The reviews for Inlet Oaks Assisted Living of Murrells Inlet present a strongly mixed picture, with many families praising the facility and several others raising serious operational and safety concerns. A substantial portion of the feedback is highly positive: reviewers frequently describe the building as clean and beautiful, with spacious apartments and well-kept grounds. The dining experience is often complimented, and multiple families emphasize that the staff are professional, caring, and treat residents like family. Amenities such as exercise facilities, a salon, transportation services, and an active activities calendar are repeatedly noted as strengths. Several reviewers explicitly state they would recommend the community and would live there themselves, and some single out a compassionate administrator and particular caregivers for praise.
Contrasting those positive reports are a number of reviews that allege more troubling management and safety issues. Several comments accuse management of being manipulative and money-driven, with specific allegations including favoritism, funds being misappropriated, and cost-cutting in essential areas like the kitchen. Most alarmingly, at least one review claims the memory care unit is unsafe — citing incidents of resident escapes and describing extensive surveillance measures that made the environment feel punitive. These accounts also include claims of staff being demeaned (e.g., derogatory language) and assertions that staff are underpaid, which reviewers link to staffing shortages or inconsistent caregiver quality. There are also reports of evacuation mismanagement and an absence of a registered nurse on site cited in at least one review.
Taken together, the pattern shows a facility with clear operational strengths (cleanliness, pleasant environment, active programming, and many instances of compassionate caregiving) but also significant and specific criticisms that potential residents and families should investigate. The reviews conflict sharply: while many praise staff and leadership as caring and family-oriented, others paint management as exploitative and unsupportive of staff. Similarly, while most reviewers describe the facility as safe and well-run, some raise red flags about memory care safety and emergency procedures. Some reviews suggest that negative posts could originate from disgruntled former employees or competing facilities, which adds complexity to interpreting the criticisms, but the nature of the allegations (safety lapses, absence of RN, evacuation failures) are serious enough that they warrant verification.
For prospective residents or decision-makers, the most important takeaway is that consistent themes emerge on both sides. Strengths to expect based on multiple reports include a clean, attractive building, active social programming and outings, good food, transportation services, and many attentive caregivers who forge family-like bonds with residents. Areas that require close scrutiny during a tour include memory care security and protocols (ask for incident logs and safety procedures), staffing levels and qualifications (confirm RN coverage, caregiver-to-resident ratios, turnover rates), management transparency and financial practices (ask about fee allocation and food/service budgets), and emergency/evacuation planning. Also verify the current noise environment given nearby highway work. In sum, Inlet Oaks appears to offer a well-maintained, activity-rich environment praised by many families, but the conflicting reports — particularly about management practices and memory care safety — justify careful, specific questions and documentation checks before making a placement decision.
