What's Cherokee Street like?

My gf and I were in town over the weekend looking at apartments. One apartment we saw in Benton park checked many of our boxes. We liked how the immediate area was spotted with small restaurants and nearby Soulard. When we asked about areas that should be avoided we were warned about a "stretch on Cherokee". So we never went down there. But now we're back home (out of state) looking at maps and it looks like there's a strip of Cherokee (between Jefferson and Pennsylvania) that has plenty of restaurants, bars and other random shops within walking distance of the apartment. So whats Cherokee st last like?