Historic Saratoga Village — Attraction in Saratoga

This is a challenging review for the simple reason that I need to separate out from here so many of the businesses and restaurants that I'd rate with five stars, but this review is about the village as a whole. On the one hand, its out-of-the-way location lends itself to a quirky past, a transitional place between Silicon Valley and the various westward mountain communities. The village acts as a gateway to redwood forest adventures, but to enjoy it, one must stop rather than just drive through. Ideally, the village could use more public spaces for such stops.

Where other downtowns have expanded and reconstructed into Anywhere USA, Saratoga Village invites visitors to explore Santa Clara County's humble past. Mostly, the village is community-centric, and isn't that what we want from our downtowns? A strong sense of place, complete with out-of-sync architecture in contrast its modern neighbors, but this is where "historic" comes into play. There are certainly underutilized spaces that could be sensitively brought into modern use without the loss of character. In the meantime, the village has something for everyone that I would never want to see succumb to what has happened elsewhere. With all its inclusions, Historic Saratoga Village is a real jewel to those who can...

Everything is closed here. So many stores vacant. I would not recommend. Barn Owl is empty. It looks like a ghost town here. The florist that should be open is not open. No reason to come to this little spot. It’s extremely disappointing in all ways. Not much parking here at all unless you come here early. It’s certainly not historic anymore and it’s very sad since this used to be a cute little place to shop many years ago but not anymore. It looks extremely run down and not taken care of at all. Don’t waste your time...

Beautiful village feeling to downtown Saratoga. Lots of excellent restaurants & wine tasting places. Only one good coffee place that also sells brunch food & gelato. No good bakeries, and a very weird parking lot surrounded by odd stores and businesses that really must go. This is not really a good window shopping place: you pick a restaurant and head for it. For a small town, there are many...