Sonny's Barbeque, Knoxville, Tennessee

Sonny’s Barbeque

Knoxville, Tennessee

June 17, 2005

Sonny’s Barbeque is a chain of barbeque joints throughout the south.  I originally hadn’t wanted to review chain barbeque joints, but I’d already eaten and reviewed a couple of joints that were part of a small chain, Corky’s and Dreamland.  But I guess that the reason that chains are franchised is because they serve good food that people want to eat.  All chains have to start somewhere and I don’t suppose there is any more reason not to review a larger chain like Sonny’s than there is a smaller one like Dreamland.  Besides, when we asked our hotel clerk for a recommendation, this was the only one he knew of.  As it happened, on our way back to the hotel, we passed another barbeque joint that appeared more “local”.

Sonny’s in Knoxville is located on chain restaurant row and has the appearance of a typical chain restaurant.  The interior is attractive with antique (or, more likely, faux-antique) farm implements and license plates on the walls.  They were so perfectly, un-cluttered, that you know a designer had to have done it.

Dawn ordered the baby-back ribs for $12.49 and I ordered the pulled pork for $8.49.  Of note, was the opportunity for all-you-can-eat St. Louis ribs and pork for $12.99.  In fact, any of the barbequed items on the menu could be converted to all-you-can-eat for only an extra $1.50.

While waiting for our meals, we sampled the five different sauces on the table.  The sweet sauce is their basic sauce.  When you order ribs, they automatically come “wet” with sweet sauce, unless otherwise specified.  The sweet sauce is thick and has a rich molasses and brown sugar flavor.  The Smokin’ sauce is semi-sweet and of medium thickness with a bit of a bite from chipotle.  The mild sauce truly is mild and is, in fact, bland.  It is not very sweet, not hot, not very spicy, and not particularly flavorful.  The sizzlin’ sweet sauce is of medium thickness and is truly a cross between the sweet and smokin’ sauce.  It is moderately hot, with a little bite and moderately sweet.  The mustard sauce was moderately sweet mustard of medium sweetness, not as thick or sweet as honey mustard.  It did not taste particularly good as a stand-alone, but did very well on the pork.

Speaking of the pork, it was very tender with a slightly smoky taste.  The only complaint was that it was just a little oily.

The ribs were great.  It is not really a fair comparison, since these were baby-back ribs and not spare ribs, but these were some of the best ribs we sampled on this trip.  They were served wet with the sweet sauce.  They had a nice smoky flavor, but were just a touch salty.

The meal was served with garlic Texas toast and a choice between baked potato, sweet potato, French fries, or corn on the cob.  We both chose the corn, which was overdone.  We also had a choice between coleslaw or baked beans and both chose the beans.  The baked beans were good – meaty and smoky with a real brown sugar flavor.

In summary, I was inclined to be skeptical of Sonny’s because of its chain status.  I shouldn’t have been, because it was one of the better barbeque places we went to.

Pros:  Great ribs; wide variety of sauces

Cons:  Chain restaurant feeling

BBQ:  ««««                                  Service:  «««

Sauce:  «««« ½                             Sides:  «««

Ambience:  «««                              Overall:  ««««