Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace is a nice and well-maintained facility. The staff is very caring and very pleasant people. They are very welcoming and also very patient with the residents, especially for those that need more time to get things done. There were a couple of minor hiccups moving in, but the maintenance people took care of those. I'm very happy how they responded fairly quickly to taking care of stuff. Dad seems to be comfortable there. He has a two-bedroom apartment, and he is on a waiting list for a one-bedroom. They have a fitness room, a nice restaurant, other dining areas outside, and a section where there's always coffee, light snacks, fruits, cookies/crackers, and some fresh water. There is a little kitchenette, too. Then there are games room, an activity room, an exercise pool, and a barbecue area. Another good thing about the place is that all the way around the building, there's a nice sidewalk for the residents to go and take walks. It is about a quarter of a mile, and it has nice and quiet areas along the path. Even though dad is independent living, the fee we are paying includes maid service that does light housekeeping. They'll do the kitchen, mop the floors, clean the bathrooms, and wash their linens (as they have washers and dryers in the apartments.) It's a very good facility.

My husband and I have lived here for six months and are part of the Independent Living group. I put off writing this for awhile since I wanted to be loyal to Merrill Gardens, but we have gone unheard with our complaints about the menu, and lack of ANY creative, 'chef-inspired' entrees. The truth is for the past four months or so, we have gone from several selections, servers taking our orders at a table to ONE meal a day being offered this way..the breakfasts and dinners are a sort of "motel 6 grab and go!' The entree at dinner is a hot selection (usually rice and different ways to cook a chicken OR 1/2 cold sandwich! The side selections are salad (mainly iceberg lettuce) or a balled macaroni, potato, or pasta salad and either a cookie or packaged pudding. Breakfast is a disgusting mishmash of hash, scrambled or hard boiled eggs, greasy, paper thin bacon, cold cereal (mainly raisin bran in the eat-in containers) small pre-packaged juices, once in awhile yogurt, coffee, and have to ask specially to get tea. Most of us teeter all this stuff on our laps since we use walkers, canes, and wheelchairs and have to find our own seating now. This manner of feeding us came about approx. 4 months ago..we were given several different reasons as to WHY we experience this dreadful selection, despite most of our people bitterly complaining that this is NOT what we came here for or are paying to receive! Lunch is about the same as we once enjoyed...we get served and there are three entrees and a few sides to choose from and a selection of drinks and served at a table. But even this is beginning to look meager. We were promised 'brunch' on Sundays and it began well, but now is the same selections (however better on Sunday) from a paper menu. I have spoken to Merrill Gardens a few miles away at Champions Gate and they are still enjoying the menus and being served in the dining room as we once enjoyed. Nothing has changed for them...so why are we suffering with this? We still have our Executive Chef here, but what is he doing?! Because of limited space I can't go into detail about all this, let me just say I have had grilled cheese and half fried french fries for my lunch selection seven days in a row. Someone has to listen! This is a shame how the quality no longer equals the amount of money we spend each month.

My mom has moved into Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace. They were very professional, kind, and helpful people. I won't be able to describe the room as much because I haven't seen it. Right now, there are no activities. They don't even leave their rooms because of COVID. No one can visit them and so forth. We're not allowed to go there. I don't know about activities but I'm sure they have entertainment and they take them to the doctors if they're within 5 miles or something like that. My mom's enjoying the food. She hasn't been in the dining area; they deliver. They cannot socialize; they have to be very careful. They're very careful about COVID and exposure to COVID. So far, they have done very well. They respond to my queries. I haven't seen the food but my mother is enjoying it and she said she gets so much and it's delicious. She has just moved in last week. I haven't seen it and I have no clue about the facilities, but she told me it was totally disinfected and all those things prior to my mother moving in. I think it's a good value. We got a good price. She got the sale price. She hasn't done any activities. Right now, she is quarantined for two weeks.

We visited Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace, and they have a lot of amenities. They have movies, a bus that takes you shopping, and games that people play. I have a couple of friends who live there. They're definitely very good. My friend is in assisted living, and she has thing she wears around her neck and the nurse would come. My other friend is in assisted living because she needs help with the medicine although she's independent. The staff is really very nice, and the food was excellent. The layout was done very well. They had three different dining rooms, and I think it's great.

Merrill Gardens at Solivita Marketplace is one of the best we've seen in this area in terms of independent living, assisted living, and memory care. We got my mother-in-law admitted there a couple of months ago thinking that she could stand on her own and twist to be able to get into bed, but after rehab she's still not able to do it so they decided that she's not suitable for this community. I like this place very much and they're doing a really good job while my mother-in-law was there. But their rules are that you should be able to stand and rotate. The rooms were empty and you have to put in your own furniture, and her room wasn't very large. They don’t have an exercise room but they have physical therapists that go around to give all of the people there physical therapy. They have two movies every Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and they have bingo several times a week. And the food is outstanding, it's really the best and the chef there is really good. Their pricing is consistent with everyone else.