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January 31, 2009

Food Critic - Sonny's BBQ

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By DAVID BALL, For The CJ The Commonwealth Journal Sat Jan 31, 2009, 05:01 PM EST

Sonny’s BBQ

70 Sonny’s Way

Somerset, Ky.

Category: Dining Out

My meal: Full rack of baby back pork ribs, french fries, garlic bread, corn nuggets and Coke®

Several weeks back I had some relatives in town and took the opportunity to have lunch at Sonny’s with a “cousin-in-law.” We had a good chat on the drive over and I even promised I’d try to find my golf clubs for the next time he visited.

Now, the new Sonny’s seems a lot more spacious than when they were at their previous location and obvious consideration for handicapped patrons was put into the new design. As a result, wheelchair ramps on the sidewalks, a large entrance foyer between the double sets of doors and plenty of tables in both smoking and nonsmoking sections should enhance the dining experience for all disabled patrons.

It was a little after noon and we were quite hungry when we got to our seats. Once there we were quickly offered menus by our waitress, Genetta. She seemed very friendly as she took our drink orders, Coke® for me and a root beer for my cousin, which she promptly brought to our table.

Sonny’s menus are very complete and nicely done with photos and descriptions of quite a few items. I wanted to compare the baby back ribs to some others I’d eaten recently so I ordered a full rack.

My cousin may have been in more of a feeding frenzy than I since he ordered the “all you can eat” special of St. Louis style ribs. I chose french fries but later remembered the excellent baked sweet potatoes available here. Oh well ... next time. I also ordered the corn nuggets that my wife introduced me to several years back. Yum.

Everything ordered; we settled back to catch up on gossip about our various family members and before we had a chance to lie to each other about how fit we looked, our food was on the table. And did we ever dig in ... ladies, you know that when we men dine with you we do try to show a modicum of table manners, don’t you?

Well, we do. But there were no ladies at our table and it’s a good thing ... we chewed meat, slurped BBQ sauce (sweet and spicy thank you), sucked thumbs and licked bones to the point that I’m sure our table had to be hosed off after our departure.

’Twas good.

Now my cousin, also named Dave, seemed to get the better of the deal. He was able to order a couple more servings of his ribs while I worked on my portion. And the rack that I’d been served was a little bit overcooked; actually burnt at the ends, but that didn’t deter me from cleaning the bones. (By the way ... I made a return visit to Sonny’s a couple of days ago and had that St. Louis Rib special and it was definitely the way to go.)

Now the side dishes served with our meals deserve special mention: the garlic bread at Sonny’s is great, the baked sweet potato is always scrumptious (but, of course, I had ordered fries) and my favorites here are the corn nuggets. I can’t figure out how they get those kernels to cling together long enough to batter and deep fry them but the resulting finger-food should be made available at every restaurant and burger joint in town. They are really that good.

After we’d eaten everything in sight and used all the napkins and wet-naps and washed our hands and faces in the restroom, we asked for the check.

We both ate for around $35 after including the tip. Now some folks get all tied up trying to figure out how much to tip a waiter-waitress ... I try to go with a straight 20 percent unless service was really off the charts one way or the other.

Sonny’s check comes with percentages (15 and 20 percent) calculated for you. I find that convenient and I usually round up. The folks working in this industry put in long hours for little pay and I think it makes for a much better dining experience if they are kept in cheerful spirits.

Check out Sonny’s the next time you’re ready for ribs. And be sure to let me know how you liked the corn nuggets.

dball@somerset-kentucky.com

RATINGS (how this meal lived up to my expectations – on a scale of 0 to 5 with 5 being satisfied and 0 being horrified):

Ambience – 3

Restrooms – 3

Cleanliness – 4

Menu Selection – 3

Wait Time – 4

Accuracy of order – 5

Food Quality – 3

Food Value – 3

Overall Service – 4

Total Dining Experience – 3+

To see previous reviews visit our Web site at:

http://www.somerset-kentucky.com/

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