Sonny's BBQ — Restaurant in Gainesville

We have been eating at this Sonny’s for over 30 years. Tonight I had the worst experience ever at any Sonny’s. I ordered on line from the Sonny’s on Waldo Road in Gainesville Florida. I pre-paid with credit card. Their web site told me to pick up in 15 minutes. We showed up promptly 15 minutes later. I went to the window and the young lady said it was not ready yet but should be out soon. I patiently waited another ten minutes… no food. I went to the window again and the same lady showed me the to go bag and said we were waiting for one more item and it would be “right out”. I waited another ten minutes… no food! I went to the window again and the same lady said the kitchen had lost the order and it would be “right out”. I asked her if the items that were already ready were going to be cold and she assured me they were being kept warm under a heat lamp. I could still plainly see the bag she showed me earlier that was on the counter NOT under a lamp. But, I gave her the benefit of the doubt and waited another ten minutes before my order finally arrived. It has now been 45 minutes since I ordered and 30 minutes waiting in their pick up area outside of the restaurant. I picked up my order and took it to my vehicle where my wife was waiting for me (not happy). She opened the items up and the dry rubbed wings were cold, the fries were cold and the fried okra and garlic bread were soggy and cold. I took the food back to the window and told the lady that I was disappointed and wanted to return the food for a refund. She got the manager who unprofessionally asked me “what’s up”? I calmly explained the whole situation and requested a refund. He was short with me and begrudgingly processed my refund (which took another ten minutes) and handed me a receipt. He never apologized or offered to make it up in any way. He acted like it was no big deal that his staff had disappointed a customer. I am a business owner in this town and if and I know how hard my staff works to make our customer’s experience excellent. With a manager that doesn’t care, I’m sure the rest of the staff sees his example and therefore they don’t care either. When I got back to my truck, disgusted with the whole experience…. My wife reminded me that we weren’t at Chic-Fil-A and that the staff must not have a very good training program. Excellent customer service starts at the top and it is obvious it is not a priority at Sonny’s on Waldo Road. I will not be returning to this...

I am Former server at this location highly dont recommend giving this location business ive worked for sonnys for 7 years & i got “let go” because i didnt charge a disabled man for 2 drinks because he got 2 drinks at his table in togo cups and i charged him 3.69 $ for 1. Drink vs 2 which is considered a refill and he sits in regularly and cant use plastic cups because of his disability. We have went through about 20 managers in my time of working there i am 20 weeks pregnant and had asked about maternity leave i was told i wouldnt get approved by my general manager i had to go above her head to reassure myself i would get approved . This company reuses meat that is dry and old & lie about having no product to get rid of old products . & the restaurant has rats that eat the sweet potatoes & they still cook & sell them. We had a former manager that actually took the rats home to save them 5-10 at a time. This company has surely went down hill & i cant justify charging 4$ for a side of mac n cheese that is burnt & contains 2 scoops I really do give my best wishes to this company because they need a lot of help especially with the general manager they have in there now . I am disgusted with myself for putting up with all the things i have throughout this company. If i could leave 0 stars I...

I have eaten as multiple different sonny's BBQ, and decided to try out the OG location which was not far from my home. Ordered online for curbside. Order 50mins before I said I would pick up. Arrived followed thier directions, and waited 10mins for my food to come out. nothing. Called, this is now 1hour after I ordered. They told me that my order was not ready and to wait... And then hung up on me... I waited another 10mins. Before I finally went up to the window. And asked about my order they told me it was not done and I have to wait. I waited another 5 mins outside the window. Before they came back and said it was missing some sauce for the dessert. And it would be another couple of mins. By now I had waited almost 30mins for my food that I ordered almost 1hour and half before.

It would be completely understandable if this was a meal time or during peak time. It was 3:00pm on a Sunday there was 6 cars in the parking lot and inside was mostly open.

The food was disappointing, I had high hopes. Of the two meals the sandwich was very dry like it had been sitting under a heat lamp for 1hr, and the other meal was severely lacking, no bbq sauce (had to use some sauce that was in my fridge) meat was dry and a sad amount of fries...