Sonic's marketing is genius. Especially when they put their commercials on heavy rotation for an area that doesn't have any Sonic locations! Makes everyone really wanna try it! And so did I. Bad. With high expectations, we drove to this one in Algonquin (we happen to be in the area) after seeing it was finally open. I needed to see what this hype was about and check out this awesome food and shakes. I ordered the chicken wrap. Should have known better. It was some scary processed chicken, which resulted in an inedible-extra-chewy piece in my mouth. GROSS. That is one thing I can't stand... it reminded me of the scary 'oven-roasted chicken' from Subway (who are they trying to kid?). Anyways, that was that. But their Java chillers and Iced Lattes are really good. Sweetened to the right amount, with a nice caffeine kick. read more

Okay okay i know its a fast food place and not to expect alot from them .... But i have been to the ones in Texas and let me tell you ! They really know what they are doing ... This one in Algonquin IL ... Well its a shit show i have lived here now in the area for 6 yrs and this was our 4th visit and the order was wrong !! As usual all 3 x before it was wrong . The girls taken the orders are very very rude ! And should not be allowed to work with the public . Spoke to a manager this time and lets just say he wasn't any better . He seemed like a real _ss as well . Stay away from Sonic ... read more

Sonic has been torturing me for years. They've been running TV advertisements in the Chicagoland area as long as I've lived here, but (up until recently) there have only been two Sonics within the 100-mile Chicagoland radius, neither of which were remotely close. The advertisements were always quirky and did a good job of featuring the food, but the star of this show always seemed to be the deserts and specialty drinks. I should take a moment to clarify, though. I'm no stranger to Sonic. I've had the benefit of living near Sonic Drive-Ins when I lived outside of Chicagoland and had grown to both know and love the half-price-drinks daily happy hour from 2-4. This point only exacerbated my frustration on the constantly running advertisements. I had tasted the goodness that was Sonic previously, but couldn't quench my thirst. I was pretty sure the ad execs at Sonic had it out for me in some sort of Greek God/Tantalus fashion. (Yes, I know I'm reaching with the analogy, but that's what Wikipedia is for). Anyway, Sonic finally provided some relief and opened a new location less than 30 minutes away from me. Score. Anyway, back to the main points here. Sonic is a drive-in style restaurant reminiscent of the early days of American fast food. Drive to the restaurant. Find a parking sport. Order from your car. Eat in your car courtesy of the friendly service of a car hop who brings your food to you. (No, not on roller skates.) Overall, the food is decent. Typical burgers, dogs, chicken sandwiches coupled with fries, tots, or onion rings. It's better than typical McBurgertown fast food, but short of fine dining. I would put it on par with a Steak and Shake. As I mentioned, the drinks really make the difference for me. Yes, typical sodas are offered, but it doesn't stop there. Sonic maintains a good variety of options in the lemonade/limeade department. You also have the option to add flavored syrup to your beverage, leading to such classic combinations as the (not pre-made in the factory) cherry coke, the (not pre-made in the factory) vanilla coke, and my two personal favorites the cherry/vanilla dr. pepper and the cherry limeade. The best deal in town is from 2-4 when all drinks are half-priced. Go all out and get the Route 44 (44oz) for about $1. You won't be sorry. read more

I am a fan of their diet cherry limeades - they are incredible! It is as if they have a special gravitational pull on my van as I drive down Randall road - especially in the afternoons between 2pm and 4pm when they usually have all drinks half off. Their burgers are good, a bit better than McD's and BK, but nothing special...Come for the drinks, stay for the food. :) read more

The customer service here was a little iffy at first, but then I met Ambrose who was very concerned about my situation. He have me the store managers contact card. I then called Andrew (the store manager) and he was even more concerned, and handled everything for me. The double burger reminded me of when Culver's was good! The tots were okay. It was lunch time so I expected them to be a bit more fresh. But overall I give them: 4/5 on customer service (car hoppers) 5/5 on customer service (management) 3.5/5 on the food.(pretty high considering it's fast food) Great customer service guys! read more

