We have moved here from Europe and were looking for an apartment in the Newton/Watertown/Waltham area. We were first shocked by overall appalling building quality of rentals, we have seen moldy walls, squeaky floors, drafty windows with close to $2000 price tags. Watertown square is little over $2000 for a 2-bedroom, but it is a pretty new building, nice quality, well equipped, and comes with underground parking. The location is perfect: Transportation is near, restaurants and shops abundant, and at the same time it's right on the Charles River. I can jog on the trail and forget about the city, or I can go fishing by literrally just crossing the street. Even my home wireless works at my favorite fishing spot! You can't beat that. The apartments facing Galen street are pretty noisy. The apartment is above average, if not excellent. Bathrooms are nice, kitchen has stainless steel equipments and an island with granite countertop. Walls are well insulated, we never hear the neighbors who are college students - well, not until the party continues on the hallway. We had numerous issues with HVAC and plumbing, furnace is loud and broke down twice, we had clogged drains, never stopping toilets, and our washing machine needed to be fixed once. And we had 3 fire alarms. All that in the first 4 month of our rent. And the garage door never works. To Archstone's credit, they respond to service calls quickly and professionally. We never had any issues with the staff, like many reviews say. Treat them with respect, and they will do the same. They do very strictly enforce the leasing terms, you do something bad, and next day a letter will be waiting for you. But that is probably the only way they can keep things in order with over 100 tenants. Overall, the place might not be excellent, but way better than anything we could find in the area.