Sonny’s BBQ

You know what you are getting at Sonny’s. Maybe not the greatest BBQ in the world, but it’s pretty darn good. Yardbird is excellent IMHO. Love the beans, the fries are great, sliced pork is lean, man I’m getting hungry now!
Yes it’s a chain but I must admit they all run on the very clean, very efficient side. Never have to wait long for refills or re-​orders and the help is plenty nice. I think this one on Park Blvd is particularly well run as is the one right of 75 in Gainesville. Try the Gainesville location on Archer Rd on Gator gameday-​seems like that’s when they pull out ALL the stops!

I’m a sucker for anywhere with a decent salad bar, and this Sonny’s location has a decent salad bar. I typically hit the one on Tyrone Blvd but was on the way back from the comic shop with a car full of kids and needed food, stat, from a family-​friendly restaurant that wouldn’t mind if the five year old slipped under the table and crawled around like a roach a few times.
Fresh veg kept stocked up, and a few nice (probably institutional) protein sides — roast chicken salad, tuna salad, seafood delight. Also some delish squares of gelatinous bread pudding with raisins. Not technically a culinary masterpiece but a tasty treat all the same. Good green marshmallow goo too. Skip the tubs of dressing and look for the healthier, portioned dressings on the left side in little packets.
It’s funny how Sonny’s runs the spectrum from AYCE meat trough for the Sarlaac Pits to an affordable, reasonable option for someone in search of a fresh salad bar. But I’m glad it’s here.

Zero stars. After 10 minutes of no service as ppl who came in after us are being waited on we got up and went to asking for manager. waiting another 10 minutes. Left… Very poor customer service here. Waitresses ignored polite requests. Avoid the Sonny’s on park blvd unless you have all day to be treated poorly

We needed something quick so we went though the drive through! At first our order was wrong (small things) but Dalton made sure everything was fixed! He was extremely nice and helpful!

I like Sonny’s. Its a kid friendly environment, and nice and casual.
They have the best mac n cheese ever, and their fries — YUM.
I always get the salad bar when Im there.
The staff is always friendly, and as soon as the food comes out, they are already bringing back more food (from the all you can eat of course)
Best part of Sonnys — the to-​go cups.

Get in my belly! Love me some Sonny’s! Live up North and no bbq compares to the South!

Great food got a slab of ribs they were awesome plenty of different styles of barbecue sauce right on your table service was friendly and fast food was nice and hot although the sides seemed like they were made the night before but I’ll be back!!!

I get here at 1:30 on a Saturday afternoon. I am solo. I wait a couple of minutes at the podium before a bartender comes over and seats me.
I peruse the menu and decide what I want. A table of 4 is seated while I do this. After deciding, I pick up the newspaper I had brought and begin to read while waiting for the waitress to take my order. I make it through the entire first section. I glance over at the table of 4 that arrived after me. They have their drinks already. I still haven’t seen my waitress yet.
I look at my cell phone. It is now 1:47. I have been here 15 minutes and no one has even taken my drink order yet. I wait another minute. Just as I am considering leaving, a waitress comes over. She asks how I am. I tell her that I was just about to leave since I had been waiting over 15 minutes. She apologizes. She made up for the experience that I will give the place a 2^nd star.
The sandwich and fries were both good. Service not so much.

Ahhh Sonnys! Most of us have been here before when we want some BBQ. I always get their turkey, baked beans and Mac and cheese. All good stuff but have you ever had those onions rings? Tried them for the first time and I stopped eating everything else. Hmm who knew how long they were hiding that delicious surprise???

Cool! We were pleasantly surprised by this place :) It’s definitely a lower-​cost restaurant, but the service and quality of food was not bad at all.
The drinks were large, and the salad bar was extensive. It had tons of toppings that I wouldn’t normally expect on a salad. I won’t say all of the items were great quality, but average for the price. We were all pleased with the quality of our meat dishes (from brisket to smoked chicken & pulled pork), even if they weren’t piled that high. The plates came with several side dishes, which definitely filled us up. The green beans and BBQ beans were both good.
We definitely filled ourselves up and had leftovers to take home. Overall, pretty decent food for a great price.

Been here a few times for lunch and it is as busy as normal. I have also ordered chicken several times for lunch or dinner to give it a chance but it has always been really dry and replaced worth something else. Well, today I tried the chicken big deal sandwich and it was the best chicken I have ever had at Sonny’s!!!

Sure, you could totally do worse for barbecue, but why? I’ve been patronizing Sonny’s for years (in particular this location) and I have noticed a sharp decline in the quality of the food and the service over the years.

