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Sonny's voted best BBQ chain in the country

A few have compared Sonnys to a couple of the national fast-food burger joints; I've always considered them to be the bbq version of Pizza Hut. Large chain that is very consistent from one to the other, whether you're in Miami or Spokane. Never better than blah, but also about never worse than blah.
As to my earlier point about sauces, I stand by that statement. With most items, if it's seasoned well, marinated for some cuts, and basted some while cooking, you shouldn't even need to have sauce on the table. Pulled pork might be the only exception, if you get nothing but meat that is from deep enough into the cut that the seasoning/marinate/baste doesn't reach it.
 
fmr Rockymtnnole
The whole notion of ranking restaurants seems silly to me.
I put "bad" BBQ in the same category as "bad" beer or "bad" sex. At the end of the day, I'm just not that picky.
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But came to say, we are brothers from a different mother on this. I'm a snob about not being a snob.
 
fsufantoo said:
fmr Rockymtnnole
The whole notion of ranking restaurants seems silly to me.
I put "bad" BBQ in the same category as "bad" beer or "bad" sex. At the end of the day, I'm just not that picky.
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Insert Quotes not working.

But came to say, we are brothers from a different mother on this. I'm a snob about not being a snob.
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You can be discerning without being a snob.

I consider myself a foodie/gourmand, but I don't get uppity about going to the high priced "five star" places unless they are truly exceptional. Some of the best food in the world has less than five ingredients and is cooked very simply. I don't need to eat the 200 ingredient, 25 step Alinea food every night. In fact usually the simpler the better.

But that doesn't mean I want %+%^ served to me. I want barbecue ribs from people who care about quality and put their reputation on the line with each service at a Mom and Pop and NOT some third rate cook with no investment in the restaurant slopping out the food as quickly as he can so he has more time to do lines of coke in the kitchen.
 
There is a reason why there are over 150 Sonny's locations. They are clearly doing something right. BBQ snobs aside the food there is consistent, tastes great, and is priced well. As with every BBQ place some of their food is better than others... For example I wouldn't rank their Brisket the best but the sliced pork is as good as you can get anywhere. They also have tables and booths over the fat boys style BBQ joint. I hate paying to go out to eat with people I don't know.
 
LT4PLY said:
There is a reason why there are over 150 Sonny's locations. They are clearly doing something right. BBQ snobs aside the food there is consistent, tastes great, and is priced well. As with every BBQ place some of their food is better than others... For example I wouldn't rank their Brisket the best but the sliced pork is as good as you can get anywhere. They also have tables and booths over the fat boys style BBQ joint. I hate paying to go out to eat with people I don't know.
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Well, I'll agree that they are consistent from one to another, and their prices aren't overly high. But it far from tastes great. Their turkey & sliced pork is decent; their ribs & brisket below average; their chicken is downright awful.
 
SeaPA said:
Well, I'll agree that they are consistent from one to another, and their prices aren't overly high. But it far from tastes great. Their turkey & sliced pork is decent; their ribs & brisket below average; their chicken is downright awful.
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I agree with all of that especially the chicken. BUT...there's few places that do bbq chicken in a way that's tasty. Chicken has very little intercellular fat so it's not designed to be a good low and slow type of food item. I can think of only 2.5 places I've ever been to that has anything above "Meh" level bbq chicken. Miss Myra's in Birmingham Alabama, BigUns in Brooksville Florida and the half star is for the bbq wings at Hamaknockers in Crawfordville Florida. Everywhere else, chicken is not the star and it seldom is given any attention to quality. Therefore it's usually dry and flavorless.
 
DudsDreader said:
Sonny's is the nation's best barbecue chain according to foodie website The Daily Meal, putting it ahead of other Central Florida-based favorites 4 Rivers Smokehouse and Smokey Bones.

The website called Winter-Park based Sonny's BBQ "real-deal Southern-style barbecue" and noted the company's 47-year-history of making slow-cooked, meaty favorites.

"Today, there are more than 150 locations across nine states, and the chain received far more votes in our survey than any other," the website said about Sonny's.

Mmmmm................it's good eatin'.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-sonnys-best-bbq-20150507-story.html


But I'm not seeing it here.....

http://www.thedailymeal.com/10-best-barbecue-chains-america-slideshow
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Used to eat at sonny's til i found out they were gators.
 
