Sonny's BBQ — Restaurant in Rock Hill

Restaurant Review: Sonny’s Real Pit BBQ – Where Smoke Meets Smiles (and Maybe a Few Napkins Too Few)

Barbecue is supposed to be messy. If you walk out of a BBQ joint with a spotless shirt, did you even go? Sonny’s Real Pit BBQ embraces this philosophy with both arms, a heaping platter of pulled pork, and just enough sweet tea to wash it all down.

Walking into Sonny’s, the first thing that hits you isn’t the décor—it’s the smell. Smoky, sweet, tangy… the kind of aroma that makes vegetarians briefly reconsider their life choices. The dining room feels casual, like the kind of place where unbuttoning your jeans a notch after the meal is both expected and socially acceptable.

The service is friendly, in that Southern “we’ve known each other since kindergarten” way. My server called me “hon,” which I count as both customer service and free therapy. Drinks came fast, refills came faster, and I never once had to perform the universal “wave at the server like you’re stranded on an island” move.

Now, the food. Let’s start with the ribs. These are the main event, the heavyweight champs of the menu. Tender enough to slide off the bone with minimal dental effort, smoky enough to make your eyes roll back a little in gratitude. The sauce comes in options—sweet, sizzlin’, mustard, hot, and original—and I treated my plate like a condiment tasting flight. Sweet was a hug, mustard was a punch, and hot was a dare I barely survived.

Pulled pork is the backbone of Sonny’s, and it doesn’t disappoint. Juicy, flavorful, piled high—it’s the kind of meat that doesn’t need sauce, but of course you drown it in sauce anyway, because you can. The brisket had a smoky bark so dark it looked like it had seen some things, and yet inside it was tender and moist enough to make me forgive it for looking intimidating.

The sides are classic BBQ wingmen. The mac and cheese was creamy, if a little bashful—like it wanted to be cheesier but was holding back. The baked beans, though, were bold and sweet with just enough kick. The cornbread? Let’s just say if carb heaven exists, Sonny’s has the golden ticket. Only gripe: the portion of fries felt like they were rationing for the apocalypse. More fries, Sonny’s. Always more fries.

Dessert brought me back to life after the hot sauce dare. Banana pudding so comforting it could have tucked me in for a nap. Soft, creamy, layered with vanilla wafers—basically Grandma’s best work served in a bowl.

Atmosphere-wise, Sonny’s is no frills, no pretense. Wood tables, neon beer signs, and the occasional whiff of smoke wafting from the pit. It’s not fancy, and that’s exactly the point.

Flaws? A few. The barbecue sauce bottles on the table looked like they’d been through some battles. And if you’re looking for kale salad, you’re in the wrong establishment, friend. But honestly, who comes to a BBQ joint for kale?

Bottom line: Sonny’s Real Pit BBQ is comfort food with personality—messy, smoky, and guaranteed to make you need an extra napkin (or five). Not perfect, but perfectly Sonny’s.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars. Bring your appetite, wear your loosest pants, and don’t even pretend you’ll only...

