Los Altos Hills – Top 20 places for music shops20 recommended music shops in Los Altos Hills

Meeting Chrissy during a serendipitous break between showing appointments at the Steinway showroom was an absolute stroke of luck! My colleague Stacie, had been searching for a piano for a while, and the excitement in her eyes was palpable as we entered the showroom.

Chrissy’s knowledge of Steinway pianos was nothing short of impressive. She effortlessly guided us through the various models, sharing valuable insights and comparisons that made the decision-making process much easier. Her passion for these instruments shone through in every detail she shared, and it was clear that she genuinely loved her work.

But beyond her expertise, Chrissy’s friendly and personable nature made the whole experience truly enjoyable. We found ourselves engaged in lively conversations with her, laughing and sharing stories as if we were old friends. It was evident that she not only excelled at her job but also had a genuine desire to connect with her customers and make their piano-buying journey special.

If you find yourself in the market for a Steinway piano, I wholeheartedly recommend seeking out Chrissy at the showroom here in Los Altos. Her expertise, combined with her infectious joy and genuine love for the pianos, will undoubtedly make your experience unforgettable. We’re grateful for the encounter and can’t thank Chrissy enough for making it such a memorable and positive one.

This Steinway showroom is modern and beautiful ! Great selection with wonderful staff. My friend bought a Boston piano from the manager here and referred us here. We are happy their service before and after!

A beautiful Steinway company showroom with best piano in the world. We came here because we want to go directly with Steinway company so we don’t need to worry about dealers’ high pressure’s sales technique with untrue pricing game.
It was an amazing experience- The staff are polite, professional and very knowledgeable! the manager is an exceptional pianist herself. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

These are nice but very expensive, the Mercedes of pianos. No bargaining!

Worst Steinway store I’ve ever been to. The service from the manager was absolutely horrible, she was unfriendly, rude, and obnoxious. The first thing she did was ask if I had an appointment and when I didn’t she said that I couldn’t play any of the pianos. If I were going to buy a piano, how would I be able to choose one without playing them? When I asked why not, her reason was “All these pianos will be in people’s houses”. I asked, “so have these all been bought already?” She answered “no, but they are on display for people to buy so they have to be clean”. She thought that me playing the pianos would get them dirty and I guess taking a wet cloth to the keys is too much for her. I’m shocked that this place is still in business, given the utterly pathetic service.

No talegg, extremely dissatisfied.

I had an uncomfortable experience when scheduling an appointment with the sales manager in this store. On Monday, I submitted an inquiry online for the sales events that will happen during this weekend. The store manager from Las Altos called me back. After brief greetings, she introduced me how transparent the company’s pricing policy is, and then asked me a bunch of questions, including what’s my budget? the model I am interested in? I told her right away that I actually want to visit the Walnut Creek store and I am interested in the pre-owned 1983 model s listed on their website. She went over its pricing with me. Then I asked her if I could see this particular piano in person. Then she asked me “would you need to try the piano before you decide to buy it?” I said “Yes, of course.” Then she told me at the time that she didn’t know where this piano would be located during the sales event. She also kindly promised me that she will call me back once she figures it out. So I waited until Thursday and realized that no one, in fact, was going to call me back, feeling quite surprised at that moment. Since the sales event was approaching, I called the Walnut Creek store directly. The funny thing is that they confirmed with me that this particular piano is right there in their store since it has been listed on the website, which invalidates what she had said previously–the Walnut Creek store only sells one type of brand-new piano.

Now the situation is that the staff in the Walnut Creek store thinks that I should work with the sales in the Las Alto store as they called me first. But they don’t have the piano I am interested in. I was very shocked and frustrated because the sales manager Chrissy Huang in the Las Altos store lied to me over the phone and completely disrupted my schedule. It felt as if I was back-stabbed by a stranger for no reason.

The bottom line is that she can tell me she won’t be able to help me out with my purchase and/or transfer me to the Walnut Creek store. It’s unprofessional and dishonest that one promises things on one hand and shows one’s passive aggression by neglecting my request and phone calls on the other hand.

Honestly, I don’t think I would ever purchase pianos in the bay area Steinway stores. After reading others’ reviews, I think my experience somewhat resembles others’. Trying out the piano you will take home makes a whole lot of sense, especially for Steinways, as each of their pianos is different. Musicians with fine sensitivities would notice the difference on tone and touches right away. No one wants to buy a piano that has lower quality than what they paid for. You really need to carefully examine the piano you plan to purchase.

