DIRTY ATMOSPHERE . ROACHES! My family and I went out to eat at Sonny's for the 2nd time, and we were extremely disappointed. We got seated in a booth with a window next to it. My mom was disgusted looking at how much filth and dirt was on that window seal! Worst part is SHE POINTED OUT A ROACH ON THE TABLE! We didn't scream so that it wouldn't make a big scene so we called the manager who took 5 minutes to come! He moved us to the booth across from it and offered to pay our bill but at that point we were honestly disgusted! When we got up to leave we seen 2 more roaches on the table! I love Sonny's but I will NEVER return back to this spot! They need to take out atleast an hour a day to really clean that filth everyday. read more

Perhaps it was because this place was so amped up to me, but overall it was just average BBQ. If I have a choice I won't be visiting it again. read more

This was the worst meal I had all week. Ordered the pulled chicken sandwich bc I thought that's something you can't go wrong with. WRONG. ITS WAS BLAN AND UNDERCOOKED. Also my baked beans tasted like medicine. So funny tasting. Mac and cheese had no flavor. If I could get my money back , I would. $12 down the drain read more

Big fan of this location. I always come in and get a Whole chicken to go and sometimes more. Always helpful staff. the Mgr. Joe is customer friendly and will get you out the door quickly. read more

I always give Sonny's a chance due to my boyfriends love for the place, but it seems like every time they just don't make me a fan. We arrived and were seated quickly. The first table they went to seat us at was still dirty so they shifted us to a new table. Sadly this moved us to a new section and I spent the entire meal wishing we had been at the dirty table in Sipp's section. He made sure his guests constantly were getting refills... they got 2 refills before we even got our first meal. The food was okay. The corn nuggets were tasty and fresh but the bread and fries were cold and soggy. The ribs were great and I wish I had stuck with them instead of the brisket. Overall, I don't see a reason to return to Sonny's... at least not anytime soon, read more

SLOW service. Lunch was here when we returned from salad bar which was sparce.Sorry... I will not eat at this one again.

Newly remodeled very nice! Staff super nice, food amazing! Great barbecue, sides are really good too. I highly recommend this restaurant.

wow, Sonny's has really come thru on updating their resturants in my area - they didn't just do one they did ALL of them in Polk County, FL! And what a wonderful job they did - they all look modern and clean - love the new look and i'm sure everyone else does as well. thanks Sonny's great job! read more

This Sonny's did not show any good qualities for a return trip, salad bar was not kept updated with fresh items and several empty containers, meats item, brisket of beef and pulled pork were dry and tasteless, french fries had no taste and way to much garlic bread that needed help also, service was adequate. . read more

For BBQ I was a little disappointed. When I order ribs, as with most others out there, I love them with a lot of meat that practically falls off the bone. I didn't get that here. They were cooked decently, maybe a touch too long but that can be cured with one of the four flavors of BBQ sauce at each table. I enjoyed having the option of 4 different styles of BBQ sauce that I could add at my own discretion. The sides could use a little love, I had cornbread, mac and cheese and broccoli. The cornbread and mac and cheese tasted like generic side dishes you could find anywhere. Broccoli was also slightly overcooked. Our waiter was nice, enjoyable and knew the menu. The restaurant itself is great, in a great location, and has a great atmosphere. I feel this restaurant is not hitting its full potential; but hey, maybe I arrived on a sub par evening for them. I'd recommend at least giving it a try. read more

The food is delicious...best bbq chicken! However, EVERY TIME I go thru the drive thru, they make a mistake on my order...EVERY TIME! I went there tonight, got my order & drove away, only to discover my fried okra was missing. Drove back around, & had to wait almost 20 minutes for it.......smh... read more

There were about 4 families seated in the restaurant so it was very dead... Our food came out cold after 40 minutes of waiting. We were also told they were out of wings but the sign outside said "wings for $7.99"!! the only item hot was our sweet potatoes in tin foil. Our waitress Bridget was nice enough to bring out new food after we expressed our dismay for the cold food. We will not be back on our next vacation but our waitress was extremely helpful after our unpleasant experience. read more

I had some great BBQ chicken earlier in the week at another location, so I came back to try the brisket. Still pretty clean, although service was much slower than the highway location S of Orlando. The brisket left a loooot to be desired today. Dry, good smoke flavor, but that's about it for flavor. I think I should have tried the pork, as that's what they push on the menu. Broccoli was surprisingly good. Beans are good. Corn bread is fine, but better when it's hot out if the oven. Good value. read more

Great food at a great price. The baby back ribs were better than Tony Roma. Fried okra, amazing. Corn nuggets, amazing. Better yet, the price. Will be back next time in Orlando. read more

Good was good. Price was fair. Service was awful. Missing items, wrong items, slow food, you name it she did it.