Bread to my cheeseburger is hard as a rock stale. And I saw one of the workers use her un-gloved finger to scoop dripping ice cream from the side of my milkshake into the cup...all the kids were wearing super baggy sweaters that I'm sure was not in dress code for food preparation. I have been in the food business for over 8 years (sad, I know D: ) and I just have never seen such an unclean place. You all need to WEAR GLOVES. Especially in a pandemic. Are you serious?? read more

Love Sonic! A tip I have is that you can order any of the limeades as diet example diet strawberry limeade, they're just as good and much less calories. Some favorites of mine include the tots of course they also have great onion rings I also like the all american hotdog they added recently. I miss the BLT toaster I wish they'd bring it back that was a favorite of mine. I have always had good service here, fast and friendly. One time I waited about 10 minutes for my food (it was a Saturday morning around 10am) they did not charge me for my food and gave me a coupon for a free meal. Really nice I thought! read more

It's Sonic...:) Which means you get what ya pay for. I will say that 90% of the time, my order is correct. The lovlies at the drive-thru are usually nice and helpful. But you will run into the occaisional surly brat that clearly is thinking of the quitting hour. For this, and for the many times they've put condiments on my daughter's burger or lime pieces in my Route 44 Diet Coke, when I've asked for both plain...I gave them a "fair" rating. read more

Went there and tried the new chicken BLT. And my sandwich was horrible. The chicken was thin and over cooked. The tomato was more white then red. The description says melty cheese (check out picture). Does that cheese look melty?Plus the chicken tasted old as if it was cooked earlier and reheated. Can't believe they would serve that sandwich that way. read more

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Sonic, i love u but u mess up my order every single time i go here. i ordered a cherry slushee with nerds and 2 pretzel twists, i received a plain cherry slushee and one pretzel twist. this is NOT the first time this has happened and it is very disappointing. Do better. read more

Went through the drive thru, they took some time for just two items I have ordered, there was a line of cars behind me. When I got my burger and onion rings, the burger was perfect, but the onion rings were lacking in numbers. Overall, pretty good experience for the price. read more

I have to agree with previous reviewer Sheila M. that Sonic's marketing is indeed genius! As soon as they opened, practically everyone I know (myself included) flocked to Sonic to give it a try. My family tried it the first week it opened and waited about an hour to get through the drive-thru! There are no longer crazy waits like that, thankfully! Since then, I've been to Sonic in Algonquin a handful of times and the service has been fine and the food has been decent. Nothing special, really, although my family really does enjoy the chili and cheese enrobed tater tots. We find the burgers to be better than McDonald's, but not as good as Burger King or Culver's. I feel that what really sets Sonic apart is their specialty drinks. We like to go there for "Happy Hour" (every day between 2-4) and get their frozen slushie drinks for half price along with an order or two of the aforementioned chili cheese tots. read more

Yes it's fast food. But the staff here is awesome and always friendly 10am or 10pm they are always happy. And the food is always made fresh. I had a bad experience once but I could tell the girl taking orders was new and nervous. read more

This location has provided horrible service every time we've gone. Even if we're the only car in the lot, it takes ages for just a drink, which is inevitably a sticky mess. There's never an apology for the ridiculous wait time either. Won't be going here anymore. read more

I ordered a small fry got maybe 12 frys,ordered extra large popcorn chicken 12 clumps of bread (where's the meat)? Save your money go elsewhere read more

I tried this location despite the low ratings. I am glad I did it was really good. The Car hop Was really nice and helpful. Our orders were accurate and complete. I plan on going again and hoping to have the same experience. read more

They got our order wrong and the sonic blasts tasted like they were made with spoiled milk. Yuck.

