Sonny’s Kitchen

We decided to step into this restaurant after a pleasant walk through Barnes park and pond. We have found a welcoming atmosphere and exceptionally well prepared refined food. Both fish starter and beef main were awesome! Very good quality in a friendly environment.

Great neighbourhood restaurant. Menu revamped by new head chef Tommy Boland (from 2 star The Square) with input from Phil Howard. High quality cooking n buzzy atmosphere.

Comfortable room.
Good service, almost overly attentive. Three staff asked us if we had ordered drinks after doing so…
The ballotine of duck was tasty but didn’t have the depth of flavour of a confit. The Steak and Kidney Pudding was delicious and the frites were crispy and hot. And the peanut butter ice cream was a winner with the banana dessert.
Still a very nice place to go locally for a good standard of cuisine.

nice restaurant in Barnes.
I have lived about as close to sonny’s as humanly possible all my life but never tried it out. Finally my girlfriend persuaded me to give it a go.
The food was nice, french-​british or something… anyway, it was french food and nice. Came in typical «ponsy» portions, but looked nice and was what i’d always expected. Stereotypes aside the food was delicious.
The staff were friendly and attentive, clearly both well trained and practiced.
The design is nice with a front area and quiet back dining area… which explained the reason i’d never seen anyone eating dinner!
If you can stand the typical «barnes mums» and «barnes snobs» and are looking for a nice (but not cheap) meal, it could be recommended. Not top of my list though

Continuing my quest to try every restaurant in Barnes, Sonny’s was a place I always seemed to ignore when walking by. Yee Gan is right; it’s utterly forgettable from the outside, and almost seems to hoity-​toity and exclusive to be a nice place for dinner.
However, inside, Sonny’s has a whole different feel. It is much larger than it seems! You come in through the bar, and find that there are tables that stretch waaaaaay back inside. We were able to get a table without a reservation on a Friday night.
Everything is done right, in a simple way. There is nothing overly snobby or fancy about Sonny’s or its food; they’ve just done their homework and gotten an A.
I had the sardines with chickpeas to start. (I can never remember the frill words on menus, so I can never convey the full excitement of the dish!) It was absolutely delicious and much better than you’d expect from a simple sardine dish.
For the main course, I had sea bream (with spring onions and salsa verde). Yumsville.
Everything was melt-​in-​your-​mouth good, served piping hot, with freshly baked bread. Service was excellent and attentive without being overly so.
Dessert: poached peaches with raspberries. Although the menu said it would be served with sorbet, I didn’t see any on my plate. Still, it was a very nice simple dessert and a good change for me from the old fruit salad or sorbet that I’m used to ordering.
Oooh and we had a Vina Chocolan (red wine) from Chile. Highly recommended for chocolate lovers!
All in all, for a special meal out without the fuss, try this place. It seems to be a locals’ favourite where pretentiousness is left at the door.

Sonny’s many professional reviews descibe it as a well-​established, well-​loved locals’ restaurant in Barnes. Judging from the well-​heeled clientele dining there this evening, I would guess that Sonny’s must be doing something right to keep customers with such high standards happy.
The restaurant has an unspectacular façade but opens out inside — it extends way into the building and takes a lot of covers. Service was smooth throughout the evening.
The menu offered 6 – 8 courses in each category.
I started with the white crabmeat tortellini with potted shrimp, caper and parsley butter sauce. Four plump tortellini duly arrived, packed with white crabmeat and well made pasta though I could have done with a touch more seasoning in the crabmeat itself. The sauce was finely balanced with the sea salty potted shrimp playing against the capers and lemon.
My choice of main course had no competitor once I had spotted it on the menu. The humble poussin was being given some illustrious partners — foie gras and morel sauce. It duly arrived as a whole stuffed bird with legs removed and arranged alongside and on top of a bed of spinach, 2 slabs of seared foie gras on a giant croûton and the morel sauce in a separate pot for pouring. All these elements were served with great flourish at the table, all in a giant copper-​bottomed saucepan. With such great elements, it was a most enjoyable dish.
For dessert, I enjoyed a technically accomplished chocolate fondant with gooey centre, which was nicely complemented with a suitably tart raspberry sorbet.
Sonny’s does deserve its good reputation.