Sonny's isn't the gold standard for dining out, but I've never been disappointed here. The ribs are consistently tender, the pork is sliced thin and super tasty, and the cornbread-oh, the cornbread, is warm sweet, and delicious. Portions are adequate and the service is generally good. read more

Went on All u can eat chicken night , MY GOSH !! How can you Screw up chicken ??? THE WORST EXPERIENCE I've ever had. Gave it s second chance 4 days later !!!! HOW ARE THEY STILL IN BUSINESS !! Better BBQ at 7-11 !!! read more

Horrible horrible experience. I came with a party of 7 and ordered the all you can eat ribs and waited an hour before the "manager" came out and said they had run out of ribs.... Really at 7pm on a Sunday. If your out of food its one thing... But having us wait for so long to come up to us carefree was unacceptable. read more

Not a very clean place, food took a very long time. Taste was good, but that didn't make up for the environment.

Shouldn't even be a half star. We have been here for 2 hours and our food has been served in sections telling us the food is not ready yet. Just the first wave don't get excited. Extremely poor service, the reviews on here stating this are 100% spot on. I will never come back. The scary part is they have a drive thru also, wonder if you run out of gas waiting! Don't waste your time. There is a Chic Filet next door and it looks better and better as I gave out the window. read more

Fast friendly service and excellent baby back ribs. Also their cornbread muffins are a must have with or without the cinnamon butter.

Just finished dinner at Sonny's BBQ. The whole family absolutely loved it. Our waitress Sarah was fantastic and took total care of us. Their all you can eat ribs deal is a fantastic value. Their salad bar is decent but their corn bread, with cinnamon butter, is out of this world. Best I've ever had, bar none. read more

Had dinner at this Sonny's tonite and I must first admit I never have been a big fan of anything there but the salad bar but even that has gone downhill! There was 3 of us one having the 10 wing appetizer, one the Carolina sandwich which was on "special" for $7.29 even though the menu says $6.99, whats with that?, and last one with the big deal sandwich with brisket and mac n cheese on it. Well on the Carolina there was not an edible piece of meat it was so dried out and on the brisket sandwich I was hardpressed to find any meat at all felt like I had a mac n cheese sandwich Total bill $40.00 talk about over priced!! Next time we will seek out a Real bbq restaurant and get some good food at a reasonable price it won't be Sonnys you can bet!! read more

I ordered the pulled pork s'wish! I thought it was very good, specially with additional smokin' or sweet BBQ sauce!

I love barbecue, and this is the worst barbecue I have ever had! The most flavorful thing was the slaw and lemon in my water. Don't waste a penny here. read more

Been going to this sonny's for a couple years and until yesterday I have to give a poor rating; as they RAN OUT of baby back ribs!!! It was 12:30 in the afternoon and I would have had to wait over an hour to get these ribs, so I instead tried the sweet and smokey spare ribs and they were tastey, but dry. My mother in-law also stated her chicken was dry/over cooked. When the manager came to me to inform that they were out of baby back ribs he did not even offer a discount for the inconvenience; which it indeed was! Dan read more

I am Positive that when Floyd "Sonny" Tillman and his wife, Lucille, founded Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q in Gainesville, Florida in 1968, They did not bet-the-house on achieving being artificial. I am certain that they invested and put everything they knew to perfection as best they could. But, When "Sonny's" went Corporate... all bets were Off. Here is another example of what happens when corporation and franchising destroys a man's dreams and aspirations. It took a pure, simple, quality, family friendly restaurant and drove straight into the Mall of Mediocrity. We recently moved to Florida recently and have begun eating at a different restaurant whenever we can. There are a lot of bar-b-q places around here! I mean a lot! At the end of a good day of exploring more local places, like the Festival Mall, we were Really hungry. We GPS'd bar-b-q restaurants and Sonny's was the nearest one. So, off we went. When you're Really hungry, just abut anything tastes good. Our early impressions of Sonny's was quite good. We had the "Q for Two" with two orders of the pulled pork. Which was warm at best. I had the Red Ale. By the end of the meal however, our equal opinions had settled and changed. In order of 'best to least' here are our decisions: Best: CHRISTY, our Waitress! 2nd Place: The Red Ale 3rd Place: pulled pork Last Place: the salad bar. I was raised in a restaurant, as some of you recall from my/our previous reviews. The salad bar is the "pit" of this place. The majority of everything here is either canned or by the gallons. Save for the spotted brown iceberg lettuce scraps and the warm baby spinach leaves, there wasn't a nutritious vegetable to be found in it's natural state. If one enjoys mayonnaise and cholesterol, this is your kind of place. Hey, on the bright side, since "Sonny's" IS a franchise, with too many locations in one area, maybe we'll give another location a second chance. read more

Out of ribs.out if brisket. What? It's a BBQ restaurant. I tried to drive through the drive through and a pallet of wood was blocking the drive thru.i had to back out of the drive thru and go inside. A total inconvenience. Sorry sonny's but you have totally gone way down hill at this location. read more

