El Ranchito is a good source of almost unrealistically cheap hangover food, and a fine place to go when you don't have much time or money but want to eat something less patently unwholesome than fast food. The restaurant isn't exactly pretty, but it's not exactly the kind of place one goes to sit down anyway, so maybe that's not a big deal. It's not exactly the universe's cleanest location, either, but it's really no worse than comparable establishments; let's be honest, if you're scared of a little grime you might not be ready for eating out in Brooklyn. The major drawback is that it's not always open when you might hope.

Bottom line: El Ranchito sells extremely cheap, reasonably good food that does pretty well in evaluations of dollars-spent per unit-of-enjoyment.