Sonny's is good but not as good as they used to be 20+ years ago. They used to get the food to you like 3-5 minutes after you ordered and they had the best baby backs, chicken and beans anywhere.
 
I haven't been to a Sonny's in years, but it was decent the last time I was there.

I had a cousin that dated Sonny Tilman in high school and I went to school with one of his nieces. His daughter runs BBQ place in my hometown that used to be a Sonny's franchise.
 
Agree with the above, it is decent and consistent, but not the best.

Rudy's is FAR better, but their sides selection is limited. But the BBQ itself is much better than Sonny's. Can't comment on most of the others, we don't have any here in CO. Except Smokey Bones and Dickeys.

If I want good BBQ, i just find a local place. Just like burgers, the big 4 are the last option when traveling.
 
funksouljon said:
Agree with the above, it is decent and consistent, but not the best.

Rudy's is FAR better, but their sides selection is limited. But the BBQ itself is much better than Sonny's. Can't comment on most of the others, we don't have any here in CO. Except Smokey Bones and Dickeys.

If I want good BBQ, i just find a local place. Just like burgers, the big 4 are the last option when traveling.
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Ahh...yes, rudys is good! Not crazy about their sauces though, they're to vinergery and thin. I prefer thicker BBQ sauces.
 
I do like thick sauce as well. Not normally a brisket person, but Rudy's brisket is so good make you wanna slap your momma.
 
seminoledq said:
I don't have Sonny's, Piggy's, 4 Rivers, etc out here in CO. I do have Dickey's and Famous Dave's. Neither can compare to a mom & pop BBQ joint but I think both are pretty good. How does Sonny's and the like down in FL compare to Famous Dave's or Dickey's?
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Dickey's was half way decent when it was still a local Dallas chain. I went to one of their "franchises" here in Florida and it was awful. Either way, its still better than Sonny's. My in-laws eat at Sonny's a lot which I can't understand because my father-in-law always wants to go to 4 Rivers when they come to town from Port Charlotte. Those are night and day different.

For BBQ in around here, we almost always get 4 Rivers or Woodpeckers. Woodpeckers is a hole-in-the-wall place in the interior of St Johns County. Damn good food. Mojos is good but they're cheap on the portion sizes. Woody's is nasty and Bono's locations are so inconsistent that there are only a small number I'll go to.
 
TexSkills said:
Dickey's was half way decent when it was still a local Dallas chain. I went to one of their "franchises" here in Florida and it was awful. Either way, its still better than Sonny's.
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This is why you people can't be taken seriously. This is as biased as saying Jameis was guilty of rape just by what you read in the NYT. I'm not saying Sonny's is the best but it's certainly not awful and to say an awful restaurant is better than Sonny's is just plain ignant.

From what I've gathers over the 1,000 or so bbq threads over the years is that you never get a bad meal at Sonny's nor do you get gypped on portions. Maybe that's why they were voted the best?
 
We really need to do a BBQ taste test.

Sonny's
4Rivers
Dickey's?
Bono's?
Piggy's?

What else?
 
Semi-related question, how many locations does a company have to open to be considered a chain? Is two locations? Three?

I guess technically, anything with 2 or more can be considered a chain - but when I think of chain restaurants I think of very large companies with a big number of stores in a fairly wide geographic area.
 
SeaPA said:
Semi-related question, how many locations does a company have to open to be considered a chain? Is two locations? Three?

I guess technically, anything with 2 or more can be considered a chain - but when I think of chain restaurants I think of very large companies with a big number of stores in a fairly wide geographic area.
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Great question I've always wondered that as well. When people have talked about 4Rivers, they reference "local chain". So does that mean now they are a "statewide chain" with stores in Orlando, Tampa, Gainesville, Jacksonville and Tallahassee? I think for most people, a chain is multi-state or national.
 
Good question. With my work we deal with franchises and chains, the number we use is 50, but I feel like that number is to high for this. I would think for this purpose it would need to be in 3 or more markets and 10 or more locations. And if the owner died today the business would still be in a system/position where it would still be able to grow and thrive....a corporate office so to speak.
 
CobNole said:
Great question I've always wondered that as well. When people have talked about 4Rivers, they reference "local chain". So does that mean now they are a "statewide chain" with stores in Orlando, Tampa, Gainesville, Jacksonville and Tallahassee? I think for most people, a chain is multi-state or national.
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I think the test of local vs chain is, do all the locations share the same management, supply chain, etc.? If yes, it's local, if not, it's a chain.
 
