Town & Country Village, Palo Alto CA

This place is crazy busy! There's plenty of various shops, restaurants, and CVS and Trader Joe's are there. The traffic in the "village" is terrible and parking can be a real challenge. Just exiting the place, especially on the Embarcadero Road side, can lead to a long wait and having to deal with frustrated motorists. There's a high school on the south side (across the street). Waves of students come there during their lunch break adding to the traffic problems. Town and Country Village is a nice shopping center, and it always seems safe. However the volume of shoppers, the insufficient number of parking places and traffic congestion are the reasons I tend to avoid the area. Some serious improvements need to be made to the traffic situation both inside the shopping center and to the two contiguous roads.

Lots of interesting shops and eateries. Can be crowded like any other popular venue.

Has the feel of a smaller town. But, you are across the street from Stanford and Paly High School. Effectively almost at the epicenter of Silicon Valley.

It's practically on the Stanford campus so don't expect anything special. It's too busy for that. Years ago there was a brewery and a couple coffee shops. Those days are long gone.

I usually park in the back where there is extra parking. I don’t understand the idiots who play musical chairs with the parking in the front.

Now they closed one of the lots in the back. I got the last street parking space, while the “valet parking” staff have a line of parked cars snaking around the entire side lot. If they closed a lot with no alternative, then this shopping centre becomes essentially unusable. Fix it, or I won’t come back!

Wild seed restaurant has a collection of delicious vegan menu. Food was unique and good tasting and nice presentation.

Parking is horrible unless you know what youre getting into and you find the shopping experience is worth it. Not a good place to go if you need a quick in and out at a CVS.drive a few minutes farther.youll still save time.

Popular, to the point of being crowded. It's an outdoor mall dominated by the impression of being next to scores of idling cars. The locals like it so they're doing something right.

It's a strip mall. But it has pretty nice shops.

The parking here is crazy. I like the shops / restaurants here, but I really dislike the parking lot traffic. Be patient. Take deep breaths.

Great shopping center to just seat down and relax sipping your favorite drink. Also great selection of shops to check out.

Lacking a star here only because of the empty spots that should be another cool store.

Fill it up and I'll be back with 5

I'm absolutely biased in my support of T&C. I went to high school across the street some thirty years ago, and I've visited ever since. My classmates and I would cut class to extend our lunch.wrapped around a table with a lazysusan bound to serve us Chinese food. Or we would admire all the sweets at the German deli, usually resolving to get a salami sandwich. When the high school had a special event, I would find myself at the flower shop buying miniature roses. It was a special day to stop at Stickney's (was that the name?) or the yogurt shop with carob chip drops.

All these memories are locked away in my head, since none of these older businesses are still there. I do flashback when I pass by the optical store, but the memory is fleeting. Wasn't there a barber next door? But I'm creating new memories. I still visit the bookstore, and Printers, Inc.never disappoints. Lunch options are still strong and now diverse, and I always have to find something at the kitchen shop. Some shops have come and gone, but new ideas keep popping up making T&C always interesting.

A secret place those Palo Altons keep quiet about. A nice place to shop and eat and drink. Try Top Design, Sur La Table and a pizza.

Trendy, shifty, blah. Rate your individual shop. Almost enough parking. Overrun by Pali HS students at lunch. Local traffic patterns typical of Shallow Alto. Bring your headphones and a good reader.

Town & Country Cleaners exceptional.
Books Inc. Just great.
Trader Joe's very good. Love the staff.
Village Cheese House is another casualty. Formerly a great deli, now serviceable but mediocre.
Howie's Artisan Pizza is a gem.
Lulu's has C- Mex but seems popular.
Mayfield and Califia "Worth a Side Trip".
Gott's Roadkill - Flaming disaster.
Kirk's Steakburgers is one of the ornaments of our democracy. Present incarnation less folksy, but a great nosh.
CVS. Well, every mall has to have an anchor. John's Market late, lamented.

08/22 update: latest casualties.
•T&C Cleaners
•Mayfield Bakery
•Califia
•Patrick James
•Whatever replaced Village Cheese House
Lots of empty space. Merchants come and go. Mostly go.

Lots of neat stores and restaurants. A very popular vegan restaurant and an excellent bakery opened in the last few months. Also, Boichik has excellent New York bagels.

Very nice local mall, quiet, variety of shops, beauty and food, and even clean public restrooms.
Parking fills up fairly quickly.

WAY TOO MANY DESSERT SHOPS.
They have multiple ice cream shops, cookie shops, frozen custard, frozen yogurt, patisserie places, boba tea shops, coffee shops.you get the idea. It's quite annoying.

The few restaurants/shops/stores that aren't focused on desserts or sugary foods and drinks in general, are over priced and not that tasty.

I get that this is in Palo Alto where everything is expensive but this particular shopping complex is a bit much for very little value.

It is also almost always crowded, which is surprising.

If you walk by Teleferic Barcelona (awful food, but good staff), you'll see people at every table dressed to nines, no matter what day or time it is. It's almost as if they're overcompensating for their lack of taste.

Most of the shopping center area quickly becomes full with kids from the high school nearby in the afternoon.

The only places worth going to are Gott's Roadside, Kirk's, Trader Joe's, Paper Source, Books. Inc, Kara's Cupcakes, and maybe Douce France.

Also, the colorful chairs, benches and the many beautiful flowering plants all over the complex are stunning in Spring and add a much needed oomph to an otherwise bleh shopping center.