Era Living

I researched and visited numerous properties in the greater Seattle area before deciding on University House in Issaquah for my mother, whom I recently transplanted from her home in Tucson. I’d like to thank Liz and Albert for their assistance and patience. The process of moving her took a little over one year to accomplish. At 92, my mother was understandably scared, apprehensive, and not completely convinced that we had made the right decision. The transition, however, went very smoothly, and she immediately fell in love with her new apartment and the beautiful garden views she overlooked from her living room and bedroom. Newcomers are assigned a personal “ambassador” who introduces them to other residents, shows them around, and explains all the amenities, of which there are many. It is a lovely program that helps individuals quickly get acclimated to their new environment. Residents get to experience a true sense of camaraderie/community because of a myriad of daily enriching activities that are provided, where all can flourish. They also often congregate for dinner in the lovely dining room, where the service is friendly, and the food delicious. The staff is caring and helpful, and always available to provide assistance if needed. I especially want to recognize the maintenance group, and to say thank you for all they do. We couldn’t be happier with the choice we made.

Mom just moved in three weeks ago. She loves it there. The food is wonderful, people are friendly, and she feels very much at home. Mom is very happy, and if mom is happy, I am happy. They have been great to work with. I'd highly recommend University House Issaquah.

Leaving a home after 20-plus years is never easy, but University House has made it possible for my parents to move forward with excitement and enthusiasm. The beautiful surroundings, the library filled to overflowing, the great food and supportive service. There are so many things to recommend this retirement facility. But the best thing, and the one that can't be easily replicated, is the people. University House is a community that welcomes newcomers and is rich in knowledge and experience.

My mother lived at Aljoya for over 3 years. The staff and the entire environment were great. It was a very classy and well kept up spot to live at. The staff knew everyone’s name, including mine. I would highly recommend Aljoya. The food was very nice, there was a pool and Jacuzzi to use as well. The parking was very easy.

Great location and facility. The dining and private dining areas are very nice. The food is good and the desserts better. My father lived there for seven years. He made many friends there. It was home. He enjoyed having a pea patch garden, the Wii bowling league and the frequent bus trips. The staff was professional and caring. They gave him that extra help that he needed as he got weaker, but treated him like it was business as usual. The luau in August was always a favorite. His favorite meal "Breakfast for Dinner" I would recommend to take the tour and have lunch to get the true look and feel of the Lakeshore.

Moving to Aljoya over two years ago was one of the top three life changing decisions I have made for myself during my lifetime. Once again I nailed my big decision. Never did I dream I could be so happy living in a retirement home. We have all heard about the interesting, accomplished people you meet who are living in retirement homes but one seldom hears about the staff. Here at Aljoya we have a staff who all take the time and effort to be sure the residents are well served. They are so responsive and always seem to be looking for answers that will favor the resident. Also, the staff is not just wonderful to the residents, they all seem to get along with each other, which is a big plus and adds to the friendly atmosphere at Aljoya. I have made some good friends here and always look forward to meeting more. Our monthly meetings, one run by Aljoya and one run by the residents give each of us a chance to make comments and are a great way to solve issues. The available trips and events are first rate and numerous. There are many chances for the residents to socialize, with parties like root beer floats, wine & cheese, floor parties, or theme oriented parties, etc. There is so much here to be thankful for that a list would be endless. What we could do is just change the name to “Enjoya”.

The place is the finest I visited and am overjoyed to be able to have my mother be able to live there. It is designed like a fancy hotel. Large wide corridors, lots of marble, art work on walls etc. The dining room is white cloth napkin type like an upscale restaurant. Large and varied menu. Large well stocked library with fireplace. Huge meeting rooms, theater, art room, business office with computers. Game room, video golf room too. The apartments have full size kitchens with full size appliances. Every other place I saw had small appliances if any. Only drawback is some units have not the best views. Overlooking apartments across the street. The staff is VERY accommodating. Very friendly without being cloying. Handled all setup and moving problems with speed and patience. Very professional. The safety features in place are excellent but not intrusive. The economics for living there are different than every other place I visited. By placing monies up front we easily saved well over a thousand dollars a month in costs. Definitely worth looking into. Do not be intimidated by the unusual financing options.

Beautiful dining room with view of Lake Washington. Grounds beautiful and well taken care of. Staff is friendly and kind. Secure with gated entrance. Some menu options are very good - maybe rotate menu with more specials. I guess I'm looking at it from a 60 year old rather than an 85 year old so it's probably fine for most.

Excellent food, very friendly and caring staff, many activities. The grounds are lovely. The building shows its age but is going to be replaced soon. Based on my father's experience, I would recommend Ida Culver House Ravenna to others looking.

While we were impressed with the grounds, community, and staff, we had concerns about the room layouts and cost compared to [removed]. One example is that they charged an extra fee for an alert bracelet, which [removed] did not. That said, we would have been happy with Lakeshore, but we liked [removed] better.

My parents are enjoying the beautiful setting and are encouraged daily by the caring staff who work hard to make sure they get a smile out of Mom and Dad throughout the day. There are a number of adjustments to moving into a community and one by one we are tackling them together.

The staff are very nice and polite to work with and communicate with. The community has different level of cares. I would recommend the community; however, I haven't seen any other community. There are activities available for the residents to choose from. The community provides a weekly newsletter that includes an activities calendar.

Our family had an in person tour and it was a good experience but to expensive.

In general, Ida Culver House is really good. The grounds are beautiful, and our loved one's apartment is very nice. They redid it right before she moved in. And all the older apartments are getting redone before people are moving in. In general, she seems happy there. It's been difficult with Covid shutdowns. With my ratings, also know that I don't generally give anyone a perfect score. In the beginning the food was very good. But she and the other residents have been complaining lately because they've had to go to boxed meals served in the rooms. Recently they've partially reopened, going to the dining room every other day. But the food going to the rooms served in a box is not good. It is better when served in the dining room, but they appear to be having the same staffing shortages everyone else is experiencing right now. Again, activities were good before the shutdown. But with limited activities and the weather cooling down and making it harder to be outdoors, it's been a challenge. But they do try to have things on Zoom or have things on their inside television network, like exercise class and things like that. They try hard, but it's limited.

Our family had an in person tour and it was a good experience the ladies who showed us around and spoke with our loved one were very lovely. However this community did not have the aging in place that we were looking for.

I chose The Lakeshore because it was a smaller community and everyone seemed very friendly, I felt more at home here. I have only been here a short amount of time but it has been a good experience so far. I do know that they have a lot of activities provided and they are trying their best to do as much as they can with some of the covid restrictions still in place. The meals here are chef prepared and we get to choose off a menu. The chef really goes out of their way to try and make it accommodating and nice for everyone that moves in here. I would absolutely recommend to others looking.

I thought it was a beautiful place. Especially like that each apartment has a washer and dryer.

We went with University House Issaquah because of the location and it seemed like it was a more active community than some of the other places that we looked at. They do offer a variety of room sizes, my mom is in a smaller apartment but it is comfortable for her. I have eaten here and the food is really good. The wellness center is one of the weak points of the facility. But they have done an amazing job throughout the shutdown working to keep everyone engaged and less isolated. My mom raves about the staff members here. I would recommend it.

The staff and the residents are wonderful people that helped us evolve into this new lifestyle which was a new experience for us. The building is older and needs renovation. The food is up and down, it was adequate but not superior. I would recommend this community.