Sorrento Apartments

I have only been living here for a little over a month, and they’ve already left a bad impression. My housemates and I will not be considering living here next year because of bad management.
First off, the Sorrento/​Barisa/​Avalon apartments were one of the only apartments that allowed rent payment through credit card. However, the day before payment was due, they sent out an email saying that there will be a $ 60 fee for paying by credit card. The only methods of paying that would have no extra cost is either check or money order, therefore causing my entire house to scramble to obtain the money and a check in such short notice. We paid 2 days before rent was due, and dropped it in the drop-​in rent box because the office was closed on weekend, which happened to be when rent was due. One week later we received a notice saying that they did not receive our payment, and that we needed to pay as soon as possible. My housemate and I went in and talked to them about it, and one of the students working there told us to wait a few days while they processed the check to see if our check turned up. We went in 2 days later, and still no news on our check. By the third time we went in to ask about our check, they said that the accounting office did not see it, and that we had until the end of the week to issue another check. We have no problem issuing another check, except for the fact that our bank requires us to pay a $ 30 fee to cancel our previous check. Again, we walked in to talk to them about this, and wanted them to take responsibility for losing our checks (which one of the students working there agreed that they did lose our check). After talking to the manager, she told us that they have no way of knowing whether we paid or not, and that it was up to us to decide whether we wanted to cancel the check or not. They kept pushing the blame onto their accounting branch, and telling us that their accounting did not find our check and that they have no way of knowing whether we paid or not (in my opinion basically accusing us of not paying).
In a phone call to them they kept telling us that they had no way of knowing whether we paid, especially since we were just «kids.» Really? «Kids?» The fact that they called us kids when they themselves hire «kids» who are 1 – 2 years older than us seems a bit low on their part.
I would not recommend living here if you’re a «kid.»
But I’ll give this place 1 star for the close proximity to food and Safeway and the park.

Never had a problem with Sorrento and they have students/​residents to help you. Most impressive thing is their maintenance, who are really nice and come to help you within the day. Reasonable prices and parking is easy. Close to Safeway and the bus stops. It’s perfect! The Sorrento community is great and it’s nice and quiet.
Shout out to Elena, Sally, Jose and Anne for being such awesome staff there!

If you’re looking for a place near food, grocery stores, alcohol, pizza, breakfast diners, fast food, restaurants, and even a gas station, this place is for you! On top of that, the service is awesome! They’re very patient people who are just trying not to make your life hard while also getting the job done. On multiple occasions when we were a little late on payment, they would call us to remind us to pay and leave everyone notes on their door of their missing payment. I like that the payment system is online because each one of our housemates can do it whenever convenient. 5 STARS, would choose to live here again!

This is my first year living here and I couldn’t be happier to live here. First off, the unit that we currently live in was destroyed by the previous tenants so before my housemates moved in, the management made sure that we received new carpets, a completely new kitchen, and other new furnishings. Compared to other apartments, moving in was a breeze and the management was very accommodating. The management always goes above and beyond to fulfill our requests. The maintenance is very quick in completing any requests that we have and they are also very nice people, so definitely get to know them. At the office, there are always cookies/​popcorn to satisfy any cravings.
Overall, this is a wonderful place to live and i highly recommend touring the apartments early on to avoid the waitlist!

This is probably by far the best apartment complex to live in Davis. It’s my first year living here, but so far it’s been pretty amazing.
Location is pretty convenient considering it’s in South Davis with a lot of other students and literally right across the street to a plaza that includes Safeway, Rite Aid, Pet Food Express, Teabo (milk tea), and some food places such as Dos Coyotes yum. The parking here is so easy and FREE for residents and friends of them alike. They don’t tow cars right away like I know Allegre does.
The place itself is very spacious. I live in a four bedroom townhouse with four other people and the living room and kitchen are HUGE in comparison to other places. And I’m picky, so I’ve been to a LOT of places. There’s space everywhere and we even have a Harry Potter closet below the stairs for extra stuff.
Management is really nice and are always there to help. The office is in the center of the complex right next to the pool and they have complimentary cookies and popcorn and they also serve free coffee and milk tea! I commented once about how soft the cookies are and the manager (Elena I think?) says they’re baked fresh every morning! No wonder they’re so yummy hehe. You can actually request maintenance by phone or even facebook message which is pretty nifty if you’re a lazy bum like me and don’t want to walk the couple of steps to tell them face-​to-​face.
Maintenance team is THE BEST you will ever find. They’re nice and respectful and are quick to fix our problems. If they happen to see me when they’re fixing something they always ask if there’s anything else they can do. :)
Packages come safe to the office and they give you an email message when they receive it, so I don’t have to worry about where to send my mail or anything. They also have a 24-​hour study room equipped with drinks and ac/​heater. I used to go to the library before finding this out, but now that I discovered this gem I’ve been going to study every week! There’s also a pool and jacuzzi available hehe.
TIP: You can actually pay online too with your credit card.
Sorrento fb page:

Sorrento is a really nice place to live! I’ve been living here for 3 months so far and honestly it’s one of the nicer places to live in south Davis.
The maintenance team is AWESOME!!! They’re always really nice and polite when entering your home. They respond quickly to repairs and they’re always doing work to make the apartment a more decent place to live. It was raining the other day and there were leaves everywhere when I walked from my apartment to the main office. I was in there for about 5 mins and when I came back out and took the same route back to my apartment all of the leaves were gone! I was truly amazed!
The management is really nice too! There’s always free cookies and popcorn. They’ve recently added milk tea! The people are always really helpful in terms of giving you your packages or filing your requests for you. My favorite thing that they’ve done is allowing you to pay rent online!
The location is a prime spot. You’re literally across the street from Safeway, Teabo, and Dos Coyotes. If you ever need anything, you’re no more than 5 mins away.
Come check this place out if you’re trying to live in south Davis!!!

After living in the dorms my freshman year, I lived in Sorrento for the remainder of my undergrad at Davis. Do I regret it? No. But is it the best place to live? No.
The Apartment: 3 stars
— Thin walls, things break easily, dirty stairs, outdated kitchen, and rats. Yay rats. Also, if you are thinking about living here, check out the gym. It will make you laugh and also cry.
The Area: 4 stars
— Safeway, Teabo, Dos Coyotes, Bank of America, Office Max, and Rite Aid are all walking distance. Makes study nights more manageable. The ‘dog’ park and fields are walking distance as well. 1 star off for the preschool/​kindergarten whatever school nearby where (if you live closest to Oakshade’s side) you can hear all the screaming and yelling as early as 8am.
The Maintenance Guys: 5 stars
— You call the office to fix something that is broken, and these guys will show up at your door within like an hour. And if not, then definitely sometime during the day or so.
The Management: 2 stars
— Would you like your deposit money back when you move out? Well you won’t, if you live here. They think of every reason to not give this money back to you. Even in the typed letter that they sent me, names and some words were not capitalized, which just showed their unprofessional manner. They accused us of not returning the Security Deposit Authorization Form on time, when we DID — and even my housemate noted that this one girl thanked her. Thus, they wrote the check to all our names, which is not only a hassle since my housemates and I live across California, but should not have happened in the first place since they thought their assumption was true. One good thing I can say is that they are lenient on when you pay your rent. Oh, another bad thing: they raised our rent without our consent or notice. We kept having a balance of $ 30 at the end of the month, even though we calculated each person’s portion of rent correctly, only to find out that they increased it from the previous year.
The Friends: 10 stars
— #nonewfriends

This is my second year living here, maintenance is always kind and helpful, management is readily available for questions via the Sorrento Facebook account.
Monthly rent checks to be dropped off in the tiny mailbox at the office, or you can pay online via their website. Super useful! Can also set up notification emails for you when your packages arrive.
Would recommend checking out this apartment complex for those of you looking for a reasonably priced place to live in Davis.

Pros: student-​friendly, free goodies during finals week. Safeway across the street!
Cons: Rooms are small for doubling, esp in 2 bedrooms. 2 bedroom housing has bad layout but 3 – 4 bedroom is much better. Building is old and needs lots of repairs.
The management does not do a good job checking apartments and recording damages when residents move out/​in. They hire college students to quickly scan the apartments after move out. And they rush cleaning and painting. Not good quality. Our kitchen floor has droplets of white paint.
Overall, a decent place but let’s just say money gets taken and probably only 1% is put back into maintaining the place. Just look at the gym and the 50yr old rusting treadmill.
P. s. take pictures of your apartment before and after moving so they dont steal all your deposit.

