This is a great place to come to if you have a high energy kid that needs to burn their energy off…read more My son has recently taken an interest to American Ninja Warrior and Nina Republic has obstacle courses set up that mirror the same obstacles you would see on the show, which is really cool. We came by on an afternoon during open gym - you pay a flat fee to get up to 4 hours of playtime. While there are some staff members present that might give a bit of guidance on how to go through the courses, it is relatively hands off and you are on your own. Parents can sit on the chairs on the side to watch, but can also go on the mat as needed to assist their kids. My son really enjoyed his experience here - when he started off, he could only go halfway up the warped wall but after a couple of hours of practice, was able to reach the top with his hand. He is already looking forward to his next visit here so he can try again. Everyone wears their outside shoes on the mat so I think that takes away a bit from the cleanliness of the place, especially on the type of rainy day that we came by. Bathrooms could have also been a bit better maintained - paper products were running low and soap ran out as well. Not a huge deal as we could work around this, just something that could be optimized for an even better experience.

Hosted a joint 10 year old birthday party for about 20 kids and 20 adults. Planning the party was…read moresimple with Regan. It was clear that his top priorities were safety and all guests having fun. He worked with our schedule needs and the kids various interests. Our kids were nonstop running around, laughing, having a great time. And the best part as a party mom was that he frequently encouraged me to sit back and relax as he and his staffed had everything under control with the kids. The facility is clean and spacious. The gym has endless opportunity for fun and challenge. Our 10 year olds did not want to leave.

So as with most of our summer camps, I have to go by what my daughter tells me and try to glean…read morewhat's going on based on minutes of being onsite during pickups and dropoffs. Our 7-year-old was here for a week this past summer. This camp seems to have a SimCity/Lego crossover thing going on, which I can totally get behind. Every day my daughter would talk about adding new buildings and bringing home a score sheet summarizing the state of her town (population, approval rating, money in the treasury, complaints and accolades from the townspeople). I came in one morning to find some escaped criminals holding up little speech bubbles. Looking around at all the little towns, there were some seriously impressive structures. After the week I downloaded Cities: Skylines (the computer game) and am looking forward to playing it.

My 8 and 10 year old daughter both loved this camp! Every day I picked them up, they were so…read moreexcited to show me all the things they had built. They seemed to really enjoy the civics nature of the building and telling me about why they had built particular structures to help their town. I was quite impressed by this camp that it turned out to be a great learning experience. I highly recommend it! I was a bit concerned when I signed up that this would be a mostly boy camp -- my daughters had some girl friends there with them and I noticed a few other girls there who we did not know. It seems like @ 30-40% girls that week, in case you are wondering. Though it didn't really make a difference as they work in small teams anyway.

The best activity we've ever done for my son. Erin is wonderful, the junior staff are amazing…read more This program is so phenomenal.

I put my daughters (8 and 11) into Feelosopher's Path's Adventure Summer Camp in 2014. My…read moredaughters are shy and have a very hard time joining group activities, especially when they don't know anyone. They also tend to have a "can't do" attitude about new activities. For that reason, they generally hated summer camps. They hated CuriOdyssey, Marine Science Institute, Galileo, Steve & Kate's, you-name-it. Feelosopher's Path's stated goal for camp was to encourage kids to become more adventurous and independent -- at a gentle pace. I figured it was worth a try. Well, this was the first summer camp where I did not have to drag them there every morning. On the first day, as usual, my daughters hung behind me during check-in and stared worriedly around. Erin immediately got down to their eye-level and started chatting. By the time I finished checking in, both girls were relaxed and conversing and I saw them join the other kids before I left. Every morning, they were eager to put on their new wristwatches (part of the camp equipment list) and go on another exploration. And my non-outdoorsy, non-hiking girls hiked to the Angel Island campsite carrying all of their own gear and came back dirty and joyous. After the camp ended, both girls were adamant that they wanted to return. By June of 2015, they were asking on a weekly basis if Feelosopher's Camp was the next week! They were so excited. They had just as much fun at FC Adventure Summer Camp 2015. Feelosopher's Path is a great organization. It truly feels to be that Erin and Hiro create community. This isn't just about keeping the kids busy for the summer with activities. They are taught to be part of a larger world and to become more independent and more caring. The school year programs don't work with our schedule but they sound awesome. We will be back for the summer camp and someday we hope our kids will feel independent enough to say they want to go to Japan for the sister summer camp. That would be a milestone. I will finally add that having Hiro and kids come from Japan to run/attend the summer camp is wonderful. It shows the kids that there is a whole world to explore.

