Review of Sonny's BBQ

This review is in the form of an email I sent to this location 4 wks ago. Not a word from them. NOT celiac friendly. NOT gluten intolerance friendly. Be warned.Dear Management,I wanted to let you know of a terrible experience I had yesterday at your Navy Blvd location. I’ll try to be brief but I feel you should know the whole story. Headed directly to Sonny’s after arriving in Pensacola. A long day and some research on the app Find Me Gluten Free, I needed some BBQ. There were some really great reviews for the restaurant and I felt safe eating there. After asking for a gluten free menu the young lady told me that she could show me a page of what had gluten. Okay, I can work with that. So she’s trying to find a copy of it, then 3 others are trying to help find the document possibly on the computer. We were sitting near a managers office so I can see all of this going on. I am shown the other allergens list which wasn’t what I needed. They can’t find it anywhere. Who I think may have been a manager came over and told me that they couldn’t find it and I said, knowing that most bbq doesn’t have gluten, “Isn’t at least your dry rub gluten free?” At which he could not answer that question. Knowing that others had eaten some awesome food here I was very disappointed and disillusioned that not 1 person out of the 5 running around had absolutely no knowledge of this allergen and what I could eat in there restaurant. Being Celiac I could not risk anything even if I thought it would be safe. So Summer, our waitress, offered up a plain grilled chicken breast(which was dry) with broccoli and sweet potato. I ate this with the tempting array of bbq sauces right in front of me and the 4 people I was with enjoying brisket, ribs, etc. I’m pretty easy going when I eat out about my expectations and I certainly don’t want to be the center of attention dining out but I was from beginning to end. Summer did offer an apology for the whole thing but the part about that was I believe she meant it but didn’t know what to say about her lack of training or education on this issue. And here’s the kicker! Later in the day I went to the website and very clearly was a box that read Allergen List. Well, tap on the box and up comes the items that have Gluten. All right there. For anyone in the world to see except the people working in this restaurant. As a person that has worked in the service industry as a manager, trainer, and educator I find this to be just plain unacceptable, especially when the information is right there.Thank you for your time and I hope, for others, this situation will improve.

Celiac friendly?

No