Overall sentiment in the reviews is strongly mixed: many families and residents describe Brentwood at Hobart as a warm, spacious, and activity-rich community with compassionate caregivers, while a substantial subset of reviewers report serious and recurring care, staffing, and management problems. The dominant pattern is variability — some units, shifts, or teams operate very well and receive high praise (especially certain memory care staff and named employees), whereas other periods or teams exhibit neglect, inconsistent routines, and operational breakdowns.
Care quality and resident support: Reviews repeatedly praise individual caregivers and memory care staff, with multiple respondents calling them "angels," noting frequent check-ins, engaging one-on-one attention, and strong safety practices in the memory care unit. At the same time, many reviews raise alarm about basic care omissions: infrequent showers (baths reportedly only twice weekly for some residents), inconsistent assistance with toileting and grooming, residents left dirty, and aides observed lounging on phones. There are specific and serious medical concerns reported as well — worries about overmedication, diabetic mismanagement leading to blood-sugar spikes for at least one resident, and a perception that meals are not always tailored to medical needs. Some accounts describe residents confused about their room or day, and even a reported attempted escape via a window, highlighting both cognitive-care and safety gaps in places.
Staffing, turnover, and management: A clear theme is staffing instability. Multiple reviewers note high staff turnover, cuts to CNA hours, understaffing on certain shifts, and the arrival of new administration that some say coincided with service declines. Positive reviews often point to standout individuals (front desk staff, marketing or transition coordinators, and named nurses) who provide excellent communication and make move-ins smooth. Conversely, other reviewers describe rude phone or reception staff, long hold times, and poor administrative responsiveness. Several reviews explicitly state that service levels decreased after management changes, and a few mention troubling incidents such as theft of items and alleged censorship of negative feedback.
Facilities and maintenance: Facility strength is one of the most consistent positives. Many reviewers applaud the physical environment: very large, apartment-style rooms with big closets and bathrooms, fresh carpets and paint in some suites, patios, clean common areas, and an overall hotel-like or resort-like feel. Safety features such as emergency pull cords and a nearby hospital or 24/7 RNs are also noted favorably. However, contrasting comments cite unresolved maintenance problems — leaking toilets and faucets, no hot water at move-in, air-conditioning failures, and delayed or absent repairs. Housekeeping quality is similarly variable: some reviewers report top-notch housekeeping, while others say rooms and private bathrooms were not cleaned for weeks.
Dining and nutrition: Dining offerings are a frequent double-edged topic. Many reviews praise a large menu, restaurant-style dining, accommodating dietary needs, and delicious meals at times. Others raise repeated concerns about food temperature (meals arriving cold or requiring metal covers), poor food quality (burnt or dry potatoes cited specifically), long waits, unorganized service, and weekend menus being worse. Several reviewers said meals contributed to medical issues (notably diabetes mismanagement), and some families explicitly felt that nutrition and meal tailoring to conditions needed improvement.
Activities, engagement, and transportation: A majority of reviewers mention a robust calendar: arts and crafts, movie nights, scheduled exercise, field trips, mall outings, and frequent on-site entertainment. For many residents, these activities provide social engagement and satisfaction. Yet others report activities being aimless, unscheduled, or cancelled due to staffing or transportation constraints. Transportation problems are specifically called out (van reliability issues, wheelchair capacity limiting trips, cancellations), which has a direct impact on residents’ ability to participate in off-site outings.
Patterns, contradictions, and implications: The reviews suggest a facility with strong foundational assets — attractive living spaces, engaged caregivers in parts of the staff, and a developed program of activities and dining — but that execution is inconsistent. Positive and negative experiences often appear to correlate with particular staff members, shifts, and times (pre- and post-management changes are repeatedly noted). Understaffing, staff turnover, and administrative issues are the most commonly cited root causes of negative reports (neglect, missed hygiene, poor meal service, incomplete maintenance). Memory care receives many glowing endorsements for safety and individualized attention, but there are also accounts of cognitive-care lapses, implying that quality varies even within that unit.
Specific operational red flags present repeatedly: infrequent personal hygiene assistance; unresolved maintenance/housekeeping lapses; inconsistent meal quality and dietary management (notably for diabetics); problems with transportation and outing cancellations; and administrative communication breakdowns. Counterbalancing these are numerous reports of genuinely compassionate staff, excellent transition experiences with named employees, large and comfortable apartments, and a lively activity program that many residents enjoy.
In summary, potential residents and families should view Brentwood at Hobart as a community with notable strengths in facilities, some excellent caregiving staff, and an active social program, but also as a place where service consistency can vary significantly. Decisions should be informed by direct observation: visit multiple times and at different hours/shifts, ask for current staffing ratios and turnover data, inspect private rooms and recent maintenance logs, observe meal service, and speak with current residents and families about recent management changes. The most reliable expectation from the reviews is that individual experiences will depend heavily on timing, which team is on duty, and how effectively the current management is addressing the highlighted staffing and operations challenges.