There was a place in Blountstown years ago I think it was called Jerry's. Last time I was there it was in a bar that doubled as a gymnasium (they had basketball goals anyway). He only served lunch and it was an AYCE buffet. It was the most incredible ribs and chicken I've ever had before or since. He's been closed for years tho. Story was the dude just sorta did it as a hobby and eventually just got tired of doing it. Place was always packed for lunch.
 
OrlandNole said:
I think the test of local vs chain is, do all the locations share the same management, supply chain, etc.? If yes, it's local, if not, it's a chain.
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Yeah, in this case I sort of think of it as whether anyone who actually has feet on the ground in the store on at least a semi regular basis has an impact on the way the store is run. I mean obviously, a lousy cook or bad management can potentially mess something up or make a meal or experience terrible, but if there's an actual person that is going to have a say in what's being done, then it's not a "chain" in this sense. If everything about the place comes down from high above by someone who's never set foot in the place, then I think chain.

I worked for a hot dog restaurant in when I was a kid that was a small chain of 3-4 places. I worked at the original place for the guy that started it, but his kids had other locations. He wasn't in the other locations frequently, but he did go by. If a guy stops by and says "put more mustard on that" because HE decides it should be that way, then I don't think of it as a chain that way.
 
To me, a chain is any or all of the following:

franchised
publicly-traded
a subsidiary of a larger corporation
 
DudsDreader said:
Sonny's is the nation's best barbecue chain according to foodie website The Daily Meal, putting it ahead of other Central Florida-based favorites 4 Rivers Smokehouse and Smokey Bones.

The website called Winter-Park based Sonny's BBQ "real-deal Southern-style barbecue" and noted the company's 47-year-history of making slow-cooked, meaty favorites.

"Today, there are more than 150 locations across nine states, and the chain received far more votes in our survey than any other," the website said about Sonny's.

Mmmmm................it's good eatin'.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-sonnys-best-bbq-20150507-story.html


But I'm not seeing it here.....

http://www.thedailymeal.com/10-best-barbecue-chains-america-slideshow
Click to expand...
The meat is pretty good at Sonny's , but the sauces - not so much! Give me good old Memphis/Tennessee barbeque & sauce any day!
 
Speaking of old places, I miss Tiny's. Didn't go there much because I found out about it right before Tiny closed it after his wife passed and it was all the way across town. The last true "pit" style bbq place I can remember around here.
 
dero316 said:
Speaking of old places, I miss Tiny's. Didn't go there much because I found out about it right before Tiny closed it after his wife passed and it was all the way across town. The last true "pit" style bbq place I can remember around here.
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It depends on what you mean by "around here", Goodman's Real Pit BBQ in Perry has been around for ages and is definitely a traditionalist. By far the best BBQ in the Big Bend area and maybe even all of Florida. Certainly the best for the money, you can get 3/4 lbs of really good ribs for $8.75 along with two sides and "free" cobbler. Meanwhile at Sonnys not only are the ribs not as good but it's $14.99 and you don't get free cobbler. So at half the price and four times as good, I will always choose Goodman's over Sonny's given a choice. It's worth the drive.
 
By around here I meant in/around town. Been to Goodmans and my wife uses them for catering sometimes for her accounts in Perry. It's good but 99% of the time I'm not going to drive 2 hours there and back for bbq, I'll just go to 4Rivers, MoBetta, JBs or one of the other 10 bbq trailers in town. I do agree if I wanted bbq and the only places were Sonnys and Goodmans I would drive to Perry...
 
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how does everyone feel about Sticky Fingers? There's one near my house, but I don't go there very often. Just went last night and was disappointed to see they have no smoked turkey on teh menu.
 
dero316 said:
By around here I meant in/around town. Been to Goodmans and my wife uses them for catering sometimes for her accounts in Perry. It's good but 99% of the time I'm not going to drive 2 hours there and back for bbq, I'll just go to 4Rivers, MoBetta, JBs or one of the other 10 bbq trailers in town. I do agree if I wanted bbq and the only places were Sonnys and Goodmans I would drive to Perry...
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You must live way the %*%* out of Tallahassee. It only takes me about 45 mins to get there as its 49 miles from my house per google maps. Which is a decent chunk of time but worth it for quality Q. I go to it about the same as to Apalachicola/Panacea/Carrabelle/St George for Oysters so about once or twice a month.

