The apartment was very clean. It wasn't quite as nice as the pictures show in the listing but that's typical of age of a home and general upkeep. Overall we had a nice stay. Columbia Heights is a recently gentrified area so if you aren't familiar with the area it may throw you off. There's a nice shopping area nearby and lots of places deliver for meals if you don't feel like going out. We didn't use the Metro but Uber and Lyft were very easy to get to/from the apartment.