Sonny's calls its sides Sidekicks, and every one of them costs $3.49. Nine items, one price. That flat structure removes the usual calculation entirely — you are not paying more for mac and cheese than for green beans, so the only question left is which ones are good.
Sonny's BBQ prices at a glance
The prices referenced on this page, collected up front. They vary by location and change without notice.
| Size | Mac & Cheese / Potato Salad | Beans / Slaw / Green Beans | Feeds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small | $8.49 | $7.49 | ~3 |
| Medium | $12.69 | $11.69 | ~6 |
| Large | $28.99 | $26.99 | ~15 |
The ranking
- Original Recipe BBQ Beans — The best side in the building and the one the menu names as a house recipe. Around 250 calories and the natural partner to anything dry-rubbed.
- Homestyle Mac & Cheese — Heaviest at roughly 330 calories and the most-ordered. Take it as one of your two Big Deal slots, not both.
- Homemade Coleslaw — The correct side with pulled pork, and the reason the Sweet Carolina Sandwich at $9.99 comes with slaw built in.
- Baked Sweet Potato — Underordered. The only side here that eats like a vegetable and fills you up.
- Green Beans — About 80 calories, which makes them the single most useful thing on this list for anyone watching the number.
- Tater Tots — Fine on their own, better as the $9.49 Loaded Tots appetizer with $4.00 of brisket or pulled pork on top.
- Potato Salad — Competent. Priced identically to everything else, which is its main argument.
- Crinkle Cut Fries — The weakest use of a $3.49 slot at a barbecue restaurant with eight better options.
- Garlic Bread (3 pcs) — Bread, at a place where the sandwich already comes on bread. Skip it.
Corn bread is the exception
Corn Bread is $1.99, the only side priced below the flat $3.49. It does not count as one of your two Big Deal sides, which means it is the cheapest way to add anything to a plate. On a table of four, four corn breads costs less than two Sidekicks.
What the Big Deal does to the math
Every sandwich at Sonny's is sold twice — sandwich only, or as a Big Deal with two sides and a drink for a flat $4.00 more. Since a side is $3.49 and a drink is $3.49, those three items bought separately would be $10.47. The upgrade saves $6.47 every time.
| Route | Cost |
|---|---|
| Pork Sandwich + two Sidekicks + drink, bought separately | $19.76 |
| Pork Sandwich Big Deal | $13.29 |
There is no combination where paying for sides individually wins. If you want sides at all, take the Big Deal — that logic is unpacked further in the Sonny's specials guide.
Bulk sides for groups
Sides scale into three catering sizes, and the pricing splits into two tiers. Mac & Cheese and Potato Salad are the premium pair; BBQ Beans, Coleslaw and Green Beans are cheaper at every size.
The mediums are poor value — a large is roughly double the price for two and a half times the food. For anything over ten people, order larges. Full group pricing sits in the Sonny's catering guide.
What to actually order
For a Big Deal, take Original Recipe BBQ Beans and Homemade Coleslaw — the sweet-and-acid pairing that does the most for smoked meat. If you want the plate to be lighter, swap the beans for Green Beans and you drop about 170 calories at no cost, as covered in the Sonny's nutrition guide. And if you are ordering a Side Salad ($3.99) instead, note it is priced outside the Sidekick tier and does not swap in.