Pretty big restaurant. Located right off Park Blvd so you can’t really miss it. First time here and was pleasantly surprised that I actually enjoyed my meal. I have not had good experiences with Sonny’s back home on the panhandle and it’s been YEARS since I’ve been to one. Our servers were great, they took good care of us and constantly checked to make sure we were ok.
We ordered the Ribs for Two meal. «An overflowing platter of our Sweet & Smokey or House Dry-​Rubbed Ribs served with your choice of three Sidekicks and garlic bread or homemade cornbread.» Pretty good deal. We got the sweet & smokey ribs with baked beans, green beans, corn on the cob and asked for garlic bread and cornbread. They were kinda dry and most definitely were NOT fall off the bone as advertised. I found myself using lots of BBQ sauce to bring some moisture back into those ribs. The sides were good… the cornbread was my favorite.
Overall, I liked it. We left full and I will replace my horrible Sonny’s memories with this good experience. The prices were also cheap. We paid about $ 22 for two people.

This place reminded me of a bit higher-​end Shane’s Rib Shack. Fairly plain looking inside, but comfortable booths. Split the «ribs for two» special, so spent about $ 10 a person for about a half rack of two different varieties of ribs (preferred the dry rub), and three sides. Mac and cheese was decent, but they did a really good job with both green beans and baked beans. Only disappointment here was the really mediocre side salad with soft croutons.

We have been going to this location, as well as the Tyrone Blvd. location for many years. However, the past 3 visits between the 2 locations have been very disappointing. The quality of food has declined (food is never hot anymore — garlic bread and fries are barely warm and are very soft, not crispy like they should be, kind of seemed like they’ve been sitting around for awhile), portions have gotten smaller (if you want 2 pieces of garlic bread, that used to be standard, you’ll have to ask… twice at least). On our most recent visit with friends, 2 orders were messed up, and our server argued with us and said «that’s what I wrote down», so basically that is what you ordered… not possibly that she made a mistake. Please give the customer the benefit of the doubt and don’t argue over a side dish mix up. One person specifically ordered the lunch portion (which they also offer at dinner time), and when the bill came she was charged full dinner price (3^rd mistake of our order). And now the food is served on metal trays with a thin piece of paper as a liner, instead of a regular plate like they used to have. Huge failure when you’re trying to eat food with barbecue sauce. You can only imagine what happens to the thin paper when it gets soggy from the food. Yep, you end up getting a mouthful with your barbecue! Who’s bright idea was this? And I’m wondering if those metal trays get washed and sanitized like plates should be? Kind of grossed me out.
I have noticed this same type of decline consistently over the past year, and at different locations, so I can only assume that this is the «new» Sonny’s that’s here to stay. Which is a huge shame because Sonny’s used to be one of our favorite places to eat. I will still buy the barbecue sauce to use at home, since it’s my favorite.

Mediocre food. Mediocre service. No smiles. No IPA. Poor beer selection. Pretty unremarkable.

The food doesn’t beat out my hometown favorite bbq spots in St. Louis, but it was good nonetheless. Service was solid, and food is inexpensive. I would definitely go back.

Never have I had such terrible service at this Sonnys before. My waitress was Jeanette and she was so rude. I have no idea why I was treated so terribly. I would be telling her my re order and she would be like okay give me a couple minutes and walk away before I was even done telling her everything. I ordered the all you can eat baby back ribs which is 18.99 and I only re ordered a couple of times but it took so long for her to come back to us. She would only hear a couple things we asked and would forget a lot of things. It seemed like we were bothering her every time we asked for something. I was so angry. Everyone else that came to my table to bring the food was super nice and I wished they were my waitress instead. It’s such a shame since I love coming to this Sonnys. :/

Thankfully this place puts their nutritional information on line because BBQ is a hard place to do on a diet. The entire menu is delicious. To eat low calorie I had the roasted chicken with 2 sides of veggies. My husband preferred their dry rub over the sauce which is unusual for him.
Choice of corn bread or garlic bread and both were great.

My review of Sonny’s is long overdue. I eat there at least once a week. Here’s why I gave Sonny’s four stars:
1. Their barbecue sauce is delicious.
2. I’m not sure, but I think they may sprinkle a little bit of crack on the ribs; I can’t stop eating them.
3. The service is always very good.
4. The food is ridiculously inexpensive.
5. They have a full bar.
6. The salad bar is always clean fresh and constantly being replenished.
While it is not the best barbecue in the world, it’s always consistent. It is the same experience and the same quality of food every time. Plus they’re fast and efficient. Finally, I appreciate that during many of my visits their management walked around to check on my experience.