Lived here for 2 years, know the management staff personally, and I can safely say this is the best place to live if you go to Davis.
Rent is reasonable, rooms are all relatively new.
Staff keeps everything looking pretty.
They get your stuff fixed, and fast.
They respond to your questions and concerns in a timely manner.
Living here made me feel like I was at home.
Still not convinced?
…
If I could have sex with one apartment complex, it would be Sorrento Apartments. DAYUMMMM

When I talked about the life in Davis, I would always talked about the wonderful experience I’ve had living in Sorrento apartments.
It’s nice to know that the management (Jeff, Elena, and Thomas) still remembers me even after I’ve moved out from my place in 263. I definitely would recommend the place to any college students who’ve just moved out from their dorm. The location is perfect, across from the plaza including Safeway, Teabo, Dos Coyotes, Rite-​Aid, and Office Max, and you are not paying all that much for a 3 bed/​2 bath apartment that has a pretty good single-​floor plan. With enough windows, lightings, and adequate storage and appliances in the kitchen. During the 2 years I’ve lived in the apartment, the management have been gradually updating the place, starting with the brand new carpet that I’ve moved into.
With the freebies (breakfast and scantrons during finals) and other little things really showed that this place got attention to detail, never had a reason to complain, I am giving this place 5 solid stars. I miss my place in Davis.

Great housing, although I have never lived here hahaha management used to be amazing, but not anymore.

I love Sorrento!
Location is convenient (next to Safeway, Office Depot, Rite Aid, a few restaurants and a cofffeeshop) and the bus stop is a 5 minute walk away. Only downside is that the bus lines that run by back to the UC Davis campus (M and W) are pretty crowded like… all the time.
Management is super helpful — many occasions they came by to ask if there was anything to fix around the house… one time they even gave us free popsicles! Office is typically open from 10am — 4pm on weekdays, but not on weekends. When I first moved in I called in to ask if I could come to the office to get my key around 5pm, because traffic made me run late, and they told me that they would keep their doors open. They’re accommodating and helpful — not overbearing and awkward at all. They always have free popcorn, cookies, candy and coffee and you can drop by anytime.
Today we found out that our water will be shut off for 9 hours due to a leak in the main line… boo! But Thomas just came by to tell us that we’ll be getting free pizza, yay!
Thomas is the best — he remembers you by unit /​name. +1 star just for him and his hard work!

I lived here for the past 3 years of my college life, and I have never had a problem with this place!
Management changed last year, but they’re still as good as ever! Baker and Thomas have always been super nice and accommodating, especially when the time comes around to renew leases. They knew we were trying to find other places and allowed us to extend the time we had to respond to them if we wanted to renew.
Maintenance here is super fast as well. Normally any maintenance request is done the day of or within the next 24 hours. One of the towel bars in our bathroom fell off the wall, and they came in the next day to replace it and patch up the hole in the wall all free of charge. The guys who do maintenance are really friendly too!
A 3 bedroom townhouse will run about $ 700 a room before utilities, but the price is great considering location. Sorrento is a 4 minute walk to the bus stop (M and W) and the Safeway plaza.

New management is HORRIBLE.
I lived with Sorrento/​Avalon management for 3 years, and the first two years were great. Very friendly, always on top of maintenance requests, loved it. But this past year, the management changed and everything went downhill.
Our house chose to move out early (they said they would give us money for moving out a few days earlier than the contracted move out date). We should have gotten our security deposit and the early move out money back, but instead, we were slapped in the face with a $ 1,000+ fee for new carpet.
When we moved in, our carpet had two huge ring stains of bleach on the carpet, and the manager confirmed that these stains were there prior to our moving in. He even apologized to us, and let us know that these would be recorded so that we don’t end up getting charged for them when we moved out. He also apologized for not being able to get us new carpet this year, because his superiors said no. We accepted his apology because carpet wasn’t really a big deal to us as long as it was cleaned, and we trusted that this would be duly noted. All of our housemates had lived in Avalon before, and we never had problems with management in the past.
However, because that manager left for a new job, there was no record left saying that these stains weren’t our fault. So when we moved out this June, the management ended up charging US for new carpet that should have been replaced when we moved in to begin with. I called the office, but they said that they had no idea and that we would have to speak with accounting directly. They wouldn’t even give me the phone number for the manager, so I had to dig up her email address. When I asked to speak in person, she told me that «all communication must be done in writing». We wrote letters of complaint but all they kept saying was that there was no paperwork that could verify that the carpet was stained prior to our move-​in.
All five of our housemates should have RECEIVED at least $ 200 each, but instead, we ended up having to PAY $ 10 (after weeks of back-​and-​forth, the only offer given was to knock off the price of the remaining life of the carpet, so our fee was lessened to ~$ 50). I know that the $ 1000+ to $ 50 reduction is large, but we shouldn’t have had to pay anything in the first place, and should have received money instead of having to pay it.
Management sucks. No responsibility for their own actions/​actions of their employees.

