Reply to Nicest Assisted Living/Memory care in the DC metro area?

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[quote=Anonymous]My mom lives at Brightview in Severna Park - they have many locations all over the area. She's been there for almost 4 yrs in independent living and has been happy there. They have a large variety of activities and entertainment. She usually goes to one of the daily exercise classes and at least one other activity - the ones she goes to include movies, local history lectures, live music performances and special dinners. There are also a lot of field trips they can sign up for in advance and shuttles to take you to shopping centers and doctor appointments.

Since there have been a lot of comments about food - my mom has been mostly happy but there have been ups and downs. They have a chef on staff but there's been a relatively high turnover of chefs, kitchen staff and wait staff. My mom's biggest complaint has been a tendency to overcook vegetables but they have monthly meetings to give feedback and she says there has been noticeable improvement. The best part in terms of food is that each month they have at least one special dinner you can sign up for where the chef can be more creative and the food has been really excellent. Usually it's some theme like Italian food or a cookout/barbecue. The most recent one was Nigerian food which my mom had never tried and had no idea what to expect, but she said it was delicious - one of the most memorable meals she's had in years. The current chef has also been responsive to feedback (less overcooking of vegetables - my mom's eternal feedback) and she says there have been noticeable positive changes. My last feedback on the meals is that they have special meals to celebrate holidays...and they celebrate the heck out of every single holiday. This includes summer cookouts, an occasional crab feast, Christmas/holiday parties, Easter Brunch, etc etc etc. So this helps to keep the food from getting too routine or boring - they really mix it up a lot.

In terms of the regular daily meals the food is usually quite good though there are a few items she doesn't like - they tend to occasionally have days they serve "stir fry" which seems aimed at using up leftovers. Their biggest challenge is with wait staff and service. Since there's no tipping they tend to get very inexperienced wait staff - often local teenagers - who occasionally get very behind and flustered. Overall though the dining room staff are very kind and trying hard...which really helps in tolerating occasional issues.

Last...I think it's been really great for my mom to live where there's restaurant-style dining where she's able to have daily meals with her usual group of 4-5 other women friends. I think the daily social interaction has been incredibly helpful for her and is the best part of living at Brightview.[/quote]

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