Sellers who don’t allow customers to try out piano are the ones who want to make quick and easy money. Buyers should always avoid sellers who doublespeak or cheat. No one is interested in playing “catch me if you can” when purchasing a piano.

We hired Sami and his group to sing and DJ for my a wedding. He is very professional, talented, easy to work with, and punctual. We gave him some suggested songs, and he chose some. The evening was unforgettable. We have attended many events that were hosted by Sami, and we are impressed every time. Our experience with Sami and his team was great. An A+ team.

Sami was the DJ at our engagement party at the Westin Hotel! We had about 150 people there and Sami did a wonderful job coordinating everything and our 3 different playlists. He even sang some Arabic songs on our playlist and sang a little in French! Sami was also so wonderful with our timeline. We were right on time with everything and he made it so easy for us. Everyone was dancing the night away. Thank you Sami for everything!!!

Good app

As far as know, this is the only store which sells professional grade brass intruments in the silicon valley. I tried several cornets and bought a Getzen Eterna here. I have been quite satisfied with both the intruments and thestore.

Steve Boughman went out of his way to degrade and mistreat me. The man was incredibly rude and condescending when he tried to sell me a saxophone in poor condition. Worst experience I have ever had in a music store. Disappointed and ashamed as a local musician that these are the types of repair people we have to deal with. Take your business ANYWHERE else.

This place is good if you have a high end musical instrument. I went in to repair my sons trumpet and they basically told me that they wouldn’t service it because it wasn’t a high end thousand dollar instrument. Too bad, I was actually looking to buy him a new intermediate trumpet for his birthday here in the next few months but they will not be getting my business.

Thank you for firing her

Customer service is great. Well experienced staff.

Ideal shop for acoustic instrument. Although they are primarily focused on Taylor and Martins brands you will also find a variety of other high quality guitars, mandolins and banjos. The store folks are very helpful, competent and genuinely follow the customer in his search.

Good guitar repair.

My brother goes here, he loves it. Everyone is nice, a bit small.

There is no place for hateful ideology at Gryphon Strings.

Terrible hiring practices

Worker’s are verry disrespectful

Cheating.

I once went to the store and looked for a limited version guitar. The sales people told me to leave my phone number and said that it would arrive in two months. I double checked if it would be the exact model and that guy was super confident. After that no one contacted me and I went to the store again two months later. This time they showed me a different model and said that the one I was looking for were not available for a long time.

What a waste of time! I will never deal with them again.

Very helpful staff! Called ahead and everything was ready and waiting for me when I got there. Sanitizer available in multiple places. Well stocked. This will be my go-to place for all things music in the future!

Finally caught on.

I’ve bought several instruments here and my girls have both taken private lessons here too. Everything is high quality and the staff is friendly, knowledgeable and super helpful. Highly recommend visiting one of the few independent music stores left open

Lots of goodies, nice location

Very helpful staff. Went above and beyond to help my son for his first year in school band.

Friendly, helpful and knowledgeable staff.

Took my flute collection in for a possible tune up. Was told that all but one of the flutes were unplayable. Guess my looks or money weren’t what they accepted there. Took my ‘non playable’ flutes, and commenced to use them to busk, there in downtown Mtn View. Odd that they were declared unplayable, yet I was playing at least one of them not 30 minutes later. Care to explain West Valley Music staff ?

I went in to Sono Strings to look for a viola. The staff is so helpful and they love what they do. Sono Strings has a great selection and great prices. I love my instrument that I purchased from them. This is the place I would recommend to all musicians.

This place has a lovely and bright atmosphere and the employees were super friendly and accommodating. I’m looking forward to coming here more often 😀

I went in to get a string replaced on a violin. The owners welcomed me as soon as I stepped in the door and got me taken care of promptly. They only charged for the string itself, no service fee for stringing it on, and I was given very helpful advice on proper storage and maintenance of the instrument.

Bad quality violin!!!! We rented a 1/8 violin but wanted to cancel our 3-month contract the same day we rented due to violin quality issue (black paint all over my child’s fingers with strong chemical smells on the surface of the strings and the string board, never happened on her own violins we bought before).

But the Asian female staff there refused, we ended up paying over $90 without playing for a single day!! She was also angry that we have rented another violin from elsewhere without going to them first. But we are very disappointed with the quality and do not want to bother exchanging for another one. And she kept asking for my current address and also read aloud my address from my driver’s license as if to threaten me. Horrible experience!!

