Green’s Dictionary of Slang

rinky-dink adj.²

1. cheap, second-rate.

1913		Wells Fargo Messenger I. 105/3: She had sense enough to know that she did not care to ruin her life as a Sunday supplement feature to some rinky-dinky foreign count .
1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1959		Murtagh & Harris Who Live In Shadow (1960) 21: I did bits in every rinky-dink pen in town.
1961		R. Serling ‘A Thing About Machines’ in More Stories from the Twilight Zone 53: That rinky-dink original Marconi operating under the guise of a legitimate radio.
1974		V.E. Smith Jones Men 124: He was a rinky-dink dope dealer.
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 396: Some a them scuffle along with a rinky-dink criminal practice.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 67: Not like those rinkydink toys sold in S&M shops.
2006		C. Carr Our Town 358: The Dragon estimated [...] that was ‘a bargain when you consider the billions and billions of dollars this country wastes on rinky-dink countries’.
2012		Chicago Trib. 17 May TAB-6/1: Blasting the miniature chasm for having the nerve to form on ‘a rinky-dink’ side street.

2. outdated, unfashionable.

1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 87: My struggle-buggy was getting to look like a rinky-dink old tin can on wheels.
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 110: Ernest quickly shows him [...] the rinky-dink back sink (as he calls it).
2000		Guardian Rev. 25 Feb. 27: The irksomely ditzy, rinky-dink Meg Ryan.

In compounds

rinky-dink joint (n.) [joint n. (3b)]

(US black) a cheap tavern or inn.

1993

L. Rodríguez Always Running (1996) 42: rinky dink – a low form of amusement place.