Mia

Reviews

• AH

  Alexa Harris

  Aug 13, 2026
  3.0
  I lived at the Mia for three years - from 2023 to 2026. I paid my rent on time every month and never had any problems on my end as a tenant. I found it to be a nice, quiet apartment that was a perfect intro to the Bay Area for me. I worked hybrid during my time there. The Pros: The location is fantastic and you really can't beat it. The amenities are solid. The units have hardwood or some sort of hardwood laminate; I personally hate carpet. The balcony is a very nice addition and the windows/door that goes out to the balcony lets lots of natural light in. I lived on the third floor and had an absolutely gorgeous view of downtown Palo Alto. The maintenance guy, Zach, and the grounds keeper, Rici (unsure of spelling), are great and keep everything working and very clean. The walk to downtown is a breeze and there is a small patisserie 2 blocks from your front door that has great food and coffee. There's a park on Waverly, about two mins walk that's super cute and dog friendly. Cute residential neighborhood. This was a big seller for me because I appreciate lots of trees and that quiet residential vibe. The Cons: The valet trash seems like it would be good, but in reality it sucks. You pay monthly for them to harass you about when you're allowed to take the trash out of your apartment. Since there are no trash bins that you can take your trash to yourself, you are stuck with smelly trash in your little studio apartment until it's time for the valet to pick it up. If you set it outside your door early and management sees it, they charge you $25. Personally I'd much rather be able to take my trash out myself - whenever I want to take it out. They are understaffed. They had one maintenance guy that management would drag between properties, many times there would be nobody in the front office, and I'm quite certain the grounds keeper was also pulled between properties. This brings me to management. To sum it up quickly, management treats you like a criminal for no reason and they also make their job your responsibility frequently. For example, management decided it would be a good idea to change the way we paid rent. But the process took longer than they had anticipated. It came time to pay rent and instead of giving us any grace while they fixed their payment system, they expected us to get checks to them. I'm a millennial so naturally I do not have any checks or if I did they were buried in a drawer somewhere that I could not locate. I'm also legally blind and cannot drive. So I explained my vision to management and asked if they would allow me to just pay online when they got the payment fixed and they said no. And that if I didn't pay on time I would receive a $75 fee. I paid my rent on time the entire time I lived there and instead of giving me grace for an issue they created, they made their job my responsibility. I have other examples of this, and it is my main complaint about living there. The management and owners nickel and dime the hell out of you. As I mentioned before, you have no choice but to pay for valet trash, with fees if you leave your can in the hallway too long etc etc, but they also have third party rent payment processing through Bilt, which when you pay your rent there's a service charge of like 10 bucks (not much, but it's still annoying). Even the washer and dryers in the shared laundry spaces are third party which means that third party is making a buck off you doing laundry. And it's not like you really have any other choice. I found the constant nickel and diming on an already expensive rent insulting and gross. I fully expect them to install third party dish washers at this rate. Getting to laundry, there are no in unit washer/dryers. Again, they are third party washer and dryers through a company called Wash, who presumably make a buck off your need to do laundry in your own home. The walls are thin. Finally, the cost of rent. Obviously America is in a rent crisis right now, but 3.3k for a 600sqft studio is egregious. The rent went up about 400 dollars in the 3 years I lived there.
• AS

  Allie Sanzi

  Jul 14, 2026
  2.0
  I lived at Mia for two and a half years. The downtown Palo Alto location is amazing. You can walk to University Ave in about 3 minutes, so all the shops and restaurants are very accessible. The apartments themselves have updated finishes, the building is clean and secure, and the on-site maintenance guy is really nice and fixes issues quickly. However, rent is exceptionally high for what you actually get. The units are small. The walls are very thin. The hot water takes at least five minutes of running to actually heat up. There’s no in-unit laundry, just shared laundry rooms on each floor, and the cost to do a full wash and dry is over $5 per load. And then there are the utility charges. On top of your base rent, there are five (5) separate shared utility charges every single month: trash, valet trash, water, water heating, and sewage, based on the entire building’s usage, not your own, plus an additional service fee. This is on top of setting up your own electricity and internet. On average, my total utility charges were about $250 per month. The reason that I finally moved out was the way on-site and corporate management handled a huge plumbing issue in the building. They denied that they had any responsibility and attempted to quietly pass the cost onto the residents for months. My monthly water bills increased 3-8x for a seven month period, with one over $400 for a single month. It took months of self-advocating for my own refunds before they finally fixed the problem and issued credits to all residents. Ultimately, if budget and square footage aren’t a concern for you, the location alone makes Mia worth considering. Otherwise, be warned.
• MC

  Max Chen

  Apr 17, 2026
  5.0
  Perfect place to stay! Clean and quiet, with good sunshine!
• SP

  Sam Purtill

  Jan 20, 2023
  5.0
  I rented a studio here while temporarily in Palo Alto. The staff has been friendly and exceptionally responsive to any maintenance request I've had. Same hour service most of the time. The units face either north or south, both of which have beautiful views as you are above the tree line on the upper floors (3+). I have been very happy with my stay here and would recommend the building to friends.
• DL

  Daphne Li

  Jul 6, 2021
  5.0
  Love the Mia so far. Have only been here for about 1 week but it’s a great location and nice/clean building. Pamela, in the leasing/management office, is so helpful and made the lease application process and moving in so easy!