'I want the same treatment': TikToker's Atlanta restaurant reviews strike chord nationwide
A popular TikTok food critic is gaining attention after Atlanta residents said his work exposed how many popular restaurants in the city want to cater toward a crowd of celebrities and influencers at the expense of regular restaurant goers.
Keith Lee, a popular food critic on TikTok with more than 14 million followers, recently visited the metro area of Atlanta to try out the cuisine at nine different restaurants. But it was the customer service and dining experience, more than the food, that generated the most interest from fans and backlashes from the restaurants Lee visited.
Some restaurants around the country have credited Lee's reviews with sending a substantial number of customers through their doors, such as a Las Vegas pizzeria owner who said his business started to boom after Lee critiqued his food in January.
But the experience in Atlanta has been all together different.
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'I am not a celebrity'
To keep restaurant owners from being biased, Lee doesn't go into the restaurants. According to his videos, he always sends a family member or friend inside to order the food. He always pays full price for the food and likes to be treated just like any other customer.
"I am not a celebrity," Lee said in a TikTok video. "I am a regular person, just like anyone else. When I enter a restaurant, I want the same treatment the employees will give to someone they say is a regular person."
In late October, Lee got exactly what he wanted as he sent family members to nine different Atlanta restaurants that are well-known. He visited The Atlanta Breakfast Club, The Seafood Menu, Juci Jerk, The Real Milk and Honey, The Dining Experience Atlanta, The Bodega, Jamaican Jerk Biz, Old Lady Gang, and Toast On Lenox.
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When visiting these restaurants, the common theme was customer service. According to Lee, at the Atlanta Breakfast Club, the waitress was nice, but their rules were unique. The waitress told him they could only order once as a group and couldn't add anything later. She also told him she would only take his order, give him water, or serve him once everyone was at the table sitting down.
The Breakfast Club did not respond to Lee's experience.
The next day, Lee and his family members visited The Real Milk and Honey restaurant. Lee once again let his family go in and order while he waited in the car, but they were informed that the restaurant was closed for deep cleaning. However, they noticed people entering the restaurant and ordering food. Curious, Lee decided to go inside and investigate. Although the staff recognized him and offered to serve him, he declined.
"We are all normal people and if you not going to do it then (when his family tried to order) then don't do it all," Lee said in his review of The Real Milk and Honey.
The Real Milk and Honey watched Lee's video and laughed, claiming they didn't know him, according to a video the staff posted. The company issued a press release apologizing for the now-deleted video.
"In no way were we trying to discredit anyone, if the comments came across as such, kindly accept our apologies," the press release said. "It's crucial to always take feedback and make improvements for the success of our business, and our community. We've taken time to reflect on the incident and have started internal corrective actions with our team regarding communication styles."
Lee also visited Old Lady Gang, a restaurant owned by Kandi Burruss, which had been featured on a Bravo network television show the previous day. The hostess informed Lee's family members that the wait time was an hour. However, Lee decided to inquire about the wait time himself and asked the waiter, who informed him that he could be seated in just five minutes.
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That turned him off, so he left the restaurant without buying anything. Burruss responded to Lee's review on Monday and said she appreciated his review.
Lee said his Atlanta experience was very unique, with restaurants intent on catering to him when he made his presence known, but not to his friends and family when staff thought they were everyday people. He also stated that 95% of the restaurants he went to didn't take phone pick-up orders, and some didn't do take-out on weekends.
Rapper Cardi B, in a video, talked about the situation and agreed with Lee on how hard it is to eat at Atlanta restaurants, some of which may sound familiar to anyone who's tried dining at popular restaurants on busy nights in major cities.
"Eating in Atlanta is such an event," Cardi B said. "You can barely order in an ATL restaurant. They don't take orders, they don't do any pickup orders, and they don't do deliveries."