I was in Central Park yesterday doing hill repeats and I thought that I'd take a swing by. I rode up Lenox Ave from the park, and then across 130th to 5th, then down 5th. I would say that it is OK up to 130th, but beyond that looked less nice. 130th itself is lined with brownstones on one side and houses on the other side in a style unlike anything else I've seen in NYC. There looked to be plenty of cafes and restaurants centered around 125th St as I expected since it is THE main street of Harlem. I turned down 5th and went by a house/building where 2 young women were coming out, and I think speaking French (there was another woman speaking on her phone in Spanish drowning them out). It wasn't so nice, but I wouldn't expect Versailles either.
Basically it is as Tom described.