and did yoga four times a week, and I loved that. It's worth it, for the value, for the staff, the facility itself, and the comfort. When you walk in the building you get a comfortable feeling."

"We loved Briarview and if we could afford it, that's where I would put my mother. It is private pay. It's an assisted living place where most of the clients will move over to the memory care facility afterward. It was very nice. We sat and chatted with Janice for over an hour and a half. I knew that if we had the money, I think my mother would love it. We saw the floor plans, but we didn't sit down and eat the food. We talked to a couple of people. They just loved it there. My mother would have to be in memory care. My very first impression of the staff was outstanding. It didn't smell like a place that was trying to hide anything. That would be where I would want to stay if it were me and that's where I would like for my mother to stay if we have the money. It would cost us anywhere from $5000 to $9000 a month to put her there and we don't have that money and they're only private pay. That's the downside. You first go in, they make you feel welcome. We talked to another gentleman whose parents had been there for a while. The staff seemed happy to see their clients. The memory care is on the opposite side of the grounds and it's a locked facility. I liked it. What I saw was great."

"I'm a resident at The Remington at Valley Ranch. It's clean. The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. Their work attitude is very good. The reason I've given the food a four instead of a five is the variety. They do housekeeping every other week here, and they do a very good job. They offer card games, other games, music, and entertainment. Compared to other communities, I think the prices are very good."