The Sonny's BBQ menu is the largest of any major American barbecue chain, and that breadth is the whole point — Sonny's is a sit-down restaurant with waiters, not a counter, and it is built to feed a table where one person wants ribs, one wants a burger and one wants a salad. This page covers the full Sonny's Barbeque menu with current prices, explains what the "Big Deal" upgrade actually gets you, and works out where the real value sits across the Pitmaster Picks and Family Feast tiers.
Sonny's BBQ prices at a glance
Every price quoted in this guide, collected up front. Prices vary by location and change without notice.
| Sandwich | Sandwich only | Big Deal | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pork Sandwich | $9.29 | $13.29 | $6.47 |
| Beef Brisket Sandwich | $10.99 | $14.99 | $6.47 |
| Pulled Chicken Sandwich | $9.49 | $13.49 | $6.47 |
| Sonny's Cuban | $10.49 | $14.49 | $6.47 |
| Combo | Price | Cost per meat |
|---|---|---|
| Pick 2 Combo | $15.99 | $8.00 |
| Pick 3 Combo | $17.99 | $6.00 |
| Pick 4 Combo | $19.99 | $5.00 |
| Bundle | Price | Feeds | Per person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Create Your Own — 2 Meats | $49.99 | 4–5 | ~$11.10 |
| Family Feast | $65.99 | 5–6 | ~$12.00 |
| Create Your Own — 3 Meats | $69.99 | 6 | ~$11.67 |
| Create Your Own — 4 Meats | $89.99 | 8 | ~$11.25 |
| Meat | Per pound |
|---|---|
| Sliced or Chopped Brisket | $23.99 |
| Sweet & Smokey Ribs / House Dry-Rubbed Ribs | $18.99 |
| Baby Back Ribs (slab) | $19.99 |
| Sliced Pork | $17.99 |
| Pulled Pork / Pulled Chicken / Whole BBQ Chicken / Sliced Turkey | $16.99 |
| Hot Link | $16.59 |
| Sonny's BBQ | City BBQ | Famous Dave's | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service | Table service | Counter | Table service |
| Full rack of ribs | $17.99 (St. Louis) | $27.59 | $36.69 |
| Brisket sandwich | $10.99 | $10.78 | $18.89 |
| Four-meat combo | $19.99 | Not offered | $28.89 (3 meats) |
| Sandwich + 2 sides + drink | $13.29 | $11.97 (no drink) | — |
| Kids meal | $5.99 | $7.19 | $6.69 |
| Tier | Example | Cost per meat portion |
|---|---|---|
| Single plate | BBQ Pork, $14.99 | $14.99 |
| Pitmaster Pick | Pick 4, $19.99 | $5.00 |
| By the pound | Pulled pork, $16.99/lb (feeds 3) | $5.66 |
| Guests | One meat ($14.49 pp) | Two meats ($16.49 pp) | Three meats ($18.49 pp) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | $217 | $247 | $277 |
| 25 | $362 | $412 | $462 |
| 50 | $725 | $825 | $925 |
| 100 | $1,449 | $1,649 | $1,849 |
The Big Deal: how Sonny's sandwich pricing works
Every sandwich on the menu appears twice — "Sandwich Only" and "Big Deal". The Big Deal adds two sides and a drink for a flat $4.00 on most items. Sides alone cost $3.49 each and drinks are $3.49, so the same three things bought separately would run $10.47.
Take the Big Deal. There is no scenario in which buying a sandwich, two sides and a drink separately is cheaper. The only reason not to is if you want nothing but the sandwich.
Signature BBQ plates
The plated barbecue is the core of the menu and the reason people drive past three other restaurants to get here.
- Baby Back Ribs ($19.99) — The most expensive single plate, and the one Sonny's is known for.
- Beef Brisket ($18.99) — Sliced or chopped.
- St. Louis Ribs ($17.99) — Meatier and cheaper than the baby backs. The better rib for the money.
- Half Chicken ($15.49) / Smoked Turkey ($15.49) / Pulled Chicken ($15.49)
- BBQ Pork ($14.99) — The cheapest signature plate.
