I really wanted to like this place, but I have to give it 3 stars; maybe a weak 3.5 stars. Before we go into details, a few quick important things to note:
- this is a walk up; there are a two long sets of stairs to climb to get to the units. Mentally prepare if you have large/heavy bags.
- there is no Bluetooth or smart speaker in either of the units, but they do have roku TV
- there is a Brita filter stashed away in the lazy Susan kitchen cupboard
- in total, there is space for 15 people to sleep if you share beds (one of the beds is a single daybed in the living room; all others are doubles or queens, and one king bed). Do not recommend anyone sleeping on the couch as they are either small or not super comfortable.
And now for the details: The apartment on the left side as you walk up the stairs was not clean even though we were told it would be (we were denied an early check in citing extensive covid cleaning times). The bathroom was TINY (tall people, your knees will hit the wall in front of you when you’re seated on the toilet), there was no toilet paper holder, no hand towel or hand towel holder, no bath mats, no body wash or conditioner (only shampoo and hand wash), the caulking in the shower was black and moldy, and there was a massive spider in the shower too when we got there. The couch is old and quite sunken in/low set. The kitchen is dated - old fridge, old sink etc and was also dirty - the dishes themselves were not cleaned properly (dried up food on half the silverware), and the silverware organizer had crumbs of old food in it. The bedroom to the right when you walk in had uncomfortable beds (though the other bedrooms seemed fine in comparison) and very synthetic feeling cheap sheets/blankets (the staticky fake/fluffy flannel kinds). The aesthetic of the place was overall fine, but we could not understand why the place was not clean. 5 out of 8 of our guests were having skin and respiratory allergy issues only when we were inside the unit - we were fine when we stepped outdoors. It was likely either mold, dusty air, or itchy sheets, or all causing the allergies.
The second apartment (door to the right when you get up the stairs) in comparison seemed much newer, renovated, and cleaner, and the bathroom is a good size. However, still issues of no hand towels or bath mats, and this place was missing the TV remote.
If you’re staying here over the weekend especially, it is LOUD at night (there’s a hip hop club right across the street and people hanging out, drinking and being merry on the boulevard). It sounds like the windows may as well not even be there and you will definitely need ear plugs if you’re sensitive to noise when sleeping. One of the nights, a full scale brawl broke out in front of the building and there were 50+ men punching and tackling each other and cops standing around - while this I’m sure is not commonplace, it was very scary and unsafe trying to get to the apartment main door. This should give you an idea of the age demographic and vibe on the streets over a weekend night - it’s a party street and anything can happen.
Lastly, while the hosts are very responsive and professional, you have to beg and plead with them for bag storage (not actually staying there) earlier or later than check in, and they only allowed us this during check in. We had to buy luggage storage through Stasher at a hotel 10 minutes away and lugging around our bags when we could have easily stowed luggage for a couple of hours (well before next guest check in time) was not fun at all.
Overall, it’s doable if you’re not super fussy about the things I mentioned above, but I was expecting much better based on previous reviews and felt it was important to write a more honest review of this place. Not a hard no, but definitely missable if you have other comparable options to consider.