We have staid for 5 nights in this hotel.
The rooms where neat and the owners are extremely friendly, they will help you with everything.
The price is very reasonable, sertainly with the location.
Including in the price is a breakfast, also basic but nice.
Then again, if you're looking for something chique you have to go elswhere.
But we where very happy with this hotel

Very well located, you can touch the Sé, very good price BUT the rooms are really run down.
Facilities are in very bad condition, especially the bathroom. I would not recommend this place unless you have a very tight budget.

We have spent 4+2 nights in this wonderful Pensao in July 2009.
If you look for something modern, trendy and party-place then look for something else, probably in Barrio Alto.
If you look for a cosy place where you can feel the caring but being free as well then Pensao Sao Joao da Praca is for you.
The staff is superb, excellent, kind and helping. They always have a warm smile for you and no matter what question you turn to them with or what time of the day you go to them, they try to find an answer or a solution. Special thanks to you, José-Manuel and thank you, Anna, we hope you are all well and the place runs smoothly.
The rooms we had are spacious and friendly (207 and 307 if we remember well) - they are neat and clean, you can feel really good with the wooden floor and the views to the sea. (The only problem I had was that the bed was short for me - I'm 6'3". But this was a problem everywhere from Lisbon to Porto, and we stayed in 8 hostels/hotels/pensaos at least throughout our trip.)
You get clean towels and linen every day and the breakfast is included in the price which we found moderate. (The breakfast place looks like a family run restaurant, 50m from the pensao and the owner is a grumpy man with a wife who probably smiles once in every 2 weeks... The breakfast is satisfying, you get 2-3 rolls, cheese, jam and lots of coffee or tea.)
The surrounding area of Alfama is classic old-town and the proximity of Chatedral Sé makes Pensao Sao Joao da Praca feel more special.
I would recommend this place to anyone and everyone with good heart, we had a really good time there.

Agi & Daniel

like others, I suggest you go for the cheap rooms with communal bathrooms.

Our accommodation with bathroom en suite was not worth the extra money as the shared facilities are better - we suffered the unpleasant smell of drains in the bedroom and, as the bath did not drain away, we couldn't use the shower.

When we pointed out to the manager that we had paid 25 euros extra per night for our own bathroom, that there was a problem with the drains and that the shower was unusable, the charm soon disappeared.

This is really a pity as we had enjoyed great hospitality all over Portugal

If you stick to the basic rooms and shared facilities, this pensao is a good deal - doesn't seem to me like it's worth paying any more and raising expectations.

*I have ticked that I wouldn't recommend this place because of the manager's attitude to our concerns with the room - I would rather direct friends to places where there is a genuine concern for customer service.