It's the Y. It's not a fancy schmancey, hoity-toity, lala gym. It's a neighborhood gym for normal…read morepeople. Average Joe's if you will. And I love it. We left Crunch after 17 years (well, technically it was Gold's before but you get the point) because I had a female stalker and Crunch wouldn't help me (even with restraining orders). I was wildly unimpressed with their non-assistance. We went to Equinox bc it was supposed to be nicer and it was only a 1 mile walk from our house - fantastic. While it looked nicer, it was not nicer. It's old, outdated and limited. It's stupid expensive. And the hours really, really suck. So after a year, we left Equinox and we were wavering on going back to the Bay Club or joining the Y. Our kids really wanted to work out and the Y was a great option for a family plan. So we joined for them. While testing it out and thinking we might bounce out to the Bay Club, we ended up loving it. They recently upgraded all the equipment to smart equipment and I'm diggin it! I haven't seen these machines since I was at an upscale gym in Houston a couple years ago! I love the price ($185 for all 6 of us, plus it as daycare vs $230/mo at equinox per person and no kids are welcome) I love the normalness of the Y too. I may make great income, but I don't want to be with the stiffs. I want to be where my roots are.

This gym has deteriorated to a free for all. The rules around cellphone usage and especially…read moretelephone calls are posted but not in enough places. Worse still they don't enforce them. The one or two people that have the cans to enforce the rules are not around often enough. When they try and enforce the 'no telephone calls' members ignore or even yell at the staff with no retaliatory actions against the members. Several members lack any form of manners or common courtesy. They see no problem sitting around on the machines having 30 minute social visits followed by 10 more minutes of them, still on the machine, but staring at their phones (Lady Garlic!). Parents apparently send their teenagers here for free babysitting. Teens do exactly what they do at home: stare at their phones. And they take pictures, also prohibited. Other review comments about the lazy grumpy front desk staff are true as well but not across the board. Furthermore, there are two younger staff members that will initiate a long conversation with members who are on the machines. This sets a bad example. This is an AI generated picture but this is absolutely what you will see here all the time.

My 4 yrs old and his 2 cousins go there. Love the place! Definitely got the money worth. They also…read morehave nice camp sessions!

I recently had a terrible experience at this facility with my daughter. After reading similar…read morereviews, I realize this was not an isolated incident. My daughter has attended several classes here, and she has complained to me about the constant switching of coaches, which has made her feel uncomfortable. At her age, she wants to have some familiarity with her coach and build a relationship with them. Completely understandable. The coaches appear to be young, with some being attentive while others seem disengaged, even using their phones during her class. This is understandable to some degree with teenage coaches, but the lack of proper management is alarming. Initially, I wasn't sure who the manager was, and when I asked to speak to one, I was told she was unavailable, handling something in the office. I politely waited, but after about 20 minutes, she never came out, so I had to leave. I was given the manager's name, Charisse, but she appeared to be laughing and joking with others while I was waiting, making no effort to address my concerns and come out to speak with me. The worst and most unprofessional part was during my next (and last) visit, when I made a point to speak with the manager, Charisse. She demanded I speak with her outside, for reasons unknown (maybe to avoid being in front of other parents). She was incredibly rude and unprofessional, refusing to listen to the concerns my daughter had the courage to bring up. Instead, she mocked me and belittled my daughter's skillset, claiming that if she didn't like the coaching changes, she should look elsewhere because they didn't need our business. I was shocked by this situation. I strongly urge all parents to reconsider entrusting their children to this poorly managed establishment. As Charisse advised, please look elsewhere - this organization does not need YOUR business. (This happened a while ago but held off on posting a review in hopes of improvement.) I also know of a ton of families who have switched gyms for similar situations. Management needs to address the unprofessionalism of this manager and begin to have a more routine coaching schedule for the gymnasts to feel comfortable.

My daughter attended Challenge School for one year from 2 to 3 yrs old (from Caterpillar to Ladybug…read moreclass). From the very first day, the teachers and staff have shown incredible love, patience, and dedication to the kids. My daughter looked forward to going to school every day, and we can see how happy she is and how much she has developed both academically and socially. The curriculum with the mandarin immersion and a variety of cultural celebrations are another highlight. We are incredibly grateful to all the teachers for making her such a positive and meaningful pre-school experience. We highly recommend Challenge school San Mateo Campus to any parent looking for a place where their child will be loved, supported, and inspired to learn. We have to say goodbye due to the relocation, but will always remember the warmth and love at Challenge. Thank you for making the preschool feel like a second home.

