My friends and I had an easy booking experience with Roberto. Our stay was slightly mixed. But if you manage your expectations, it's a great place to stay.
Pros:
The location couldn't have been better! A very short walk to the beach, lots of cafés, restaurants, and shops nearby. There is a taxi stand right down the block.
We ladies felt very safe there. There's a doorman 24/7 and the neighborhood was full of families and sweet dogs.
The apartment itself is cute and well lit, with plenty of towels, a cookable kitchen, a washing machine, and three bathrooms.
Lots of beds to go around! We fit four comfortably upstairs, and some more could have crashed on the couches downstairs if needed. Clean beds, comfy pillows.
Cons:
There is a favela right outside the window. While this is a very Brazilian experience and an eye-opening PLUS, it was extremely, unbearably loud on Saturday night. If you have kids or you're a light sleeper, this may be a deal breaker. Until 2am Saturday, there was someone screaming (and I mean screaming) an evangelical speech with a giant speaker system so loud it sounded like the person was in our apartment. We couldn't really hear ourselves talk and we were quite unhappy. The other noise (chickens, kids, music, dogs) is very much to be expected and isn't absurd, just normal favela noise. Roberto responded quickly when I messaged him about it, and described the favela noise as "loud but bearable" which is accurate for the normal sounds (really not bad at all) but this Saturday night speech was something completely different. Just be prepared to be out of the apartment until the wee hours on Saturday, or have some really REALLY serious earplugs.
All three toilets work, but only one shower has hot water that we could figure out per Roberto's detailed instructions.
The stairs are not suitable for children or people with weak knees.
Overall, despite the cons, we'd stay there again. Good price, excellent location, easy booking. We'd just do what we did again and spent most of Saturday night at Rio Scenarium!