Senegal is not as cheap as other African nations, and Dakar is an expensive city in Senegal, so all things considered this centrally-located hotel is good value. The rooms were large, clean, with hot water, the reception staff were friendly and helpful. If you want downtown accomodation which doesn't cost the earth then I'd recommend the Farid.

Hotel Farid is located right in the center of the Plateu (downtown) Dakar, within walking distance from Place de l'Independance, the ferry to Ile de Goree, downtown markets and shopping avenues. The room are clean and ok for a stay in the city. The staff is helpful and the people at the reception usually speak other languages besides French (at least English, and possibly some Italian/Spanish). The lebanese restaurant of the hotel, located cross the street, is a nice place with great food.

We booked Hotel Farid as it was the best hotel we could see with our budget and were pleasantly surprised about the quality of the hotel and friendlyness of the staff.

the hotel was clean and well designed and had good access to the internet. the restaurant was very pleasant and secluded and gave a feel that we were not in senegal at all.

the staff were very friendly and helpful and should I need to visit Senegal again I will definately book this hotel

I'm used to credit card charges when booking hotels, so I was a little nervous with just email correspondence for our booking. But our room was waiting for us upon our very late arrival.

The "Classic" rooms are more humble than an average Quality Inn--just well-worn basics, but clean, as anyone who travels much outside the U.S./Europe might expect. The slightly-overpriced restaurant across the street is nice, and the one up the street and around the corner was great. The staff was helpful with our tourist-y questions and poor French.

Pros: clean rooms, centrally located (walking distance to everything in Dakar), free internet access, helpful staff
Cons: some noise from stairs/hallway and streets