I'm not sure what exactly your problem was with the service. If you could be a bit more verbose, the rest of us might be able to respond. I go to Sonny's in Venice at least once a week for lunch, and have gotten to know most of the management and staff. They seem to be to be very nice, and even when I do a to go order, it has always been good.

We travel to the coast from Minnesota 8-10 times a year, always planning our travel to hit the Sonny's BBQ in Corbin Kentucky. Our experiance has always been great. Love the BBQ and the sauce. The staff has even served us go-food when we arrived too soon for lunch. Your experiance could very well be a problem with the local owner / manager. Does not sound like a systemic problem with the franchise. Try the one in Corbin, birthplace of Colonel Sunders of KFC Fame.

Dear Patrick,
I was looking at the Posts for Sonny's BBQ in Venice and yours was at the the top of the list.
As of today I am the new GM of the Sonny's in Venice. I'm real sorry that the visit didn't meet your expectations.

I have worked in Sarasota as the GM and I assure you I will make your next visit the best BBq you've ever had

please call me Jessie 941-484-1327

I use to work at Sonny back in the 70's when the Hayes family owned , I now live in Brandon Florida, the sonny here sucks too, price went higher and food got smaller, so we quite going.

WOW! Someone other than me looks at this site. Ya I'm done with Sonny's. Some smartass behind the counter got smart with me. I told him to pound sand. Frankly I got tired of paying over six dollars for a little pile of meat & cold mushy fries. Found some real good BBQ with the best customer service at Big Beefy's BBQ across from Kile's hardware on us41 in Nokomis. $4 for a BIG pile of meat. Best sandwich in town! Good chilidogs too.

In fact the Venice Sonny's BBQ has new management.....Maybe I'll sneak in & see if I can get some crisp fries with my lunch....For my $5 I'll takes Beefy's anyday......

In all fairness I should say that after seeing the "new management" on the marquee I gave it another try. results: 1st lunch was "decent" 2nd time took 30 mins & it was wrong & greasy 3rd lunch was on them because of the 2nd one 4th time (this week) was what seemed to be microwaved sliced pork (unlike anything I've ever seen at sonny's) soggy fries & underdone garlic bread. & thats the way it is.

WOW It seems that this part of my blog has gone national! maybe world wide! Today I went to my friend Beefy to get lunch & he thanks me for the mention on my website. LOL it seems that if you goggle big beefy's BBQ you get my Sonnys blog! Try it your self!

https://www.myfloridalicense.com/inspectionDetail.asp?InspVisitID=3158019&id=2909207

Best BBQ I have ever had, Period, and I am well traveled! They have meats that fall off the bone and their sauces are a unique blend of some kind of secret ingredient that I couldn't put my finger on, however all 10 fingers were full of sauce. He He Go there, you'll be glad you did.