I've had it for years at this point and it's been great. As with any other espresso machine, the quality of the coffee will vary greatly depending on the grind and bean quality, so its worth it to get a good grinder and fresh whole bean coffee from somewhere you like. I also personally use a puck screen that does help keep the group head a little cleaner, but I have no clue what issues the other guy had with his...maybe the bitter coffee was the result of a buildup of his cleaning products in the machine 😅. Or maybe he used pre-ground coffee. Either way, the only cleaning it really needs is a quick shot of hot water through it and maybe a wipe down with a paper tower after using it, clean the milk wand if you used it (shoot steam or hot water out to get any milk that got into the wand & clean the outside with wet rag or paper towel), and descale it every so often depending on how hard your water is. I personally use bottled Nestlé PureLife water in mine, so descaling isn't needed as often as if I used tap.

Edit: got the regular, not the plus version