My very first time visiting Sonic and it wasn't bad. Just typical fast food served by cute girls on rollerskates, I'm sure some guys will go just to check out the girls haha! The food was good, not great, but not bad. Burgers were very juicy but they had that fast food taste to them, I expected more. The cherry lemonade slushy (or whatever is called) was pretty awesome and I'd go back just for that. Too bad they don't have Sonic in Hawaii, because I would go every now and then. read more

I've been here multiple times because I love the slushees even though I pay $5 for the add ons and every single time I don't get any add ons I asked for! Never coming again that's Forsure ! Bunch of teenagers who don't care about customer service .. read more

They got 4 things wrong in my order and 2 people where waiting because there this where wrong and I had to order 2 times to get all my things ordered read more

I go here maybe twice a week for breakfast and my tea fix.. Whoever the gentleman is that is working the mornings is wonderful! I am usually groggy (as I haven't had my unsweetened tea fix yet) and sometimes 3 kids 2 and under are crying while I order. He always gets my order perfect and makes the right amount of pleasant small talk. Most places just hand you your food and send you on your way. I love that when this dude hands me my food he says things like "have a great weekend" or " have a great day". This goes far in my book. Thanks to the man that supplies my much loved tea! read more

Order my food and went to pay and the lady goes do you want your change back? I was like what kind of question is that. I never heard of it. I said yes and the girl was snobby giving it back. The sonics down in Texas don't ask you that question. Also ordered a cherry slushy and it had no cherry to eat at the end. read more

Ok the slushies are good but not for the price and DEFINETLY not for the wait for just to get into the place, it took me over a half hour to get a slushy on a friday night, it was insane. If they would like my vote they would have to make the place bigger and easier to access without cops ushering me into the place on a friday night. read more

Been there twice, won't be another. Both times food sucked. Didn't want to eat in the car so sat at a table. The ordering board for the tables didn't work so had to order at one of the vacant car stalls without the car. Food took forever to receive. Wife asked for a burger with no mayo but got it slathered in it. Tater tots were ice cold. Had the waitress taste them so she would know it was true. She agreed they sucked and got us a new order of tots. By the time we got them we were done with our meal and didn't want them anymore. Food was not very good. Shakes were nothing special. Spent about $25 on a meal for 2 adults and a kid which nobody enjoyed. Felt like I just threw that $25 in the garbage. Much better off going to Steak and Shake. Much better food and shakes and much cheaper. read more

This place has the most ridiculous hours ever. They open halfway through typical breakfast hours and close before almost every other fast food chain in the area. Drive through is ridiculously slow, we've waited in excess of 10 minutes for a simple drink order because there were cars with food orders ahead of us. Lesson learned, always use the car hop. read more

Now let me preface this with the fact that Sonic does provide quality food that I enjoy. Having said that, the service my family received today was beyond unacceptable. We pulled up to the drive up spots and ordered a kids meal and a popcorn chicken. We paid via credit card and began waiting for our food. We noticed that there were quite a large number of cars waiting so I didn't expect immediate service. However, after waiting 15 minutes for "fast food" I began to get frustrated. I asked the server over the intercom how long out wait would be. She responded that their system had crashed and that it would be quite a bit longer until we received our order. I asked to cancel our order, to which they became silent, neither confirm yes nor no that my credit card would be charged. After waiting another five minutes for confirmation I got out of my car to go up to their doors to speak with someone about my voided order. A gal told me that she would print a receipt confirming the void. Fast forward another five minutes and I finally received my void confirmation. All I received was a quick "Sorry" with no remorse or real apology for the wait. I would have appreciated a word from the staff that their system was down and that it would be a long while until food would arrive. That would have made up for the time wasted at least to some degree. I recommend that you eat at Sonic: good food and a fun experience. What I also recommend and implore is that you do not waste your time at this establishment where service is clearly not a priority. read more

This is the lowest rating I have ever given a restaurant. I am very familiar with Sonic and usually enjoy the food. Two days ago I pulled up to the drive-thru and ordered a chili cheese dog. When asked if there would be anything else added an order of onion rings. The person on the speaker went through my order several times. I pulled up to the window they handed me a bag that I thought contained my hot dog, but no onion rings. I asked and they made me an order which I paid for. When I got home I found I had an order of chili cheese tater tots. It wasn't very good when my mouth was expecting meat. The onion rings were good. I would hope that they work on getting the orders punched in correctly. read more

