Sonny's BBQ — Restaurant in Tallahassee

We love this sonny's but the last two visits has been a nightmare. We go on just about every Saturday so we know sonny's traditions. We came to sonny's on capital circle and the apalachee parkway and as soon as we came in we waited way longer than the normal 2-5 minutes wait to be seated but we just thought they were short staffed. We eventually were seated by a nice gentleman to our table and not too long the waitress came to ask what we wanted to drink. We told her but she didn't write down the drinks and I thought that was strange, with me being in the restaurant industry as a manager in my earlier career. She finally came back to ask what we would like to eat so we ordered. I had the smoked turkey dinner with baked beans and cold slaw. My wife ordered a grilled cheese sandwich with a side of okra only. My oldest daughter ordered chicken finger with French fries. My 11 year old ordered chicken finger and fries with cold slaw and baked beans. My youngest daughter ordered kids ribs baked beans with a side of okra. All the kids food seemed fine as far as they told us but me and my wife's food was the worst ever of any place we have ever bought food. My turkey was cold almost like it came out of a refrigerator and the baked beans was old and they looked pre plated but poorly heated. Definitely not 141%. Bird products like chicken and turkey has to be heated to a certain temperature and stay if served as a hot food. The waitress never asked if we needed a refill for the tea we were drinking and my corn bread was cold out of a refrigerator. My wife's grilled cheese sandwich was the worst. The cheese wasn't melted and someone Decided to add pulled pork to our sandwich. She took one bite and the whole slab of meet slid out of the sandwich. We appreciate the creativity but when we want a cheese sandwich , that's what we want. The first time we spent 79.00 and I felt like we were taken advantage of but I gave them a second chance spending 52.00 without talking to the manager because this was so unlike sonny's. I really didn't want to have that talk but after the second experience , we had to. We spend a lot of money and all we want is a restaurant that cares enough to hire the right staff for the clients that make their business possible. It upsets me because we loved the location and the staff is always nice but we know something has changed. What we want is things to change and have better service. The atmosphere needs to be better with smiling faces asking how we are like the real sonny's. This is not inline with sonny's tradition.

07/28/2023 Sonnys sent this pathetic response that they send to everyone. Never a phone call or email sent to our family. To be honest, its what i expected. The employees are a symptom of the real problem. The management has taken a turn for the worst. No action was taken by sonnys and we want the...

If I could give no stars than I would. I believe how bad the manager acted after calling and coming back in there to bring my red neck egg rolls that I found someone nasty pubic hair in. I swear it looked like it was, and honestly it doesn't matter what kind of hair it was but it was in my food and so I broght it back and not knce did the manager apologize for anything and when I brought it back & she didnt even apologize to me once and honestly thats all I wanted was a I'm sorry you couldn't enjoy your food or I'm sorry that you had to come back up here. I was mind blown and so I asked if I could speak to the manager about my experience with it her and now I honestly see why she is the way she is and doesn't care. I had no clue who the manager was but I thought it has to be this guy because of the way he was dressed ,but he picked up a rag after supposedly coming out of the back to speak with me but I noticed that he was just cleaning using the rag and I said to myself this cant be him after he came right by me standing in plain view of him and thats when I really thought maybe their other manager is coming to speak with me, and I had just sent a text to a friend right before I got inside to bring food back so I was in there for 15minutes total, but waiting for him 12 minutes and this man finally came over to me and said yes mame how can I help you ......My mouth about hit the floor. I said oh you are the General manager? He said yes I am and I said I sat here and watched you for 12 minutes cleaning in the back and I watched you not even acknowledge me and you could have asked me to hold on for a few minutes and this General manger says to me well mame I have a store to run. I said well that answers my question than about your other manager not saying she was sorry that I had to come all the way back and bring my food because it looked old and their was a piece of hair in my food on two of the red neck egg rolls. He said mame you have a good day. I will be sending this review to the owner and corporate office. I eat at Sonnys atleast 3 to 4 times a week, but I'm sorry I will just make my own sweet tea and eat at home or somewhere else. I have never in my life been treated so bad and made feel like this was not their responsibility. The waitress that 1st greeted me was extremely nice, and she look like she was doing everyones job and was on top of customer service. She should be a general manager in my opinion and I wish I would gotten her name . She apologized to me for having to bring it back but neither manager who I spoke with never said I'm sorry not once and they had no idea she apologized to me. You don't treat your customers this way. You have lost a very good loyal customer and word of mouth is all it takes to...

Walking in, I knew we should have turned around. The hostess was sitting on the bench speaking with another staff member. She saw us come in but she kept speaking to the staff member. After a few moments she got up and walked over to the podium to gather menus. She was still talking to the staff and had yet to acknowledge us let alone greet us. My husband and I looked at each other. Finally, the other staff member greeted us and then the hostess greeted us. She began walking with menus, so we followed her. She placed the menus on the table as she walked by the table. She never stopped, looked at us or spoke to us again. The waitress came a few minutes later. She was very nice. She got our drink orders and returned promptly. We asked that she return shortly so we could look over the menu. We were ready to order after about 5 minutes and we waited for her to return. After a few more minutes, my husband looked around and noted there were no waitresses on the floor. Then a lady came out clearly looking like she worked in the back. She was wearing slippers. She brought the food to the guy across from us. She then look at us and told us our food was on the way. We explained we were waiting for our waitress so we could order. She said she would get her. Several minutes later the waitress came out and stopped at the table across from us and ask him how his food was. She looked at us and then looked back at another table. She went to that table. There must have been something wrong with the food because she took the plate and walked back to the kitchen. We got up and left. We often eat Sonny's. This location was the first time for us and we have never experienced service like that at any other Sonny's. Very...