Green’s Dictionary of Slang

sloppy joe’s n.

[generic use of a supposed cook + sloppy Joe n. (2); the orig. Sloppy Joe’s was a Havana, Cuba, bar run by Jose (Joe) Abeal Otero (d. 1942), allegedly thus nicknamed for its low standards of hygiene]

(US) a cheap restaurant or snack bar.

Show quotations
[US]A. Bessie Men in Battle 59: There was a place in town we called Sloppy Joe’s, where bootleg wine could be had out of hours.