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The City of Foster City
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
32 reviews for The City of Foster City
Having lived in Foster City for the past 11 years it is a really safe city. Its a good family community but its a typical suburbia. I went to Bowditch Middle School, then San Mateo High. The good thing is that there's a bunch of tennis courts perfect for those who love tennis. The city is also abundant with parks. In fact a park is right down the street from my place. The schools are pretty good.
It's funny how I'm actually going to school at UCI and Irvine is exactly like FC only a lot bigger. So I went from suburbia in NorCal to suburbia in SoCal. Fun. Nightlife sucks in both places. Still a bunch of Asians in both cities.
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If you want to live a good quiet quaint family life, bring up a kid or two (or more, depending on if you love having babies more than making them), and your idea of a good time is to huddle and cuddle with the fam and kidz either in front of a TV or at the local park and playground, then look no further than the old landfill known as Foster City ("this isn't the Marina", to quote a recent controversy).
If you love the procreation as a means of recreation * but don't like the result of creation, and enjoy it with multiple partners playing for whatever team in one night (whoops TMI) then perhaps San Francisco is a better choice for you.
Fosta Citay, what else can I say:
- Good preschool and elementary and middle schools
- As others have said, a pretty decent and diverse ethnic community
- Costco, Safeway, Marina Foods, and 99 Ranch all within reach
- Easy access to 101 and the 92 to go in all directions
- If you are FOB/Chinese/A$N, you're in food heaven. in addition to the 99 Ranch and Marina Foods supermarket, you've got ABC (one of the better dim sum joint$), 5 Joy for superb Chinese that caters specifically towards the Taiwanese tastebud, Spices 4 should you like stinky tofu and Taiwanese style Sichuanese. A few other average to mediocre choices, but at least they are there. And you're not that far away to San Mateo downtown for more choices
Cons:
- High property prices....a real house? If you don't have a million, you can forget about it.
- Townhouse and especially condo monthly fees are in$ane
- Other than A$N restaurants, not too much else. For non A$N fare, it is mostly chain restaurants.
- non food shopping is pretty much Target, Home Depot, Toys R Us, and the usual suspects
- most of the community events are family oriented. There's also the fireworks every 7/4 which creates a ton of noise and traffic throughout the hood, or Art & Wine Fest, or the summer evening concert series by Ryan Park in August on Friday nights (mostly out of tune cover bands doing 70s hits)
* this reminds me of a joke a friend told in high school, that went a little bit like dis
"A man's occupation is to stick his cockreation up the woman's ventilation, to increase the population of a newer generation. For more information, or for a demonstration, please meet me tonight at the station" (I think he meant somewhere in San Francisco).
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This city needs to fix the eyesore in the middle of the city....should convert it to a park......
I didn't know you can review a city...?
But I've lived here all of my life, and Im still living her (hah). But I like it. It can be windy, it's real boring, a lot of wannabe "ghetto" kids (although I don't see how emulating being poor is by any stretch of the imagination 'cool'), lots of families and crazy PTA moms, but I don't think I would have it any other way.
Foster City is supposed to be suburbia-hell and every major city needs one.It's secluded and sheltered for sure, but that's kind of why people move out to the suburbs...and I think there's a lot more action than Redwood Shores (which is the creepy neighbor across the mud flats). It's a real good location from SJ and SF and the East Bay seeing how it's right off the bridge. I could definitely see myself having a family here (when they allow gays to marry of course). A
Foster City is a pretty good city. It's safe because you'll always see at least one police cruiser wherever you go, and of then two. Just don't speed anywhere and you'll be fine. The police once shot a dog at a a house but otherwise I don't know much else to say about them.
The funny thing is that it's called the City of Foster City. Why do you have to say "City of" when the place has "City" in its name? We know it's a city because it's called "Foster City".
Born and raised here and really there's so much to say about the place so lets see what i can articulate.
1. Yea I guess it is safe. There are ton's of cops, they hassle you if you're under 40, and if you're driving they're quick to ticket. They have little to do but hassle middle and high school kids who loiter in the shopping centers because they're nothing else to do.
2. Seems like a good place to raise your kids but don't be fooled. Once they hit middle school they will start to realize how small of a town FC is and will get insanely bored. The kids with parents who are way into studying will be kept busy doing that but the kids that aren't will crash and burn more frequently and more harshly than one might suspect based on how suburby fc is. The whole thing about idle hands really applies ten fold in foster city and i'm not really suprised some ppl i've come up with are in jail now.