This is my 3^rd year living at Sorrento, so that must mean something, right?
Just last night, the maintenance people came door to door, to check if we have any faulty outlets or light fixtures. Then they gave us ice cream. Also every time you need something to be fixed, you can just go to the office, and they have will fix it for you the same day,
There was one quarter I went in every day just to get some free cookies and popcorn (they are so good)! During finals week, they have a snack a day, and even give out free scantrons and bluebooks :)
I pay about $ 380 a month (including utilities) and I share a room. It’s not the cheapest place to stay at in Davis, but most of my friends are in South Davis!
As for distance, you can take the M and/​or W line, 2 – 3 minute walk from Sorrento. But I like taking the bike trail (~10 min bike).
If you want to get some groceries, Safeway is a less than 5 minute walk.
Random fact, there are cockroaches, but they’re usually hidden, hahaha.

The people here at the office are always very nice. Maintenance here always get the job done when you need something to be fixed in your apartment. The pricing here for rent is a bit pricey but is decent when you split a room with someone or you just have a lot of people living with you in your apartment.
Close to a small plaza that has Safeway, Rite Aide, Bank of America, and a few restaurants.
About a 10 min or less bike ride to campus.
A lot of parties here so it can be a bit loud at night (probably not good for families that are living here).

To summarize up Sorrento Apartments in one sentence, I’d say that it’s comfort away from home. Depending on your living arrangements, it may even be more comfy than your home, or it could be worse. Having lived here for three years, I would recommend that tenants should try to get their own room. However, it may seem burdening because it may be a bit on the pricier side. Another negative factor that I must point out is that there is an increasing amount of people living in South Davis and especially in the Sorrento/​Tanglewood/​Oakshade/​Brisa area. This means that the bus (especially the W line) is ALWAYS PACKED LIKE SARDINES in the morning and lunch time… But you always have other options, such as taking the earlier bus, bike, or getting a permit!
Now, to mention some more good things about Sorrento! GREAT MANAGEMENT! The BEST I’ve encountered in Davis. The guys are extremely nice and friendly and the repairs are done efficiently. It’s like the repairmen are NINJAS… What else is great about it? You live next to all of your friends! They’re a walk away which means no need to DRUNK DRIVE! Just DRINK and walk home. (not encouraging any underage drinking or house-​parties btw hahah ;) but let me know where the parties are at!!) HAH! The ULTIMATE beneficial factor of living here is that you live next to a 24 HOUR SAFEWAY! NEVER HUNGRYYY! WOO!
So, there you have it. The good and the bad! But in my opinion, the goods outweigh the bads by millions of light years. Check it out for yourself and see if you fall in love with your ikea room! :)

I see a lot of bad reviews but I moved in where there was new management and they are AMAZING! Baker really gets to know you by name and he’ll even know what you’re into (church, dragon boat) and will always ask you how you’re doing when you walk in.
The maintenance team is also amazing here. Everything is fixed the day of, if not, they come in early the next day to do it. I once got a new microwave in an hour because my old one malfunctioned.
I’m also on the dragon boat team here and I’ve asked Baker if we could have some practice in the pool and he was definitely okay with it. When I was moving out, he also lent me a spare key so I could go in/​out of my old Sorrento apt whenever I needed to.
They have fun things: free food, scantrons, cookies, etc during finals week. An entire complimentary pizza & soda for people have just moved in. Join welcome bbq with Avalon/​Brisa.
Parking is great here! I’ve never had a problem with parking and there is plenty of it. If they’re not in the office, they don’t really check or enforce parking. My friends would come over and park after-​office hours and had no problems. Same on weekends.
Highly recommended place to live!

Lived here in 2009 and it was not a great experience.
The apartment is alright in size, but I wouldn’t say it’s worth the price. Rent was roughly 2500+ for a 4 bedroom, which originally I thought was not too bad of a deal, but now I know better.
The kitchen wasn’t too bad, appliances were a little old. The main issue I had with the apartment was that the upstairs (we had a 2 floor apartment) bedrooms had no ceiling lights. Meaning we had to bring in our own lamps to provide light. I thought that was a big weird.
Noise travels easily throughout the apartment.
The main problem I had with Sorrento was during the winter, our ceiling in our living room began to leak. It started small and we informed management, and they told us to let them know if it got worse. It did. And eventually led to the management having to send guys in and redo our ceiling and the roofing. I know it’s technically Sorrentos fault, but I feel that if they did better up keep between residents this issue could’ve been avoided.
The other thing was the swimming pool/​hot tub/​gym. I’d avoid the pool/​hot tub. I’ve seen too many late night «pool activities.»