Went here on my visit to Kissimmee. Staff is friendly . My grip here was the floor was overly sticky and the food was not up to par for a bbq place. I had the pulled pork tacos which were ok but my mother had the fish and chips and the coleslaw was drenched with mayo and the tarter sauce was horrible. My husband ordered the combo with brisket and pulled pork BUT they ran out of brisket so he only had the pulled pork. We then we hear the waitress at the table behind us and they ran out of something else. It was 6:30 and they ran out of food how's that possible? The excuse was we had a rush in the afternoon. Maybe I would try another location but this left little to be desired. read more

I just started to go to this Sonny's when I got a coupon for Orlando Sonny's locations. Previously I always went to St Cloud. I was absolutely amazed at how great this Sonny's was compared to St Cloud. I've been back 3-4 times and it has been perfect every time! The food is fresher, the portions are bigger and the staff is MUCH friendlier. On today's visit the host not only wiped down the table but also dried it off. Our server was hilarious and never neglected us, even though she was serving a large table. The little thing count! I only go to this Sonny's now! read more

Flew into Orlando last Sunday. Had friends that had never been to a Sonny's, so I called and they said they were open until 8:30. We went to the Winter Meetings at Disney and then drive 1/2 hour to Sonny's for dinner. We arrived at 7:35 and door was locked, yet people were inside. Another gut parked and walked to door, staff let hi. In, so I asked girl if they were open. She told us their computer was down so they were closed. I asked about the guy she let in, and she said since the rest of his party was there he could go in. I told here we would pay with cash, since they can't take credit cards, and was still dined. My guest and I were bummed. read more

Best BBQ place in Orlando! Order the sweet ribs and don't miss out on the corn bread. It is the best if you like sweet cornbread. I recommend this place. HOT WATER CORN BREAD I SAID read more

I've been to Sonny's probably over a hundred times, and restaurants throughout the south. My father even knew Sonny Tillman growing up. Yep, I have the sweet sauce in my blood. I've had the best and the not so best Sonny's food, and I've seen all the good and the sometimes bad changes over the years. I've been to this location several times. Today though, I had the absolute best Sonny's sliced pork I've ever had. Add to that a great waitress who knew what I wanted, and this was, hands down, the Sweetest Sonny's BBQ experience I've ever had. read more

Poor service. We waited almost a full hour before the manager came out and told us there was no ribs. When we asked the waitress why she didn't let us know when we ordered her reply was "don't ask me I'm just the waitress." We left immediately and they were not even apologetic, nor did they offer any alternatives. read more

On Sunday, April 14 my wife and I made our pilgrimage to Sonny's on OBT, which we do when we visit from Virginia. Things couldn't have been worse. When we sat down we tried to order a beer, but after going through 3 selections and finding them all out, my wife settled for Miller Lite and me water. The host gave us a menu insert for all you can eat St. Louis ribs. I ordered that and my wife ordered sliced pork and ribs. About ten minutes later the waitress came to tell us that they couldn't offer all you can eat as they didn't smoke enough ribs. Okay, I went with a chicken and rib combo. So far we've reached about 30 minutes. About 15 minutes later I heard someone tell the host to tell guests that they were all out of ribs. The waitress finally came back by and said she had bad news. They were out of ribs, sliced port and chicken and wouldn't have any for at least another 30 minutes. Ridiculous. With that we got up to leave. They did comp my wife's beer. Don't know where the management was to see that enough food was available for diners. read more

Very good service (ask for Natalie). Good salad bar and bean soup. Ribs were slightly overcooked but the BBQ sauce was good. I would eat here again. read more

This is my second time at this location. The first time, the service was slow but the food was alright so I decided to try it again. Boy, was today a disaster! I had to wait over 10 minutes to get a straw and for our order to be taken and the ONLY reason the waitress came over is because I got up and complained. Our menus were incomplete and even when we got the correct menu and ordered with TWO waitresses present they STILL messed up the order. The garlic bread was cold, despite specifically asking for hot bread, and I only received a quarter of chicken when I ordered a half. Of course the food was not delivered by our waitress so we couldn't complain. I once again had to get up to complain in order to receive any service. The chicken did not have the trademark Sonny's BBQ smoke flavor nor was it hot and the turkey tasted like it was from Walmart. We were highly disappointed in our lunch and will NEVER return to this Sonny's location again. DINERS BEWARE. read more

It took almost an hour to get our food and the orders were not what we ordered. Make sure you're not picky and have plenty of time on your hands. read more

Food was pretty good, i work at a barbecue place and prefer our food since I eat it everyday, but sonny's is a great place to go relax and eat! Our service was great, our server didn't lie to us about the food, he was honest about everything. I love going to restaurants where people say their honest opinion of the food! Thanks, Sonny's for a great meal on my day off! read more

Going to Donny's since 1985. I love the food and the down home atmosphere. Of course the all you can eat specials are the best. Chicken is great, cole slaw just the right amount of sweetness, fries hot and crisp, and the beans are great. Don't go here without getting the sweet tea. 5 stars forever! read more