This is my local commune and it's generally pretty good, but the service you get is definitely so…read morevery dependent on the person behind the counter. But from some of the horror stories I have heard from expat friends living in other communes, I consider myself extremely lucky to be serviced by this commune. Being a foreigner in Belgium I have to register with the commune every year and so visit the place at least 3-4 times.
If you are a newcomer, be warned that there is extremely minimal signage in English and the "help desk" ladies are helpful solely depending on their mood. Your best friend is the little ticket counter stand, located to the right, as soon as you walk in the main doors. Here you can get your ticket stub for the service you want (I pretty much always choose the "estrangers" button) and then it's just a matter of waiting to see when your number gets called up.
Generally speaking for the Estranger counter, the male commune staffers are heaps more helpful than the women, with one bloke once even cheerfully volunteering that he would put a rush on getting my ID card since I was going to be traveling. Oh, one big improvement the Commune has also made is that the Estranger staffer now also speaks much better English than from 2 years ago, when I went through my first registration process.