good food good atmosphere. good food. a "real" ironbound experience. a lot lip service is given in the press to the "cultural experience" of dining in the ironbound. most of that "experience" consists of sitting in thematic dining rooms that could be anywhere and trying your high school spanish on the bus boy. ferry st bbq however is a real community restaurant. the food is about the same as i got in a couple of roadsidecharcoalpit restaurants while travelling in portugal. very tasty, although extremely salty. my favorite: grilled salmon.
the place is not dirty, but very worn from a constant volume of customers. i lived in the neighborhood and it has always been like that. it has been packed with people since the day it was opened, this pretty much guarantees the food inventory is fresh. don't expect much in the way of "service." you order your food, you eat, the minute you get up they wipe the bare table and somebody else will be sitting before it dries. it is what it is people.