This location has gone so far downhill in the last 4 years. It has changed owners and I think all the regular customers were hopefully it would bring improvements. Instead it has done the complete opposite. Food and drinks are rarely made correctly. The manager will immediately snap at you when you have an issue with you food or drink. The carhop walk around in filthy dirty ice cream coated shirts that are disgusting enough to turn your stomach. They don't give refunds on incorrect orders. Only store credits. Please fire the entire staff and start over! read more

Been hooked on Sonic since I was at college and they had one down there. As a hint, get light ice in the limeade, since they always jam as much ice as possible in those things. Double sonic burger with cheese is actually a very good tasting burger. I would probably get it over most sit down places. read more

Really bad. Drove up and had to wait several minutes for them to take my order. The prices were a lot higher than the other options (McDonalds, BK). The food was poor quality - bland. read more

I just don't understand the hype! After hearing for years about how I don't know what I'm missing blah blah blah. I found Sonic in Algonquin and was totally psyched about eating there. Well basically I found that I had been missing absolutely nothing. The double burger was so bland and so boring I only ate it cuz I was so dang hungry. I enjoyed the tots as a nice change of pace but the burger was a huge disappointment. White Castle may be craptastic too but at least the food has flavor. read more

Ode to the joys of Perfectly deep fried Tater Tots! So this place is almost impossible to get into @ high time. But if you have nothing you have to get to in the next 45 minutes, give this place a try! The girls are always friendly, and the the food it good. Pricey for what it is, but I think you are paying for the hoppin' ambiance anyway. You have to love a place that has car hops on roller skates. Being born a child of the 70's I missed out on the whole "Drive-In" era, and now I don't feel so quite left out! Try the slushies they are great, but if you love tater tots you are going to LOVE SONIC. So, go for the nostalgia, and enjoy the food and service along the way! read more

Excellent lunch and dinner. If you want fast food and good shakes, ice cream-this is really good. The tator tots are perfect! Burgers are excellent for fast food. I didn't like their coffee or breakfast, but the staff on roller skates are always friendly. Always busy! Not a place to sit down, but it is nice to relax in your car with your slippers on :O) read more

I thought it was great a little overpriced but the milkshake was phenomenal you would never get this in Chicago read more

Sonic Drive-In - I really lifed it a little overpriced but shake was great - Burgers Near Me - Algonquin, Illinois

Sonic is the BEST thing that could have ever happened to the Chicago land area. Having been to many Sonics all over the U.S and finally having them in IL has put a smile on my face and lots of others. Seeing all those adds on TV for the last 2-years and now having them around is FRICKEN AWESOME. WOW what good food. Will never stop going there or to the gym!!!!!! Keep up the gooood work Sonic. We will always come back. read more

I love Sonic for a late night snack with my friends. The staff there is incredibly patient with some of the crowd that goes there at night as well, compliments for that. It gets quite busy during certain times of the day but they cannot help that their food is delicious. I end up riding my bike their some days of I don't want to waste gas. read more

I've come here several times when I'm on my lunch break and the service is okay. The last two times I've gone they messed up my order or gave lower than average amounts of the size portion. I was very disappointed and haven't been back. I wrote a complaint directly to Sonic, but there wasn't much of a response. read more

Ridiculous.. completely uninterested window staff.. got the order wrong, twice. No compensation to us, the customer. Flippant and rude kid. Get better help, Sonic. We aren't going back to this location..ever read more

The food is not really why I go to Sonic. It's so-so, in my opinion. However, I love their staff! There is only one other restaurant in the area that can compete with their friendly and enthusiastic employees. That is why I go to Sonic over, say, Burger King. read more

A decent Sonic location. I don't think they have ever messed up an order. The food and deserts are good.