We were looking for a mandarin immersion program and toured a few options in the Peninsula area. In…read morethe end, we chose Challenge School for their efforts in maintaining accreditation (NAEYC and WASC), their balanced curriculum, the friendly environment, and good experiences from other parents. From the tour, the facility felt clean, safe and I felt comfortable with the staff as they seemed attentive, experienced, and committed. At first I was nervous to transition my oldest (2 yrs old at the time, now 3.5 yrs) as we don't speak any mandarin at home. However we were so surprised at how much he has learned and developed as he transitioned from Caterpillar to Ladybug and now to Butterfly Class. He is always excited to head to preschool and happily talks about his day after pick-up. The projects and activities in each class are age appropriate and meaningful and I appreciate how we get frequent updates with clear communication from the teachers in each class. I also love that they prepare Chinese and American holiday events at this age. Now our youngest (1.5 yrs old) started in the Caterpillar class and she has adjusted so well! I am so glad we chose to have our kids attend Challenge School for the peace of mind knowing that they're in great care while we are at work. All of the Caterpillar, Ladybug, and Butterfly teachers are wonderful, dedicated, and sincere with their class and most importantly, we can tell our kids have fun and are happy there. I highly recommend this location for a mandarin immersion preschool!

Our 8-year-old daughter had a blast at Type, Coding & Minecraft Camp…read more Aside, we signed her up for her first Minecraft account this past weekend. Hopefully, she can do it again next summer if schedules permit.

Alvin and Jessica were both very helpful. My almost 10 yr old really enjoyed the camp. He enjoyed…read morethe typing and coding games with his friends there. He asked to go back there again. During their free time, he enjoyed playing Minecraft. We will definitely bring him back.

My 14 year old son has been going to the Coder School for half of his life now: he has had weekly…read morecoaching sessions with Teacher John, who has been awesome and incredibly patient in teaching him all sorts of computer coding and languages - from Python, to Java, to C++, and nowadays they talk about AI and construct projects for him to do that feed his intellectual curiosity. John has been so helpful and creative, and he has maintained a balance between answering my son's myriad questions while also having him execute complicated projects. John has been a constant in my son's life for seven years, and the school is very organized, responsive and helpful whenever we need to make a change to the schedule. I HIGHLY recommend!

Great way to get kids into coding they started in the Palo Alto location and now go to San Mateo…read more My son and daughter both do weekly coding lesson and it has been a great experience. The staff are really top notch and take the time to make sure the kids understand what they are doing and also try to make it topical to games they might play Learning Scratch, python, java etc My kids love making their own games and are looking forward to summer camp where they might make mobile apps

My kids have loved their summer and winter camps here! The teachers are highly skilled and I love…read morethe variety of media and techniques taught in the classes. My kids have gotten to do watercolors, chalk pastels, india ink, printmaking, sculpture, and more. They are able to use high-quality supplies and the class sizes are good.

This review is for their summer camp. The kids eat lunch on the curb. No attempt is made to take…read morethem to a playground or a park or even an adjoining grassy area! They can perhaps talk to the church authorities close by for use of their grounds or take them to the end of scenic way (4 minute walk) and use the grassy area there! There was no ice-breaker so the kids shy to talk to each other and there was little or interaction among the kids! Classes start at 9 am. Break is from 10-11 an and lunch is from 12-1 pm and classes end at 3 pm! I will update this review if things change!

I've taken macaron and sourdough classes from BAC. Both classes were well structured, super…read moredetailed and hands on. So worth it!

I came here as part of a corporate event to bake croissants. This was a particularly fun…read moreexperience. We doubled up in groups of two to create croissants and took them home to bake. The ingredients were all measured out for us. I appreciate the instructor taking the time to explain food science (e.g why European butter has a higher fat percentage/melts more easily when contact is made with skin, why we refrigerate dough). However, I do feel like there was a lot of time spent explaining this when we could have been working on making the croissant. I'd prefer if we just got succinct instructions and got sent on our way while fun facts about croissants and how different ingredients interact with one another are told to us. I've taken a baking class at Sur La Table where there are TVs placed around each perspective, so everyone can watch as the instructor works on her dish instead of awkwardly huddling around the table craning to get a peek at the proper technique. When I made my croissant at home, they were perfectly buttery and flaky. Baking Arts also printed out PDF instructions for us to take home. As for the selection of baking goods, I noticed a lot of novelty tools that caught my interest! They have a decent selection of food dyes and edible glitter/pearls that are perfect for decorating cakes and baking with.