The AllMusic review by Thom Jurek states, "Sonny's Crib is a phenomenal recording, one that opened the door to hard bop becoming the norm in the late '50s, and one that drew deft, imaginative performances from all its players".[7]
Critic Reid Thompson compared the album favorably to Coltrane's Blue Train (recorded two weeks later), seeing them as the epitome of the Blue Note sound in the late 1950s.[8]