Sonny's BBQ — Restaurant in Florida

POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

After finishing some shopping at Home Depot, my wife and I decided to have an early dinner at Sonny's BBQ on 19. The restaurant wasn’t busy when we arrived, and we stood behind two elderly women at the entrance. After noticing that the couple ahead of us had been waiting without any communication from the staff, I asked if they had been helped. Unfortunately, they informed me that no one had spoken to them.

After waiting some time, I approached an employee and asked if anyone greeted guests. He responded, “Yes, let me check.” A few minutes later, he returned to inform me that the host would “be up there in a second.” However, more time passed, and no one came to greet or seat us. Frustrated, I approached two younger staff members working behind the bar. One of them, "L (leaving out actual name)," responded respectfully when I inquired again about someone greeting guests. However, things quickly declined when he began making excuses, blaming the delay on a "shift change."

I suggested they could communicate with waiting guests to inform them about the shift change and any delays. At that point, "L" stopped engaging with me and turned to talk to a female staff member, who appeared smug and dismissive. Her demeanor was disrespectful, as though she was annoyed by my inquiry—not just for my family but for the now multiple couples waiting to be seated.

Disappointed, I decided to leave with my family, but I returned to speak with a manager. After some time, a manager finally came out and explained that she was in the middle of an interview when she was informed of the issue. While she was receptive to my criticism about the lack of communication from staff, she did not offer any meaningful solutions to address the poor service.

During my conversation with the manager, I observed two more families leave the restaurant, one of whom mentioned they had been waiting nearly 20 minutes to pay their bill. While Sonny's typically serves fantastic food, the lack of basic customer service at this location was deeply disappointing. We were never even seated for dinner.

Unfortunately, what could have been a pleasant family dinner turned into a frustrating experience that reflects poorly on this location. If the staff and management cannot address these issues, they’ll likely continue to...

I want to start by saying that the only true redeeming quality about this location is the manager Laura. On 4/29 my mom and I ordered from the drive-thru: 2 pulled chicken dinners, and when we got home all the way out in Hudson, we realized that the portion of meat was for the lunch size which is hardly anything, not even big enough to really fill a sandwich. I called and spoke with the manager, Laura, and she expressed her apologies and said that's not their standard. She offered us a free replacement for the next time we came in. So today, 5/11, I was by Home Depot and decided to go ahead and pick up those replacement dinners at the end of a long day. I wish I had checked the meal before getting all the way home, and that's partially on me, I should have checked it, but it's also on the restaurant. They forgot one of the sides, which was the main thing that my mom wanted, unfortunately. Not only that, but my pulled chicken was completely full of skin, cartilage and very large bones along with very small bones. Like most people, once I took that bite and encountered bone I was hesitant to continue. Not liking to waste food though, I tried to keep going and that's when I encountered the second bone and decided to stop. We started to search through the chicken and kind of disecr it and found another 3 bones, along with giant globs of skin and cartilage... We called the restaurant and expressed concern once again to Laura who said that if we came back she would take care of us, but at this point, twice burned, we are probably just going to avoid this Sonny's location unless we get basic little snacks or sides while out in town. Their okra and their mac and cheese is my favorite thing on the menu, and again Laura was very nice and did her best to correct the situation which is why I'm giving this location 2 stars...

The best part of this Sonny's experience we had a few evenings ago was how beautifully it was remodeled. However, when you remodel a store you would think the bathrooms would be a part of that remodel. Sadly they were ignored and needed to be attended to greatly. This used to be a favorite spot of ours to go - not so much because of the barbecue - but because of the salad bar. We have not been in quite some time for family reasons, but did look online prior to our trip and saw that The salad bar is still listed on the Google review and decided to go for dinner. Sadly, when we sat down and asked about said salad bar, we were told they no longer offered that but there were salad options on the menu. I don't know about most people but I can tell you that I'm not a fan of ranch and barbecue mixed on my salad so none of the options on the menu were attractive to me or anyone in my party. All in our party had the pulled pork and it was okay, not great, but okay. As I said, we did not go there for the barbecue. We, of course, had the sweet tea that is in cups you can swim in because they're so large, which is a plus. The green beans are southern styles so they are tops in my book, but that was the best part of the meal. Our server was extremely friendly and gave service with a smile. I think she redeemed the night. It's doubtful that we will ever return to Sonny's BBQ. It was the biggest mistake ever for them to take out the all you can eat salad bar. It was a big draw since the only other one in the area is Ruby Tuesdays. That is where my business will be going from now on for my all you can eat salad...