The Grub Spouse was out of town last weekend, so I decided to make pizza my next Grub cuisine of choice. It seemed an efficient way to keep me from having to cook in The Spouse’s absence. This time around, I set my sights on Sonny’s Pizza and Wings, on Central Street in Happy Holler. I didn’t realize until after I arrived for dinner that the restaurant had been open for only a few months.
I had not ordered ahead, so I found myself standing at the register, perusing Sonny’s double-sided menu. Naturally, pizza is the primary fare, with pies available in 12- and 16-inch diameters. Classic pizzas include pepperoni, cheese-only, Hawaiian and meat lovers. I ordered a 12-inch Sonny’s Supreme ($17.75), which comes topped with red sauce, mozzarella cheese,
pepperoni, Italian sausage, bacon, green peppers, red onions, mushrooms and black olives.
You’ll find nine different pizza styles under the Specialty Pizza header. These include The Volunteer (Big Orange sauce, smoked chicken, smoked pork butt, onions, bacon and peppers); The Philly (with ingredients similar to the classic sandwich); Mexi Style (white sauce, mozzarella, chorizo, jalapeños, red onion, cilantro and hot honey drizzle); and the Pesto Supremo (pesto, ricotta cheese, spinach, onion, chicken and tomato).
Customers may also create their own ingredient combo, starting with one of nine different sauces and layering on a choice of five cheeses, eight meats and nine vegetable toppings. Twelve-inch pizzas with sauce and cheese only start at $12.50 (plus toppings), and 16-inchers start at $18 (plus toppings).
I didn’t forget that “wings” was also in the name of the business, so I decided to add a 1-pound basket of smoked wings to my order for $12.75 (a 2-pound basket costs $24). Wings come tossed in a choice of six different sauces. I chose barbecue over hot, medium, hot honey barbecue, lemon pepper or garlic Parmesan. All wing orders are accompanied by celery sticks and a choice of ranch or blue cheese dressing (I went with blue cheese).
Rounding out Sonny’s menu are several salads, subs and melts, and snacky items like cheesy bread, garlic knots and meatball bites. I also passed on desserts like the cinnamon-topped bread knots, giant cinnamon rolls and brown-sugar-dusted sticky knots.
I requested that they package my order to go, but I did eat a slice and a wing on site while they were both hot and fresh out of the oven and fryer, respectively. I liked the pizza quite a bit. The green peppers were a little chunkier than I prefer, and I wish I had thought to have them hold the black olives altogether. But overall, the ingredients were solid, and the crust may have been one of my favorite parts of Sonny’s pizza. Coming out of the oven, the dough was mostly chewy but with a hint of crispiness.
The wings were also very good. I was pleased to see that these were jumbo-sized wings, similar to the style they serve at Big Kahuna Wings. The tasty barbecue sauce was slathered on heavily, making this a messy affair for those who choose to eat with their hands. But even without the sauce, the inherent smoker-induced flavor made these wings a treat to eat.
This may just be me, but in general, I have felt that the quality of restaurant pizza in general has declined somewhat over the years. But what I tried at Sonny’s was an encouraging reminder that if you keep poking around, you may still stumble upon a stop-worthy slice.
Sonny’s Pizza and Wings
Food: 4
Service: 3.75
Atmosphere: 3.5
Overall: 4
Address: 2300 N. Central St.
Phone: 865-390-9464
No alcohol service
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; noon to 8 p.m. Sundays
Bottom line: There’s a new pizza place in Happy Holler, and its pies and wings have the potential to make the neighborhood even happier.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Sonny’s Pizza and Wings makes a strong first impression | Grub Scout
