First the good part. Leon, the host was polite and available through the Airbnb app. Communication was perfect and arrival was seamless. The apartment is located indeed 3 min away from the pink line station that takes you downtown to most of Chicago attractions in about 20 min. The kitchen was duly equipped with utensils, coffee maker and microwave oven in working condition. There were complimentary drinks in the fridge and some basic food left over by previous guests that did come in handy (e.g., sugar, salt, coffee, filters, etc.). A/C and free wifi worked properly.
Now the part that's not so good. From the pictures, I expected an apartment in better condition. The furniture is virtually nonexistent and the place needs a maintenance round. There is just a couple of beds, a sofa and a kitchen table with chairs. No night stands, totally empty living room beyond the sofa, and closets are just a hole in the wall with hangers. Power outlets are like on the opposite side of where you need them. No wall decoration to make it look a little cozy. Certainly not the nicest place ever by any standard.
Some parts also need major fixing. Two of the curtain rods fell off the wall as soon as I touched them. Could not manage to open the windows to get some fresh air (thankfully there was working A/C in the bedrooms). The hot water tap in the kitchen leaked and sprinkled when the cold water started running. The bathtub tap was detached from the wall. Some of the power sockets were missing the cover and the cables in the wall were visible. There was a broken tile in the living room that left sharp edges exposed. The place was clean on the surface but needed some deeper scrubbing. One of the bedrooms was dusty, especially in places out of plain sight. The kitchen cabinets were kind of sticky and the drawer where the utensils and silverware was supposed to go was full of junk, so we had to leave everything on the counter top (as we found it). The fridge power had been cranked up and the complimentary water bottles were frozen solid (so much for the courtesy).
As per the neighborhood, it is an obvious low-income . Nothing against it and there was no safety issues whatsoever, but it is not the nicest place to stay in, especially because there was very little around. A Walgreens pharmacy, a small grocery store, a tiny Subway shoved into a nearby gas station and a couple of taco joints. That’s it. Better have something to eat before you go back to the apartment or find someplace else a supermarket to get food and cook it yourself.
All in all, disappointed. Neither the place nor the area was what I expected. Would definitely not return or recommend.