Santa Clara Square Marketplace — Local services in Santa Clara

This turned out to be the worst design of a "destination" shopping experience in the area. Parking is non-existent during peak times (lunch and dinner), making it particularly frustrating for customers of Specialty's to pick up orders or for folks to drop into Whole Foods to pick something up on the way home. The parking lot is congested with cars circling and hoping to get lucky. (Alternative parking is a block away in a multi-level garage, but they don't make that obvious.)

If you do find a parking spot, watch out for the lurking water runoff catch basins - trip and the bottom is a few feet down. And the parking lot is basically all you will see while walking to your destination, since all shops and restaurants ring the outside of the parking lot.

Even if you chose to "walk the mall," there's not much to see and too much adventure: there's no sidewalk between Fleming's and Il Fornaio (in the parking lot again!), there are five parking lot access roads to cross, and no sidewalk between Specialty's and Chase (more parking lot!). A pedestrian's total nightmare.

The architecture is a blend of Santa Clara Mission blended with Silicon Valley Office Block. The owners could have decided to create a shopping experience like Santana Row, utilizing architecture elements of the new apartments next door along with underground parking. Instead they kept to the same stale contemporary design of local strip malls, like Santa Clara Town Center and San Jose Market Center. This one is uglier....

This is what poor civil engineering from greedy commercial land owners looks like. Good luck finding a parking spot to get some quick dinner to take home on most weeknights. Maybe you should have put the parking structure and delayed opening 6 months. Oh yeah, and the stupid green paint to label an "ev" parking or "compact". Dark green on black asphalt. Why the hell do you choose asthetics over functionality for marking parking spots. The driveways off Scott are deathtraps and way too steep for a car to get out safely on the busy road. Guess this was only designed for SUVs.

Most restaurants have better competitors within 2 miles at less crowded parking lots. The old specialty's was easier to get in and out of. I will actively avoid any business that moved in here because of what a nightmare this place is. Whole foods has a great bar, but who cares if I can't even get...

Santa Clara Square Marketplace is a modern, clean shopping center with a well-curated mix of stores, eateries, and services. Anchored by a large Whole Foods Market, it offers convenient grocery shopping along with an assortment of popular restaurants, cafes, and fitness spots. The open layout and landscaping make it a pleasant place to walk around, and there’s ample outdoor seating for enjoying a coffee or meal. Parking is generally easy, although it can fill up during lunch hours on weekdays. Overall, it’s a convenient and inviting spot for shopping, dining, or meeting friends in...