Metropolitan Apartments - San Mateo, California

Mike S.

Corey and Manisha from the office team have been lovely to work with. Maintenance is actually great. They respond fast to work orders. Our apartment is bright and clean. Gym is pretty good. Salt water swimming pool is big enough to do laps and the hot tub is a nice bonus. Community is very peaceful. We have enjoyed living here.

June P.

This is a review regarding the tour I had recently.

It was easy to make an appointment, and Demetres was very friendly, professional, and thorough. The unit I saw was renovated and very nice (which made me wonder why the website doesn't have recent photos). I also liked that the apartment was basically in downtown San Mateo.

I decided to sign a lease elsewhere just because it was slightly cheaper than Metropolitan. But I will definitely come back to check out Metropolitan again in the future.

Rupesh P.

Much appreciation for Miguel/Eric and the maintenance team. They stay busy taking care of the residents and as someone who has lived in several Bay Area apartment complexes, I can say that Miguel/Eric and team do not do the bare minimum just to close tickets. Instead, they do what is right for the resident & unit, which you don't see often nowadays. Thanks Miguel/Eric and team!

Ben W.

Update (12/10):
Corey & Miguel got involved and were super helpful in getting things fixed! Service team came the next day and fixed everything in about half an hour. Thank you so much to Corey & Miguel for helping us get our apartment requests resolved!!

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We just moved in here about 2 weeks ago, and below is my honest review of this property.

Pros:
-The actual apartments are very beautiful! We're in a loft with 20 ft ceilings, and the renovated unit is very nice.
-It's very close to San Mateo downtown and the area is pretty nice and very convinient!
-The amenities are really nice! They include a private movie theater, which we tried out and it was cool!
-The leasing agents I've talked to (Demetrius, Manisha, Anna) are all very sweet.

Cons:
-Unfortunately, just like the last reviewer alluded to (also a recent move-in), we've had issues with multiple things not working well after move-in that are being "fixed" VERY SLOWLY, if at all. Metropolitan claims that services requests are attended to within 72 hours- this has not been our experience in general.
Here's a list of issues in our new, renovated apartment we've experienced in 2 weeks:
1) No hot water (they did fix this within 24 hours)
2) Two different windows don't open- the first time we notified the maintenance team about this, they closed the service request with no communication so we had no idea what was going on. After multiple rounds of chasing after them, they finally told us they had to order new springs, but didn't know when they would come in.
3) The toilet was disgusting- there was brown residue caked to the bottom of the bowl and giant scratches all over it!! They claimed it was impossible to be cleaned and just "cosmetic". I don't know what it was, but after an hour of scrubbing it myself with the Barkeeper's Friend, both the brown residue and the scratches came off just fine. I just don't think a new tenant should be responsible for scrubbing brown gunk from a toilet the first day of a move in- it should be move-in ready. I've considering sharing pictures of this on here but it looks kind of nasty so I just won't….for now.
4) Washer rubber gasket is moldy- this request has been open for a week with no resolution. The whole washing machine smells like mold.
5) One of the window shades is broken and doesn't roll down- this is a big problem b/c it is in the bedroom and unfortunately the street lights are now very bright in the room at night. This request has also been open for a week with no resolution.

The frustrating thing is, there's pretty much no communication about anything from the maintenance team. We even tried scheduling a time with them to come by multiple times, and they didn't show up for two seperate appointments. The leasing office has tried to call them for us, but nothing has really happened- things are still not being fixed at a reasonable speed. This is not the service I would expect from a Prometheus team.

BayArea R.

I have been living here for a year, and I would like to share my experiences during this time. About two months after moving in, the bathroom ceiling fan unexpectedly exploded. As you can see from the pictures, the fan was located directly above the toilet, and the ashes on the floor were embedded in the floorboards, indicating that they were still burning when they fell. Luckily, I was not injured as I happened to be out at that moment. However, I cannot imagine the consequences if I had been using the toilet at that time.

Furthermore, I lost a total of three packages during this year. Their advertisements claimed to have lockers, but in reality, not all packages were placed inside lockers. Many times, they were left on the floor next to the lockers, and sometimes they were held by the leasing office. The most absurd experience I had was when the leasing office notified me to pick up a package they had received for me, but when I arrived, they couldn't find it and shrugged their shoulders, saying they couldn't do anything about it. Additionally, there is an internal community website for residents in this apartment complex, and the majority of posts are about lost packages or seeking assistance in finding packages. Therefore, I believe this is not solely due to my personal misfortune.

In terms of security, I lived on the ground floor in a room near downtown, and there was a small fenced backyard. However, it was not locked, and it was common to see non-residents leaning against the railing, drinking and chatting. I had two instances where intoxicated individuals climbed over the backyard fence and knocked on my door. The first time was at 11 PM, and the second time was at 3 PM. They attempted to knock on the door with unknown objects. Fortunately, they left after I threatened to call the police.

Regarding the deposit, during the last month, they asked for the mailing address and payee name for sending the deposit refund check. This led me to believe that they would return the deposit normally. However, after moving out, they deducted various cleaning and painting fees from the deposit and even charged us additional money.

Based on the aforementioned experiences, I do not recommend this place.

Kimberly D.

Metropolitan team, these words cover the surface of my gratitude. Thank you to each and every one of you for making this move effortless for me and my family.

Metropolitan apartments have an “I am home” feeling to a vibrant downtown. Gorgeous amenities with an effortless reservation system. Neighborhood lounge, movie, theater, pool/jacuzzi, barbecue areas and office space. My family and I are excited for movie nights!

This prime location is a perfect mixture of residential and city lifestyle. Metro is pet friendly; my pups love our neighborhood walks. We’re so close to the San Mateo downtown, night out is easy when choosing where to grub. Around the corner from Cal Train and Highway 101. Metro hosts lovely neighborhood events and upkeep the grounds of the landscape beautifully.

Home amenities: They have in unit washer and dryer. Stainless steel appliances, tall ceilings, spacious bedroom and bathrooms, open kitchen, central AC & heat, some have a fireplace!

The team excels in communication, has been responsive and patient to all our questions. Professional and warm. Thank you, J, Corey, Manisha, Demetres, Miguel, Eric, Carlos, Anna, Angel, and their Spectrum team Imelda! We love our new home and Neighborhood.

Samee V.

Overall, this apartment complex is a good one. The maintenance team here is great. Miguel, Carlos, and Eric have all been extremely helpful and prompt in responding to our requests.

If you're going to lease a place or have any questions about the complex, I've found Corey and George to be the most helpful. When we were moving in, there was a lot of turnover on the leasing staff so it was hard to get any helpful responses from anyone but them. Maybe that's changed over time.

The biggest downside so far has been that there is a consistent package theft problem. It's pretty common for us to come up the elevators from the garage and see ripped open boxes with their contents missing.

Biggest plus for us the location. We walk to downtown San Mateo pretty much every single day and there are a ton of food & drink options there. Not to mention it's only a couple blocks from the freeway, which is super convenient, and far enough away that we don't hear it.

Genesis P.

This is something I’ve never experienced before. I stopped by Metropolitan Apartments last Wednesday in search of a 3 bedroom apartment. The office was closed and nobody was available to help me which was upsetting, however, I ran into one of there maintenance guys. I don’t remember if his name was Miguel or Mike but he was awesome! He was able to share some information with me about pricing and available units. He even offered me a tour. Although they didn’t have what I was looking for, I still appreciate the intent this individual gave.