Hawthorne Estates of Ocala

Linda

I just moved into Hawthorne Estates of Ocala. It's very nice. The people working here are very kind. They serve two meals a day. They don't serve breakfast, which is my main meal of the day. The food isn't good, but the facility is impeccable. I'm on the waiting list to get into a studio, but right now, I'm in a one-bedroom, and they are expensive. It's very clean. It's just they overcook the vegetables and it's pretty bland. The staff is excellent. They have bingo twice a week and happy hour once a week.

Cheryl

We toured Hawthorne Estates, it's a little bit better than the other place we saw. There's not much there to do, their gym only had a couple of pieces of equipment. The lady that we met with was a little rushed, but that's ok. She showed us a lady's room but she asked the lady, and the lady had a little dog in there. It smells like a wet dog, so if you're going to show an apartment, you don't show them something that smells. But she was showing us how the lady had her room set up. I like the idea that from the outside, you could just walk through the lanai and into your apartment. So you don't have to go into the main building, and I like that. They said they had a chapel, each floor had a library with a couple of books in it. One lady said, "Hi, don't come here because the food stinks."

Joureene

I'm going to Hawthorne Estates, and I think I'm going to be very happy. The people were livelier than at any other place that I looked. The living situation is that your bed is not right out in the middle of the room. They have an alcove that the bed will go in, and then you have your living area free of a bed. It's set up very nicely. The price was amazing. It's $2100 for a studio and it's 4800 square feet. I couldn't do any better than that. I like the staff. They were all very welcoming. I had lunch there and two sets of people came over and said, "We're glad to see you here. Are you going to be joining us? We hope you come." They were just very gracious when they came over. I asked the director later, "Do you tell them to do that?" She said, "Nope, somebody started it, and the other people have just carried it on." That is such a nice thing. The residents seemed very friendly, but coming over to our table to talk with us was amazing. Nobody could be better to us than they were. The people were happy. The facility itself was clean, no smells, and it's well organized. I didn't see anything dirty at all in it. The rooms were painted. They had somebody who had left, and they were redoing the whole room. They said they paint, put new carpet in, and put shelving in. She let me look into it, but she said, "You can't come in because it's not in any way for us to show it to you." As soon as somebody leaves, they renovate the room immediately. The food was good, but my only objection was they have a large meal for lunch and a large meal for dinner; the alternate is also a large meal. They have a bistro. If you don't like what's going to be on the menu, you can get whatever you want at the bistro. They have sandwiches and soup, and you can have some eggs and things like that. They'll make that at the bistro for you. The residents' biggest complaint was that the food is too heavy. They said they're having a residents meeting, and they're going to bring it up again. The food was excellent. I just don't think they should have such excellent food all the time. The dining room was noisy because they were all enjoying each other.

Gelay

Hawthorne Estates is really nice. The people are really nice. They're very attentive. They even invited us for dinner. Even though we don't go there, they're always inviting us for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They're very nice. The lady who toured us is very open and very welcoming. The place is really clean and cheery. It's not a dry and gloomy place; it's really very nice. So far, that's our number one for now. There are really nice choices of rooms like a one-bedroom-one-bath, a two-bedroom-one-bath, and a two-bedroom-two-bath. We looked at all the places. They have two meals a day, plus two gourmet breakfasts twice a week. They take you to doctors. They have drivers, and they take you to bank and shopping if you want. They're really very nice. They give you food downstairs. If you don't like the food, you could ask the chef to cook you something; they will do it. It's really very nice. The staff are very nice. Every time there is an activity there, they ask 'You want to come for the activity?' They also have guest speakers. They're really very nice. It's a very warm atmosphere. They invited us for dinner when we toured it. We went with other people there, and they're really very good.

Virginia

We had a good experience at Hawthorne Estates. It's a very nice facility. It's also a very nice and welcoming area. The staff was nice. We actually did get some food there, and it was good. The dining area was fine. It is not as light and open as the other facility, but it was a pleasant room. The place was bought recently, and they are looking to improve some of the outside space so that it can be used better by the people who live there. The rooms were very nice, but they're all expensive. It looked well maintained. The director told us that when new people move in, the current residents are very open and welcoming to the new people; that was good to hear. I like the staff who gave me the tour. The food was good too.