Worth saying plainly: at $17.99, the St. Louis ribs are the best-priced full rib order of any major chain on this site. City BBQ charges $27.59 for a full slab and Famous Dave's charges $36.69 for a big slab of the same cut. If ribs are the reason you are going out, Sonny's wins on price by a distance.
Pitmaster Picks — the combo tiers
Each additional meat costs exactly $2.00. Against $14.99 for a single BBQ Pork plate, the Pick 4 at $19.99 is the standout value order on the entire Sonny's menu — four meats for five dollars more than one.
Family meals
The bundles sit around $11 to $12 a head, which is honest but not remarkable. If you are optimising purely for cost, meat by the pound is cheaper: pulled pork at $16.99 a pound feeds three, which is $5.66 a head before sides.
BBQ by the pound and catering
Bulk sides come in three sizes — small ($7.49–$8.49), medium ($11.69–$12.69) and large ($26.99–$28.99). A large feeds roughly 15 as a side.
The catering platters are where Sonny's differs most from the counter-service chains: Burnt Ends Platter ($79.99), BBQ Wing Platter ($69.99), Smoked Wing Platter ($69.99), Meatballs ($59.99), Smoked Buffalo Chicken Dip ($55.99) and Pimento Cheese & Hotlink ($55.99). These are party trays, not meal packs, and nothing on the counter-service menus at other chains competes with them.
Appetizers, salads and sides
Sonny's runs a full appetizer list because it is a sit-down restaurant. Smoked Wings ($13.99) come original, sauced or dry-rubbed. BBQ Pork Egg Rolls ($9.99) and Loaded Tots ($9.49) are the two most-ordered. Fried Okra and Corn Nuggets are $6.29 each and the most Southern things on the menu.
Every side is $3.49 — BBQ beans, coleslaw, mac and cheese, green beans, potato salad, baked sweet potato, crinkle-cut fries, tater tots, garlic bread. Corn bread is $1.99. Flat pricing again, so choose on taste.
Salads: BBQ Salad ($9.49), Smokin' Caesar ($8.99), Side Salad ($3.99), with any meat added for $4.00.
Kids and desserts
Kids' meals are $5.99 across the board, except Kid's Ribs at $6.99. Desserts run Cinnamon Sugar Donut ($4.99), Homestyle Banana Pudding ($4.99), Chocolate Chip Cookies ($2.99), and a full Peach Cobbler at $27.99 sized for a table.
Sonny's compared to the counter chains
Sonny's is the value option among the table-service chains and is startlingly cheap on ribs and multi-meat combos. It loses to City BBQ on a plain sandwich and to Mission BBQ on sauce range. It beats both on breadth — this is the only one of the three where a table of six with wildly different appetites all get something they actually want.
What to order
Pick 4 Combo ($19.99) if you are hungry. Pork Sandwich Big Deal ($13.29) if you want the cheapest complete meal. St. Louis Ribs ($17.99) if ribs are the point. And for a party, the Burnt Ends Platter ($79.99) is the item nobody expects and everybody finishes.
Why the menu is this big
Sonny's opened in Gainesville, Florida in 1968 and grew across the South-East as a family restaurant rather than a barbecue destination. That history explains the menu: it has to work for a Tuesday-night family of five where one person wants ribs, one wants a burger, one wants a salad and two children want chicken tenders. No counter-service barbecue chain has to solve that problem, which is why none of them carry burgers, egg rolls, fried okra and a Caesar salad.
The practical consequence is that Sonny's is the safest choice when you are eating with people who do not all want barbecue. It is also why the barbecue itself is good rather than exceptional — the kitchen is doing eight things, not three.
What Sonny's actually smokes well
- St. Louis ribs — The best thing on the menu and the best-priced ribs in American chain barbecue. House dry-rubbed or sweet and smokey; take the dry rub.
- Pulled pork — Consistent, and the base of the cheapest good meal here.
- Jalapeño cheddar hot link — Underordered. Add it to a Pick combo rather than ordering it alone.
- Brisket — Fine. Not the reason to come. Order it as one of four meats in a Pick 4, not on its own at $18.99.