3. Hella parks. Great for dogs, great for kids under 12. After that parks no longer qualify as something to do.
4. Yea the fireworks show is overrated.
5. Food options are ok if you're chinese, otherwise i guess there isn't much. The two stripmall/shopping centers on beach park suck and are dying slowly but surely. We lost our KFC and for that I cry.
There's really nothing to do here and i had activities to save me from the oppressing boredom but I wouldn't say that most kids were as lucky as me. I'm almost done with college now and the cops still give me dirty looks but give them a chance, i know a few of them and they're alright.
I don't know if I would raise my kids here. But i wouldn't mind being 30 something and moving here. but not until then.
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Yes, I admit, there's no great food here. That's why there are surrounding cities between SF and SJ that we can yelp and eat there instead. Yes, places closes at around 9 pm or so, but there's 2 grocery stores open 24 hours. Fake Lagoons? Yup, we got that, too. The water is safe enough to swim in. Love going kayaking in the waters. If you hate, don't swim in it.
Great parks, great education system - (Majority of kids in the FC school system score points well above the State and National average and all the neighboring cities bus their kids in to go to one of the 3 schools in FC.), parents are very active in kids' lives & are very Family-oriented (meaning not great for single peeps), great trails for walks and runs by the Bay, Free Summer Concerts, the best fireworks on 4th of July, one of the nicest libraries on the Peninsula (small, but still great), Active Community.
I love this city. It's the best of both world. Great for family life... Great for your social life. You're right smack in the middle of the Peninsula. If you wanna party, go to SF... You wanna eat, head to SJ. Then you head 20 min South or 30 min North, straight home to Foster City.
Foster City is safe. Good for most kids. But personally boringly safe.
It's a small town which can be good and bad. It can be a Peyton Place at times. You see almost everyone at Safeway one time or another. I've lived here for 15 years and ever since we moved here, there was talk about a high school. 15 years later, still no high school! So most of the kids have to leave town. Kids that grew up together in the 3 elementary schools meet up at the one middle school and then, sadly, separate after graduation since many go on to different high schools. No wonder they cry after the graduation party since they are leaving their friends and their safety net. Now, that can be good or bad, depending on whether you are happy in your cliques or happy to escape them. I would move but my kids are mostly happy here so I have to settle for now. Bah.
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IRVINE OF THE BAY AREA. I like this city. It is so well planned and organized. I used to have a lot of family living in Foster City but now just an uncle and his wife. The city itself have progressed really well. New establishments started sprouting all over, even VISA used to have their corporate headquarters here. Foster City is mostly residential. It is quiet and safe. The only thing I don't like about this city, almost everything closes at 9 pm. I mean even the Starbucks.
I really have fond memories of Foster City. Those were the days gone by.
I have a question though, what the heck is the reasoning behind the name "The City of Foster City?" The city of a city?
A typically fabulous suburbia. I grew up here. I played with the kids next door, rode my bike in the streets and played soccer at the local parks. It is ridiculously safe. I can't tell you how many times I snuck out in high school, walked through the empty streets and not once did I feel unsafe.
Foster City is as typical as a local suburban town as you can get. Soccer, t-ball, local pizza joints (i miss go-getters!). But it also has a lot more than you would think. The new library is pretty nice and has quite a selection. There is a church or temple for almost every religion. There is also an abundance of good authentic ethnic restaurants coupled with the standard chains.
Located directly in between San Francisco and Stanford University, you are less than 30 minutes (without traffic mind you) from anything you could want. The local community center offers yoga, salsa, tennis and even life coaching. There are at least two large gyms to join (probably more, but i can't think of any right now).
There are condominiums, starter homes and larger homes to choose from these days. Although, still not cheap. I never went to the public schools in the area, so I can't comment on them. But, my cousins went to the elementary schools and middle school which allowed them to get into a good private high school.
I loved growing up here. I love coming home. It's a great place to start a family. But, I must admit, living here young and single kinda makes me cringe. It shuts down pretty early!
There are times when I am bound to this small town, unable to make it outside of its watery gates. I'll sit and wonder how to get out, to walk into bigger and better things...and then nights like this allow for everything bad I had ever believed about the place that raised me fall right to the ground.
