Sonny's BBQ — Restaurant in Bowling Green

I have been waiting for Sonny's to open for a while now and tonight my son and I finally got to try it.

First off, the remodeling of the old Bob Evan's looks great and definitely has a BBQ restaurant feel to it. The greeters were super nice and had us seated in about 5 minutes despite telling us there would be a 20 minute wait.

Our server was at our table very fast and was very happy and pleasant. She took our drink orders and when she brought them out they were in very large (almost comically so) glasses. She then took our order and at that point I had thought I would name her in the review to give her some kudos, but then things changed and I decided not to.

My son ordered the Whole Hog sandwich on garlic toast with BBQ beans and I ordered the Sonny's Sampler with mac and cheese, a baked sweet potato and corn bread. She went to put our order in and came back out to ask if I wanted my 1/4 chicken white or dark, to which I responded dark.

After a few minutes another lady brought our food out and it looked AMAZING. Whoever plated this needs a job in food advertising. Then I noticed I had white meat instead of dark, but didn't think much of it and decided to try it anyway.

My son really enjoyed the Whole Hog but I didn't try it so I won't say too much about it, so let's get to the sampler:

Brisket: It was good for Bowling Green, possibly one of the better briskets in the area, but not great by any stretch. It was only flat, no point and was cut a little thick for a slice of flat. It had a great smoke ring but not much bark and wasn't as moist as some.

Baby Back Ribs: These were very good, probably the best option on the sampler. They do leave the membrane on the ribs, which I prefer but I understand most wouldn't want it. They had a bit of a bite and were not fall-off-the-bone but once again, that's how I like them.

Smoked Chicken: It was okay. That's about it.

Pulled Pork: Pulled pork was good but pretty standard compared to other options around town.

Mac and Cheese: It was good, probably the best part of the meal. Not oven baked so it didn't have a crust but was still very good.

Baked Sweet Potato: It was baked just right and they provided butter and brown sugar.

Sauces: They have 4 sauces on the table: Original, Hot, Smokey, and Sweet. They all seemed to have the original as a base with something added (hot sauce, liquid smoke and maybe honey) to make them different. The amount of each additive was so small I couldn't tell much a difference so I don't really have an opinion on which is best. It's a good sauce, no complaints but not mind blowing good.

The food itself gets 4 stars. My son put it best: "It was pretty good for a restaurant." Better than average but not amazing.

Due to Google's character limit for reviews I can't get into much detail but our server, who started out awesome, ignored us for nearly the entirety of the meal in favor of flirting hard for a tip at the table beside us. I hope the money they tipped made up for the money she lost by ignoring us. She cost herself money and cost the restaurant my business for the foreseeable future.

I'm going to give the restaurant 3 stars, mainly being brought down by the service. I'll re-evaluate after a visit at some point...

Whew this was the strangest, most uncomfortable, and irritating experience in a sit down restaurant I've had in my life. I'm glad me, my wife and a friend could all laugh about this afterwards at least!

The food was mediocre. Ive had bbq at many places in our fair city of Bowling Green. There are so much better options at the same price point. No real reason to go here on the quality of food. Smokey bones for instance stays open later and is much better quality.

Soooooooooo now the real reason for this review....To say the service was bad just wouldn't put it in a category that would even make sense. So our waitress promptly disappears for 10-15minutes after getting our drinks and taking our order. About those drinks, the beer....$1.50 you say? Yay right? You'd think. Except the beers are in baby glasses that for me were 2 or 3 drinks to finish. There are no options for a larger mug. This was extremely irritating. I've never had beer served in such a small glass except in a tasting flight. Just why???? Charge more and give me a pint! So after promptly downing the first beer and the waitress going awol, I flagged down another waitress that passes by. I asked if she could get our waitress to get me a couple more beers and asked if they had a larger glass...

This surprisingly seemed to start drama amongst the waitresses and a manager. The manager confronted me in the most bizarre way and told me that if I needed anything that I needed to ask for it from my waitress?!?!?!? I promise...I would've loved to not have had to poke my head up from our booth like a meerkat for as long as I did watching our waitress chat up someone in the kitchen. He needs to make sure his waitress knows this...not me. It was rude, weird, confrontational and just not pleasant.

The waitress treated me and my wife differently than any of the tables around us....

Maybe I'll go back in 6 months and see if its gotten better....but likely I'll just go to smokey bones if I'm looking for...

Updated review: 4.6 stars (up from 4.4)

Excellent BBQ sauce selections. Pulled pork is always flavorful and beans are still popping. Green beans were good and that cornbread muffin hits the spot. Richard was very attentive and nice.

Good pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw. Coleslaw made the sandwich cold but it was very tasty and the baked beans are soooo good. Servers very nice and attentive.

3.5 stars Stopped in for dinner and had plenty of seating.. one side is table dining and the other side is bar area with tables too. Staff was very nice with lots of sweeties and darlings with any response. Food came out quick and plate looked the part. Had off-the-bone chicken and pulled pork. The chicken was okay and looked like all breast meat with some BBQ sauce on it and the pulled pork was big pieces with some sauce on it as well. I could have slathered with more of the available sauces but I wanted to taste the flavor of the meat. The cornbread muffin was delicious and the sides were good too. I'm used to a more shredded feel to the pork or the chicken so for me that was "different" and made the...