The Grove @ Southpark Meadows

I used to like this place, but lately it's just getting run down and trashy.   Where there used to be grass, its just rocks and mud.   The sidewalks are covered in food and trash, the trashcans don't appear to have been emptied for several days.  The mulch on the playground is covered with trash, food and the remains of the felt weed barriers that were once covered with mulch.    The water feature that the kids used to play in, seems to have been permanently turned off, the last few times it worked, only 3 or 4 of the 15 or so nozzles actually worked.  

Sad to see this place degrade so quickly.   We'll be going elsewhere for kid friendly dining from now on.

Just one question to the owner; what were you thinking? Great idea to have a few restaurants and a play-scape, but it's a really bad idea to incorporate live music into that.

I am not that anal retentive that I have a problem with noise when I am trying to listen to a band, but this is ridiculous! Kids are noisy on the play-scape, you can also expect noise from the patios of the restaurants.  Lot's of kids running around all over the place, a random Frisbee may even hit you in the back of the head.  There must also be some sort of sound restrictions, because you would think that with all the noise they would have figured out to turn things up.

So if you are going to The Grove to specifically go see a band, don't expect to hear them very clearly, and don't expect to be able to just sit and enjoy things without a random kid screaming as they pass you by chasing another kid.

:)

Before my daughter, I avoided South Park Meadows at all costs. It was full of chains, over crowded, too close the 35, blah blah blah.

Except now I have a kid. Who wants to play. And I still want to have a margarita. This place meets those needs, and places like this are few and far between.

The playground is still kinda far for my kid to play on while I'm on one of the nearby restaurant patios, since she's a youngin'. My favorite restaurant in SPM is Serrano's which is up the hill a bit anyways. So we usually go play, then get Mommy a drink when she's nice and tuckered out.

I always go back to this: the playground is shaded. Hallelujah. We will be back, often, this summer.