The location (and price for such) of Mario’s place is definitely the best aspect. it is right next to the underground station and is literally on top of a good sized supermarket. Mario’s mom came out and met us outside the supermarket upon arrival. She was very nice and showed us to our room. The dark alley walking to the house looks questionable but never had any issues, seemed safe.
The room was average size and pretty clean; had a small armour, water heating pitcher, some teas, a bowl of fruit, and a bottle of body wash ready for us. Being SO close to the metro was good, but be aware that you can definitely hear/feel the train going by under you every 3 minutes. We are both pretty sound sleepers, but it woke us up a couple times and it’s difficult falling back asleep afterwards because of the constant metro sounds. The price was very reasonable and I guess this is the unexplained downside that leads to the phrase “you get what you pay for.”
The supermarket downstairs and proximity to the metro are both awesome. The noisy metro underneath was undesired, but not horrible. Overall I would stay here again, but might also look elsewhere and pay a little more not to have metro noise.
One tip for first time visitors to London (much like us): the Underground prefers contactless payments (tap to pay credit cards) and Apple Pay, much more so than getting paper tickets each day. Just tap your phone or card (no need for tickets) on the entry and exit stalls when you enter and leave the underground. The system will charge you the appropriate rate, as well as cap you at the daily maximum if you take many rides during the day. This comes out way cheaper than the all day paper pass which was 13.10€.