The female staff also refuse to give me information of the owner and insisted that she contact the owner directly and would not give me a call if the owner refused to give me back my deposit.

We returned our violin after three months but they refused to give the deposit back to us 🙁

Refreshing beverages and tasty food served by friendly baristas.

This is a beautiful location. Right downtown. There are seating inside, outside and in side patio. The store is clean and well kept and the customer service is excellent. I went at 7 am so it was not busy.

Dietary restrictions: You have good options if you are lactose and or gluten intolerant. However, I would not be comfortable recommending if you have nut allergies.

Parking: Ample parking short and long term. Great location

Wheelchair accessibility: The store is accessible

Employees super clean! Wiping down every little thing!!

Same old experience. Not bad.

Pretty location

A pretty standard starbucks

I was ordering a cold brew for myself and asked for a tiny bit (espresso size) of a warm milk for a little kid. A very unfriendly employee named Sara said she will charge anyway for a full cup. “Great” service

cramped with merchandise and seating arrangement is awkward

Drink was not ready by 1 hour also did not include whipped cream. Got it on my shirt too

Kid-friendliness: Pup cups and small sizes

My daughter broke the tip of her bow and the gentleman at Palo Alto Violins kindly and promptly fixed it for a reasonable price. It works as promised. Well done! Thank you!

Larry was very kind, took time to answer my questions, and is doing some touch up work on my cello. He is very knowledgeable and I feel very confident he knows his stuff. I can’t wait to get my cello back.

Edit: Now I’ve got my cello back, and oh my god, it’s like a new instrument. The touch up work was excellent, and the adjustments he made for my sound post and bridge have made an enormous beneficial change in the sound. I am so thrilled. Thank you, Larry!

Very good violin maker

One of my students had an extremely negative experience shopping for their instrument at Palo Alto violins. Larry made racially charged comments to them about the kind of customers that he liked and they warned me to remove him from my list of vendors.

My favourite luthiers in the Bay Area! Everyone is very friendly and genuinely passionate about string instruments. Patrick is very knowledgeable and takes a lot of time explaining what needs to be done to your instrument. I learned a lot just by chatting with him. I definitely trust him a lot with my violin!

I have gone for bow rehairs (which they are well known for), instrument adjustments, and also bought my last violin there. They have a good selection of violins for advanced players. They also have the best rental-to-credit policy that I could find.

I got to try out some bows while Patrick worked on my bow. It was so nice to have a cool salon area to play for an hour. They are so nice and provide high quality service.

This is definitely one of the best strings store in the Bay Area. Their service is top notch and staffs are super friendly. We’ve been renting from Heaney for years with 3 kids. Now, we’re in the buying process and Heaney Violin had allowed us to take out instrument to try for 1 week each time. Trying without pressure! It’s a big decision and an investment so they are super helpful and never rush us into making that decision. Kudos to the staffs and this entire establishment. They deserve all the business here!! Thanks!

The cheapest violin was $500.

Went in to enquire about violins for beginners. Person had a snooty attitude for asking for violins in the lower price range. Went to West Valley music where they were very helpful

The service is not same as before. The current stuffs I met don’t know violin, cannot even tune the violin. So they just help you to do the transaction paper work and hand in the violin. You won’t be able to compare different violins. Moreover, they just keep asking you to upgrading. They don’t know customer’s needs, only want the quick transaction. Very disappointed!

Never open on time.

Belinda has been an inspiration to my family for decades. When so look at the little treasures I have gotten from BK, my heart just oohs and ahhs!

Fantabulous Gift Store with items you will find nowhere else! Exquisitely crafted Home decor, Serve Ware, ultra reasonably priced Jewelry, One of a Kind Christmas Ornaments, Gloves socks, travel ware, Purses, Handcrafted ceramics such as tea sets and tea cups, Hand crafted Rice bowl sets, Antique Asian Netsuke and ornamental statues, hand crafted cards,the list is almost endless!
The owner is incredibly kind, charming, and understated. You will never feel pressure. This is better than most stores in Carmel, Aspen, or any other destination resort.
Did I mention amazingly reasonable price points?
Check it out! While you are in downtown Los Altos, take the kids to Adventure Toys, and Lindentree Children’s book store, then have a fabulous meal in Downtown Los Altos, the best kept secret on the Peninsula.

A hidden gem! I came across the shop when walking in downtown and decided to hop in. Walked away with an amazing wedding gift for my friend thanks to the help of the lovely lady at the store. The shop has a myriad of unique items and is fairly priced imo. Check it out!