Sonny’s Pub & Restaurant

Good food served in an old school Dot environment by real Dot people. All the the bad reviews seem to be from transplant yuppies who are expecting to be catered to, and that want Adams Corner to be gentrified like Southie.

We went here to meet a few friends for drinks and ended up staying for trivia and had a good time. The host was funny and the crowd was cool. Our server was good but our bartender wasn’t as friendly as he should have been on such a fun night.
I would definitely come again on a Wednesday night!

Great local bar! Can’t beat the pizza and draft beer special on Tuesdays! Bartenders are attentive

Great, I mean great! hamburgers. Waitresses are strange, and seem to be under pressure, but the food is good. Hamburgers are great, did I say that already…

This is a great place to go if you want to just sit at the bar and unwind or if you feel like you just want to sit at a booth or table and be served either way you are in for a treat because the food is great the service is great and it’s reasonably priced. You just can’t loose.

I loved this place. It’s right down the street and somehow we had never thought to stop in for breakfast (I didn’t even know they offered it), but am so glad we did. It’s local and divey, so go in there with that in mind and prepare to be pleasantly surprised. It was busy, the bartender was friendly, and everything was great. Got a good Bloody Mary in a big pint glass and saw some other customers drinking some big delicious looking White Russians. They have a whole menu of boozey coffee drinks but will be the first to tell you if you’re looking for some real coffee «go swing by next door and come back» (PS gourmet)
The omelette I got was legitimately probably the best I’ve ever had. It was absolutely stuffed with the ingredients I asked for and cooked perfectly. The home fries and hash were very good too.

Love Sonny’s! Great meals and even better prices. I didn’t like their chicken parm, but you can’t bear their pizza!
Pizza is $ 2.50 and drafts are 2.75 on Tuesdays! Nothing classy here but a great Dot tradition.

Having been a restaurant manager I can be critical when it comes to restaurants. However I really don’t have a bad thing to say about Sonny’s. We’ve eaten here a few times recently, eat-​in & take-​out, and I don’t have a single complaint. It’s all been very good, staff is pleasant and as far as take-​out, our order is always correct. A very difficult task for most restaurants for some odd reason.

While living in Adams Village I went here so many times because it was within walking distance. Not one of those times was I ever happy I did. The service with a scowl was always painfully slow. The food is mediocre. They offer no healthy-​ish options except salad fresh out of the bag, so if you come for Irish Breakfast don’t come with someone who might want egg whites or fruit because they don’t have them. The tables always feel sticky and the silverware, which the waitress basically throws at you before disappearing because she forgot about you, has to be checked.
You can avoid the worst of the service by sitting at the bar, and some of the regret by going for the cheap pizza and beer night on Tuesdays. The good bartender and cheap pizza are the reason I gave this place more than 1 star.

This place is very close to my house, so I want to like it, but I’m still kind of undecided. My friend and I spontaneously went there for brunch last weekend and enjoyed our food and the large portions– though we were disappointed in the maple syrup (a bottle of Aunt Jemima) and lackluster service. We decided to go back this week and check out their dinner menu, with somewhat mixed results:
PRO:
–our salads were very large and fresh
–bar pizza was good
CON:
–buffalo tenders were burnt and sauce not well distributed
–served with blue cheese sauce that was less than fresh
–our waitress was practically catatonic… I’m guessing it was «Donna» based on some of the other reviews, but she never even told us her name… Honestly, I don’t need my waitress to have a fake cheeriness, but it was sort of drag and kind of ruined the enjoyment of the experience for us!
All in all, Sonny’s has been a mixed bag for us so far. I’m certainly not expecting anything gourmet, but would like to be able to hit up my local neighborhood pub– I intend to give the place one more shot before completely ruling them out, but I’m not in a huge rush to go back right now!

Great pizza and beer, which are both insanely cheap on Tuesdays. Friday evening has a rowdy but harmless crowd. Chatty servers will take good care of you. I can’t get into their breakfasts tho.

Good food… nice local place… burgers are really good as is the pizza.

We come here all the time now, the portions are huge, the food tastes great, Seanna the waitress is a cutie, Mike the bartender is a nice guy.
Greatest hits:
Chicken parm
Chicken curry
Yankee pot roast

Have been to Sonny’s about 5 – 6 times… food is good, but service is not… the last and final time I went there was on Super Bowl Sunday… walked in there well before the game started and the bar was full, but the restaurant side was not… there was 1 waitress standing at a table chatting with a customer and 1 other table was occupied… plenty of tables to sit at… the waitress looked at us and said nothing so we waited ‘to be seated’ as the sign said… waited another 5 minutes and finally sat at an empty table… she yelled over to us «you can sit there, but I don’t know when I’m going to get to wait on yous’…that was enough for me and my husband… NEVER GOING BACK…