There have been several of these nights. One of them was on my 13th birthday, 2am, and the water was still. The air moved so silently, the moon's reflective light coming from the water. Everything was emblazened in silver. It was so warm, so comforting. I stayed outside and wished the moments would pass slower, so I could breathe in enough traquility to last a lifetime. I couldn't stop smiling, and everything that was wrong with life at the time floated away in the ripples flowing south.
Then there was a day I came home to visit my parents. The weather was so beautiful, so calm, so frighteningly idyllic. We made dinner and watched a movie with the sliding doors wide open, cooling the granite for each step we took pacing around the new kitchen and living room. We took some snacks out to the boat and drifted quietly with no particular endpoint in mind.
Tonight, however...tonight was serene. Despite winter's cold breath kissing my cheeks and exposed skin, there were stars in the sky and a moon shining brilliantly downwards. I sat outside with Ashley. The smoke escaped from our lips and carried itself away with the zealous breeze, and we closed our eyes, occasionally opening them to prove a point in our discussion. Sure, the topic wasn't what I hoped it could be, as such a night deserved nothing but the best, but it was killing me nonetheless and I cared little about its appropriative nature. We wrapped up and stepped silently inside where we headed upstairs to continue our respective activities (mine being the computer and hers speaking to her long-distance boyfriend).
Foster City might be a suburb, but where else can you experience such a peace of mind while still being a relatively short distance to the rest of the Bay Area? How could you even compare?
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Great place to live! Why?
1. You can commute to SF, San Jose, East Bay.
2. Very safe place for raising a family
3. Diverse - this place has a good mix of ethnic groups. Caucasian, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, etc. Most have very high income white collar jobs and place emphasis on education.
4. Good schools: good grades, and very diverse - like going to the UN.
Why it's not a great place.
1. No local high school - the largest city in California without a high school.
2. If you are single, this has got to be the most boring place to live, potentially, on Earth.
3. If an earthquake should strike, your assets may become liquid...literally.
4. If you live near the Bay, an airplane will fly over your house every 3 minutes.
If you are raising young kids, 5 stars. No question.
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Foster City is a pretty great area. There's lots of nice parks, beautiful water views, accessibility to public transport, and it's just a quick jump away from San Fran, San Jose, and Oakland. Living here could be a blessing or a curse depending on what type of person you are. If you are young, vivacious, and interested in going out for a night on the town, this is not the place for you. It has very very very few night spots and is primarily young families and older adults. Because of this, it is very quiet and relaxing...but can border on boring from time to time. Luckily it's close enough to the city if you want a more lively experience. Foster City is what they call a "planned city" meaning everything is mapped out in a particular and purposeful way. It has everything necessary for a city to have: post office, library, fire/police dept., schools, Home Depot, Target, etc.... Everything is within a few minutes driving distance...and what ever is missing here is sure to be in San Mateo, just a moment away.
Traffic can be rough around weekends, but overall isn't very nasty. Weather is windy but comfortable. I've lived here for a year with my partner and it's been a great experience...that being said, I'm also ready to move on and see what new experiences are ahead.
It's the burbs alright!!! ugh - growing up FCPD was always riding my tail.... remember cal bugs? The little Volkswagens that raced around with teenagers at the wheel? Yeah, that was me... and I swear they had nothing better than to look for stuff to pull me over about... too low, too loud, broken this, broken that.... but now that I'm all grown up and drive an invisible car, so they leave me alone.
The water is nice! great for boating to the Friday concerts in the park... and the fourth of July party is a blast! See the fireworks over the water.... oooooh aaaaaah
yup... it's the burbs.... just don't get caught in the sidewalks when they roll them up each night.
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Living in Foster City has been great. It definitely is the burbs, but why live in the Peninsula if you don't wanna live in the burbs?
It's a nice community with a lot of outdoor activities, such as windsurfing, kayaking, and running by the bay. Great combination of mom and pop shops and big business. Easy commute to San Francisco via Sam Trans FX and FC is well kept. Every time I come visit my mom in Foster City it's always like a vacation. Tanning by the lagoon or taking out a boat on the water. Where else on the Peninsula can you enjoy such amenities?
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Easy living, easy access to all the major fwys...& as long as you don't get lost in the "circles" of FC, and there are several (reminds me of my yrs "lost in Wash., DC), can be a very relaxing place. Rents are high & so are home prices. But oh those breezes on hot summer nights. A good place to sit outside & chill. Strangers smile at you & nod hello (ok, maybe you have to smile 1st), but sometimes that's more than enough. A good place, too, for walks in the mornings or evenings. And yes, those FC cops will getcha for speeding. If that's all they have to do...pretty safe.