Service was good considering they seemed to be understaffed a little bit. My friend and I came in after peak lunch hours and before the dinner crowd on a Sunday. Our server was a younger blonde and I wish I could recall her name. She did a good job and was very nice, and definitely doing her best considering she had tables scattered around the dining room and not just in a section. Which as a former server and corporate restaurant trainer myself, I understand how that can make things a little harder on you to get to all your tables and their needs when you have tables all over the dining room with 1 table being at least 8 people or more. The main reason I'm giving low stars is the food, which was mediocre at best. I've been dining at Sonny's since the early 80s and like many restaurants, thing's have changed. It's been about a year since I've dined at Sonny's, partially because I live an hour or more away from all the Sonny's around the area I live now. But also because it's just not as good it use to be at the one's I would frequent, like the Sonny's in Mooresville Nc. So we thought we'd try Sonny's in Rock Hill. Well, I wasn't impressed here either. I had beef brisket and St. Louis style ribs with sweet potato and Cole slaw and Texas toast. Let's start with the meats, brisket was 50% fat but what little meat was there was tender and good, ribs were tender under the bark but didn't have much meat on them and a little too fatty also and appeared to be reheated and not fresh, the bark was tough so I peeled it off. I had the waitress bring me another sweet potato because I didn't care for the cinnamon flavored butter or margarine, it was awful. I think they are not using real butter anymore and using margarine instead because that's what it tasted like when I got another swt potato with plain butter. I didnt eat the 2nd one either because of that. I hate margarine, I dont buy it ever and restaurants should offer real butter. The Texas toast tasted like nothing but oil also, I took 2 bites, that'sit. Cole slaw was fine. I used to really look forward to going to Sonny's when I had the chance, I was even on the mailing list and would get a coupon for my bday ' but it's just not worth the drive anymore. And my friend and I were disappointed there wasn't a salad bar anymore. Guess it was replaced with the bar that serves alcohol instead. That's fine, alcohol is a plus but we really missed the salad bar, especially since the food wasn't so good. As much as it costs to eat out now a days, I really wish restaurants would make it worth spending the money and customers not walk away disappointed and unsatisfied. This is the third Sonny's location I've given a chance so now it's strike 3, or 4 actually, and you're out and I'll just go somewhere else when I want good ribs and BBQ etc. Sad the quality along with a little nostalgia is now gone. Atmosphere was OK, a different look with the black and white tiles instead of a little bit of a rustic more interesting look. If it's not broken, don't fix it. I'm fine with change, "IF" it's for the...

Wow!!!!

My boyfriend and I ate here last night and it was the worst meal I have had in years. First of all the waitress did not know what types of beer they had and finally after 2 tries back and fourth from the back....she brings him the wrong beer. Then I ordered the ribs and wings ($14) and my boyfriend got the pulled pork ($10ish)

When my plate arrived it was a joke. I had 5 of the smallest chicken wings you could possibly find. Looked almost like frog legs at a Chinese buffet. I also had 5 small black ribs on my plate. I ordered the mac and cheese and baked beans and they both looked like they had been sitting in the fridge for at least 3 days. The wings did taste good but the size of them was crazy. (My plate was $14.00) Then I started on the ribs........As I bit into one of the ribs......super dry with hardly any meat on them , the taste of pure kerosene filled my entire mouth. I spit it out in a napkin. There was no getting that taste out of my mouth. Just to make sure I wasn't over reacting I had my bf try it. He also spit it out and said " I wouldn't even give these to the dogs." My stomach started to turn. There is no way in hell they thought it was a good idea to serve kerosene tasting meat to anyone or anything.

So I started looking around for our waitress that we had not seen for a while. She was no where to be found. After about 5 minutes I got up and grabbed the hostess asking if she could find our waitress.

I guess our waitress was behind the wall near the kitchen...cleaning or something. I could hear her say that she would be out in a minute. Even though we arrived at 8pm the staff was obviously ready to leave. Showing each other pictures and videos on each others phones. You could see all the cooks in the back near the opening (near the heat lights) and all the waitresses crowded around have a social hour. Some were doing an end of the night deep clean all around the customers as we ate.

The waitress finally came back to the table and I told her what was wrong. She asked if I wanted more ribs....NO!!....lol I wasn't trying to be poisoned.lol I said that I would take the pulled pork instead. Of course that showed up looking like it came out the bottom of the pot.lol Greasy and luke warm. So I put the pork in the small paper bowl that she brought me for my tiny wing bones. I took this home for the dogs. We were charged full price for this crap they called food. Next time we will just go to Chill's down the road or....well anywhere but the place that claims that they are a BBQ restaurant.

Then of course my boyfriend was up all night with an upset stomach and even today he is back and fourth from the restroom. I stocked up on tums....Never again...