- Smoked turkey — Better than it needs to be, and the leanest plate on the menu.
The three-tier value ladder
Sonny's has an unusually clean pricing logic once you see it. There are three ways to buy the same food, and they get cheaper per unit as you go up:
The Pick 4 beats even by-the-pound pricing on a per-portion basis, and it comes with sides. It is genuinely the best-designed value item in American chain barbecue, and it is priced that way because Sonny's wants you to try four things and come back for the one you liked.
Planning a Sonny's catering order
Sonny's catering is priced per person by number of meats, which makes budgeting unusually simple:
Going from one meat to three costs only $4.00 more per person. For any event where people are choosing for themselves, take three meats — the complaints you avoid are worth more than the $4.
If you would rather assemble it yourself, buying by the pound is cheaper: 9 lb of mixed meat for 25 people runs roughly $160 against $412 for the two-meat catering package, though you then supply your own sides, buns and serving equipment.
How much to order
- One third of a pound of meat per adult with two or more meats and two sides
- Half a pound per adult if barbecue is the only main
- A large bulk side ($26.99–$28.99) feeds about 15
- Count children under twelve as half an adult
Where Sonny's is weak
Three honest criticisms:
- Brisket at $18.99 is not competitive. City BBQ sells a brisket sandwich at $10.78 and Mission BBQ smokes a better one. Order brisket here as part of a combo, not as a plate.
- Portion consistency varies by franchise more than at the counter chains, because plates are assembled by kitchen staff rather than weighed at a counter.
- The seasonal menu changes constantly, which is good for regulars and frustrating if you go once a year and cannot find the thing you remember.
Sonny's BBQ calorie guide
Every number here is Sonny's own published figure, taken item by item rather than estimated. Sonny's publishes counts for its sandwiches, sides, starters and meat by the pound, but not for the plated Signature BBQ or the Pitmaster Pick combos — where the brand publishes nothing we have left it out rather than guess. The Cal column in the full menu below carries every published figure, including the ones not picked out here.
| Item | Calories |
|---|---|
| Grilled Chicken Sandwich, sandwich only | 390 |
| Sonny's Steakburger, sandwich only | 670 |
| Candied Bacon Chicken Sandwich | 710 |
| Sweet Carolina Sandwich | 860 |
| Candied Bacon Burger | 990 |
| Sonny's Cuban Sandwich | 1,090 |
| Green Beans | 30 |
| Homemade Coleslaw | 130 |
| Garlic Bread (3 pcs) | 170 |
| Side Salad | 170 |
| Corn Bread | 180 |
| Baked Sweet Potato | 230 |
| Original Recipe BBQ Beans | 240 |
| Potato Salad | 270 |
| Homestyle Mac & Cheese | 320 |
| Crinkle Cut Fries | 480 |
| Tater Tots | 540 |
| Fried Okra | 520 |
| Smoked Wings – Original | 750 |
| BBQ Pork Egg Rolls | 1,000 |
| Loaded Tots | 1,680 |
The sandwich range is the first surprise: the Cuban, at 1,090, is nearly three times the Grilled Chicken Sandwich at 390, and it beats the Candied Bacon Burger. If you are watching the number, the sandwich you choose matters far more here than at the counter chains, because Sonny's list runs from a plain grilled breast to a pressed pork-and-ham sandwich.
The Big Deal adds two sides and a drink, and the published figures show just how wide that swing is. Two Green Beans with an Unsweet Tea adds 65. Tater Tots and Crinkle Cut Fries with a Lemonade adds 1,210 — more than the sandwich underneath it. The middle path, Green Beans and a Side Salad with Unsweet Tea, is 205, so the single most effective swap on this menu is Green Beans instead of Tater Tots, which alone takes 510 off the plate.
Two more things the brand's own numbers make plain. Starters are the quiet problem: Loaded Tots at 1,680 outweigh anything else on the menu, and BBQ Pork Egg Rolls at 1,000 are a meal before your meal arrives. And on the by-the-pound counter, House Dry-Rubbed Ribs at 950 a pound come in below Sweet & Smokey Ribs at 1,150, so the dry rub we recommend on taste is also the lighter order.