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The best landfill can offer! This is a great place for kids to grow up. It is a planned community with the lagoon throughout. As the circular island it is, it is convenient and totally possible for kids to take themselves to their friends' houses to play. If it seems too far (it's only about 3 miles in diameter) or frustrating with the bridges, go by boat or just cross through one of the many parks that connect the cul-de-sacs and streets. The levee keeping the bay at bay is a great place to get some exercise: go for a walk, bike ride, rollerblade, etc. Bring a jacket. Foster City is the windy city of the peninsula and usually 5-10 degrees colder than anywhere else. It is, afterall, an island on the bay. The dog park is the best on the peninsula and expect your pooch to cry every time you drive past it without stopping.
Foster City has some downsides. Housing costs have gotten so grossly out of hand, as has most of the bay area, but it is particularly ridiculous bang-for-buck-wise here. Strip-mall businesses have popped up for convenience, but have stripped the city of the quaint, sleepy-town charm it once had and any of the few now-matured trees that previously existed. With the large number of apartment and condo communities here, you also get quite the population of temporary residents. The families that first chartered living here starting around 1966 are now selling their homes and moving out. Long gone are the days of everyone knowing their neighbors and everyone else in the city. It has lost the personal feel it once had.
Foster City is a very clean city and you never have to go through a 'bad' neighborhood to get to your good one. As far as safety is concerned, it's a fairly safe community unless you consider the earthquake factor... want to go for a swim?
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My friends from SF call Foster City "the white projects". No culture, no history, no [decent] restaurants, built on a landfill. I'd say the only benefits are an almost zero percent crime rate, so it's great for raising children (they will later rebel for being forced to live here as teenagers, sorry mom and dad), and their library is amazing. Just don't take a bus here and expect to be able to get out after 7pm. The 251 stops running before nightfall, much to my 14-year-old self's chagrin.
The 4th of July fireworks are overrated, and it's annoying to have the population of my shitty little hometown double for one night and have 16 year olds shooting bottle rockets throughout my neighborhood, especially since I used to babysit most of them.
One of my favorite memories of moving to Foster City was my first bike ride around my new neighborhood at age six, where I promptly got lost and realized that all of the houses are painted identically in each complex. I rode around crying for 20 minutes, weaving through maze after maze of brown and white poorly constructed 70's townhouses (they now have a new color scheme and are grey and...lighter grey). A fine welcome to the suburbs.
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I like to say Foster City is like Lewisville, Texas (I know you've never been there, but try to picture it.) It's flat, it's full of the same chain restaurants, and there's plenty of free parking. Even though I live in Belmont, I find myself coming here a lot to get my Target fix and find a place to eat that's open past 8pm on a Sunday.
Ah... F-City. As in she was hungry and ready so I took her to F-City.
F-City seems to have lagoons everywhere which is cool. Unfortunately they're mostly surrounded by apartment buildings from the early 70s. I almost moved into one of these buildings just to live on the water.
You can take a water taxi from one side of the Marina Lagoon to the Fish Market which I think is pretty f-ing cool, F-City. Of course this is technically San Mateo, but it feels enough like F-City to count.
The weird thing about F-City is that they don't seem to have any restaurants within the city boundaries. Yeah, there's the cool Chevys on the water and there's the place with expensive Italian food and Swiss rosti, but beyond that the pickins are slim.
Sure, there's the fast food clusterfuck over on Triton Dr. but that doesn't count. Speaking of which I used to go that Pizza Hut all the time and it seemed to only be patronized by Indian families. Which made me wonder... where are all the Indian restaurants? I heard a decent place finally opened on Shell or somewhere which is good since Shimla doesn't just suck ass, it eats it as well.
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Wow, reviewing a city?
I've worked here for over six years.
There's no decent food, nothing to do, and this place essentially a city of office parks and overpriced condos built atop landfill.
The cops are really bored. Corporate American crime is in the offices, not in the streets, so the cops are on constant patrol, from strip mall to gas station to fast food joint to corporate park. Driver, beware.
The only good things? There's never a shortage of parking, and the streets don't stink.
The fake lagoon does, however, during the summer...