Sonny’s in Dorchester — you get what you pay for, here.
The highlight of this place, in my opinion, is the $ 2.75 pizza and $ 2.75 domestic draft deal on Tuesday nights. The pizzas are actually quite good — I’ve been there with groups of friends and everyone is always pleased — if not pleasantly surprised.
I would always recommend sitting at the bar over having a server at a table surrounding the bar. The bartenders are friendly and prompt — the servers are hit or miss. I have never sat on the «restaurant» side of the venue — so I cannot vouch for the service, there.
The menu is pretty typical bar food, otherwise, although there are some meals available that extend beyond standard bar fare. However, keep in mind where you are — this is a place that has $ 2.75 pizza night… so I’m not sure the Mediterranean Baked Haddock is going to be your dinner winner. And the salads look pretty basic.
However, when I go here… I get the aforementioned pizzas… or nachos, or onion rings… and my plate is clear when all is said and done.
I have actually, in recent months, heard wonderful things about the breakfast, here — we’ll give it a try and update this accordingly, afterwards.
In the end, we can walk here from our home — there’s a good crowd, reasonable cost, and karaōke a few nights per week. Well worth it.

Just your typical local bar. The crowd can be a little rough around the edges, but that makes the people watching all that more fun. Go on a Tuesday night when you can grab a pizza an a couple beers for $ 10.

Sonny’s has been a part of the Adams Village section of Dorchester since the 60’s. Although Dorchester has changed quite a bit (not really from good to bad or vs. versa) this place is today as it has been for the last 40 something years; which is to say a simple place with pub grub. It’s a no frills place where you’ll see families as well as the Norms & Cliffs of the neighborhood on their regular barstools.
If you live in «Dot» and want a relatively cheap meal, I’d say go for it. Dorchester is unfortunatley given a bad rap by those who don’t know which streets to avoid. Adams Village is as quaint as Milton or parts of Quincy for that matter. Parking is pretty easy to find as well.
If it was a toss up between Ashmont (NO PARKING ANYWHERE) or here, it’s a lot easier to get here. It’s less trendy and therefore you’ll pay much less than you would up there.
Wasn’t great, wasn’t bad — though I think I’d search out something different next time.

Went here again on Halloween for dinner with one of my girlfriends. The dinner experience did not start out well but definitely got better. We waited a long time for a waitress to come over with menus and let us know that someone else would be with us shortly. After about another 7 – 8 minutes we flagged done that same waitress to ask if she knew who was going to be helping us or what we should do. She proceeded to take or drink order and deliver our drinks. A little while later our waitress appeared ready to take our order.
We both got salads (I got a house with parmesan peppercorn and my friend got a caesar with no croutons). I ordered a broiled seafood special with double brocolli (instead of potaoe and vegi). The meal had a combo of white fish and scallops. My friend ordered a prime rib with double brocolli (yes she is a copy cat lol).
The waitress came back a few minutes later because she was confused with our order but straightened it out quickly (forgot what dressing i wanted and forgot what my friend said about her salad– no croutons please).
Our salads were ok. My salad could have used a lot more lettuce but was fine. My friend actually ended up with just a bowl of romaine. She was a little dissappointed that there was no parmesan cheese or anything.
So now for the good part… the food. Both of our dinners were very good. I completely enjoyed my seafood and tried her prime rib as well which was delicious. Sonny’s is close to her house and we can always find parking close by. I have yet to try their brunch on the weekend.

This restaurant /​bar in Adams villiage can’t be beat for it’s great food, cold Guiness and congenial staff, who will remember your name and dinning preferences. The atmosphere is very pleasant. I have been here many times with family and friends who enjoy dinning here. A bright spot in the neighborhood. The quality is consistent because the manager, «Richie», is there everyday to insure the customers get the best possible food and service.
Tony

I’ve been to Sonny’s quite a few times for dinner and a beer or two, and I definitely enjoy it. The menu has a large variety including sandwiches, pizzas, and some other entrees (the standards — chicken, steak, pasta), plus a ton of appetizers and salads. The meals are pretty darn good. Not stellar, but always good. I’m a big fan of their burgers and sweet potato fries. Plus they do some great pizza/​beer specials on Mondays and Tuesdays. Prices are right, always on the cheaper side.
In the bar area they also have a good number of flat-​screen TVs, and they always have the game on.
I’m also a big fan of Sonny’s for brunch on a Saturday or Sunday, though I have to admit this has declined since I first started going there. Prices have gone up to more than you’d expect to pay for breakfast, and the food quality has actually gotten worse. Omelettes and french toast are great, eggs and pancakes are ok.
The service is hit or miss. Some of the servers are great — very nice, very responsive, always checking on you (without being a pain in the arse). Others are rude (you feel like you’re bothering them) or they go missing for the entire length of your meal when all you need is some freaking ketchup. Overall, more good than bad though.
I’m close enough to walk, but worth noting that street parking is kind of limited, especially on nights when a wake is happening at the funeral home nearby. There is a huge lot off of Minot Street, half a block away.
Nice lowkey atmosphere, but don’t expect to be wowed. A good «go-​to» place to catch a bite or grab a beer in the neighborhood.