I eat BBQ only a couple of times a month unless I'm taking a trip to Memphis, NC or some other BBQ heaven. Usually cooking it once at home, once at Goodman's and maybe once on business or personal trips. Every once in awhile I'll grab some bbq wings from Hamaknockers if I've spent a fair amount of time fishing on the coast.
 
Bartdog said:
how does everyone feel about Sticky Fingers? There's one near my house, but I don't go there very often. Just went last night and was disappointed to see they have no smoked turkey on teh menu.
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I've either never had it or it wasn't memorable enough to remember. When I was in college and lazy/less technically proficient in the kitchen I would usually buy Sticky Fingers or Stubbs prebottled sauces to slather on my Foremanned pork sirloin or chicken breast. I haven't done that at least since law school as now I make all of my own sauces and marinades.

So I guess their sauce was good enough to please 19 yo Tribe, but I don't know how well they bbq.
 
Bartdog said:
how does everyone feel about Sticky Fingers? There's one near my house, but I don't go there very often. Just went last night and was disappointed to see they have no smoked turkey on teh menu.
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That Sticky Fingers on Baymeadows isn't bad. The food is decent and their smoked turkey was actually pretty good. Too bad they took it off the menu. I'm sure that location is just trying to survive.
 
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cmanole said:
This is why you people can't be taken seriously. This is as biased as saying Jameis was guilty of rape just by what you read in the NYT. I'm not saying Sonny's is the best but it's certainly not awful and to say an awful restaurant is better than Sonny's is just plain ignant.

From what I've gathers over the 1,000 or so bbq threads over the years is that you never get a bad meal at Sonny's nor do you get gypped on portions. Maybe that's why they were voted the best?
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LOL
 
FSUTribe76 said:
You can be discerning without being a snob.

I consider myself a foodie/gourmand, but I don't get uppity about going to the high priced "five star" places unless they are truly exceptional. Some of the best food in the world has less than five ingredients and is cooked very simply. I don't need to eat the 200 ingredient, 25 step Alinea food every night. In fact usually the simpler the better.

But that doesn't mean I want %+%^ served to me. I want barbecue ribs from people who care about quality and put their reputation on the line with each service at a Mom and Pop and NOT some third rate cook with no investment in the restaurant slopping out the food as quickly as he can so he has more time to do lines of coke in the kitchen.
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Who did sonnys steal the BBQ sauce from?
 
DanC78 said:
Who did sonnys steal the BBQ sauce from?
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An old Florida chain called Fat Boys. There's about a handful still left, mainly in the Orlando area and Crystal River.

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100518/ARTICLES/5181008

"Tillman learned to cook at his cousin Jesse Keller's Fat Boy's in Cocoa and after six years opened the Waldo Road restaurant on May 16, 1968, as a Fat Boy's, later changing the name to Sonny's Fat Boy's and eventually Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q. "
 
This was nearly 50 years ago, but there was a place in the old Ybor City of Tampa that was literally a sheet metal shack surrounding a pit hole in the dirt that served the greatest baby backs I've ever eaten, before or since. Believe it was called "The Blue Flame". Closed, I'm sure, and wasn't the best part of town back then, but boy, the ribs!
 
We had a company meeting last week where I was presenting. The way we do it the presenter gets to pick the food. I was going to do 4 Rivers because I had not been yet but I got unanimously shot down. 5 out of 5 people at my work said they didn't like it, didn't get the hype, and that Sonny's was better.

Complaints were: restaurant itself sucks/uncomfortable. Not enough sauces. Fatty brisket. Other food just not that good. One comment was they were more concerned about making the food look good / presentation than they were making the food actually good.

I'm hoping it is just a part of being new and they are working out the kinks?
 
LT4PLY said:
We had a company meeting last week where I was presenting. The way we do it the presenter gets to pick the food. I was going to do 4 Rivers because I had not been yet but I got unanimously shot down. 5 out of 5 people at my work said they didn't like it, didn't get the hype, and that Sonny's was better.

Complaints were: restaurant itself sucks/uncomfortable. Not enough sauces. Fatty brisket. Other food just not that good. One comment was they were more concerned about making the food look good / presentation than they were making the food actually good.

I'm hoping it is just a part of being new and they are working out the kinks?
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If you're talking about the one in Tally, it wasn't good the one time I managed to get in the door (id driven there a couple of times and left after seeing the line). I'll give it one more shot.
 
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