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Well, I am now a resident of Foster City.! They should rename this Condotown or Condo City hahahaha as they were the ones to invent condos hahahaha just kidding about everything except for being a resident so far.! But, it seems as though the city has so many condos along with Redwood Shores, so, I don't know who comes in 1st; maybe it is safe to say that it is a tie. Anyhow, I have always loved Foster City for its layed back, small town feel, yet packed with restaurants, markets, and shops for every ethnicity and budget. I love all of the walking trails and spacious parks, as well as all of the events and concerts that take place. I can hardly wait until the 4th of July when they have the festival in Leo Ryan Park as it is a short walk from my place and to see how it turns out once they are done with the construction. Now, don't get me wrong, I could never stay in the city all the time; after all, a man has to explore the rest of the bay area and we are only 30 minutes from both San Francisco and San Jose and minutes from the rest of the bay area. So, there you have it.! A centralized location minutes from anywhere with a lot of places to go and things to do. What more could you ask for in a city?!
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I recently moved here and it's fantastic. It's completely safe and the weather is so beautiful. I can't wait to start kite surfing.
If you drive a shady looking car, don't drive through FC. You may get pulled over. FCPD are everywhere! They WILL find you!
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I love my new town of Foster City. I have two kids and it is the dream that Ira Levin and Bryan Forbes gave us. Whole Foods, my local church, is housed near by. the killer preschool my kids go to is hear. And now a lovely town home in walking distance from the park. Birds and and little creatures come and visit, I feel like Snow White, if only i can teach them how to make the bed too. Anyhow, I like this town and if it is good enough for Thomas Sowell it is good enough for me, I think it is cute that a lot of the houses are on little lakes and things, ducks come and my kids love ducks. Loving ducks is one step toward stewardship!
The five stars are for the Lions Club that puts on the July 4th show every year and for the F.C.P.D that is always on hand. The F.C.P.D. almost dragged down the rating, though. I saw about ten of them running up a parking ramp, in hot pursuit, last year--they were the slowest, thick-waisted looking cops since Reno 911!
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This city is OK. Not my favorite, but I do enjoy the library and walking on the levy. It's pretty bland, but there is a lot of parking every where and I have had many good hilarious times in the vicinity of this place.
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Foster City. Ahhhh, I love it here. I call it the city of a thousand parks. Wonderful place to raise children and run dogs! I love the family/community feel - they have events all the time - little parades, and parties. To be continued because I likey the lagoons!
I like Foster City for its nice parks, quiet clean neighborhoods, little to no crime, great library! I like to run by the water and watch the sunset. There is not much to do here but relax, walk around, visit local restaurants or shops. My favorite hair salon is there, Barberia. And Foster City now has a Ranch 99 which brings nice diversity to the town. And Costco with its delicious pizza!
Like P. Doughboy, whose true identity shall go unrevealed, I have some roots here: my mother has lived here for about 16 years and I also did a couple of stints here back in the dizzay. Its hard to rate a place like this because, on the one hand, there is more than ample parking, absolutely no crime, your pick of clean nicely-maintained fast food joints, and all the street medians are meticulously planted with pretty pretty flowers, not a weed to be seen in the whole town. But on the other hand, as a master-planned city, it is totally sterile, excessively ordered and manicured, devoid of anything that could be called quaint, cute, historic or architecturally-appreciable and chock full of undiagnosed OCD patients who dress up their terriers in pink sweaters and designer booties. I will, however, give it props for working a series of interconnected lagoons into the master design, even though ridiculous little jungle cruise putt-putt boats sail by all too frequently.
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Clean, pretty, and safe. What more can you ask for in a town?
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ah foster shitty as my friends in the city love to call it...i'm an sf native, born and bred and moved out here about 15 years ago thinking the move would be temporary and i'd convince my then boyfriend to move into the city. then i got knocked up , had kids and couldn't get my husband to agree that raising our kids in the mission district was a good idea, that riding the 14Mission and dodging crazy homeless people on the way to school would build character. so we live here in overpriced suburban sterility....which i've come to love. so safe, so clean, so accessible. you've got access to 101, 92 and 280...you're 20 mins to SF or SJ, there are a million parks and you can actually let your kids out of the house to play without resorting to implanting them with an RFID chip. hell, there's even samtrans public transit access from almost any street, free concerts in the park, a brand new library, 4th of july fireworks, 3 grocery stores and major corporations headquartered here so you can find a job nearby and never leave city limits. who needs character, charm and quirkiness? i'd tell you i miss the city, but i never have to worry about coming outside my house to find someone's either pissed or puked on my front doorstep.
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