I use http://axishost.com and never had a problem with them. I host my three sites on my server. Plus they have cpanel which makes mysql that much easier to administer
Forgot...you can find all sorts of dreamhost promo codes on retailmenot...you can get your first year for $22 if you get one of the $97 off codes... Otherwise, its like $1xx per year, but that's still cheap for what you get.
I have had horror experiences with site5.com (this one is a definate no, no because they don't allow directories and believe they are empowered to rid the web of SEO and treated me very poorly) and hostgator.com (left them around 8 months ago but have heard rumors that things may have gotten better?) I have had good experiences with and am currently hosting sites with BudgetHost.ca (been with them for around 6-months with no problems) and Zone.net (just started a managed VPS with them a few days ago). I always thought my directories were running pretty good but now that I have moved some of them to VPS I can really see a difference. Check yourself and see if there is a noticeable difference, I guess I should run them through a website to test them but especially when the web seems busy and many sites are running slowly I do notice a difference. www.wrdir.com running on my VPS www.submit4backlinks.com running on a reseller BTW I do intend to eventually move over all my directories to my VPS server. thanks
I absolutely love dreamhost Yes, the haters exist... and rightfully so - they are down more than other hosts... but for the price they are the absolute best (Espeically because they give you wildcard dns if you ask) I see HostGator getting in the same boat as DreamHost soon so incase you are current on HostGator and going to diss DreamHost... I forsee the future of HostGator the same boat