Viral food critic Keith Lee visits Atlanta, slams restaurants
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ATLANTA, Georgia (WANF) — The Michelin Guide food critics weren’t the only ones turning their attention to Atlanta recently.
Viral TikTok food critic Keith Lee visited Atlanta for the ONE Music Fest and used the visit to sample restaurants around metro Atlanta. With more than 14 million followers on TikTok, his experience in the area has been mixed, to say the least.
Lee has caused controversy over his less-than-stellar reviews for some restaurants and his “exposure” of certain practices common to Atlanta restaurants. In particular, Lee has had a problem with customer service at several restaurants and restaurants’ refusal to take out or phone orders.
Lee often travels with his family, who orders food in his stead so he can remain anonymous; his reviews are almost always filmed in his car. But he ran into trouble ordering food over the phone or through DoorDash in Atlanta and often had to go in himself.
Lee experienced this at Old Lady Gang, owned by Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss. Lee said Burruss’ team had been trying to contact him since he arrived in Atlanta, but the special treatment did not do the restaurant any favors whatsoever. A frequent line in Lee’s reviews is that he doesn’t want special treatment; when the restaurant tried to Lee immediately despite telling his family it was an hour-and-a-half wait, Lee walked out.
His most controversial review was of The Real Milk and Honey in College Park. When his family first tried to order food at the restaurant, Lee said, they were turned away because the restaurant was “deep cleaning.” The restaurant doors, however, were wide open and people were taking out orders. When a server recognized Lee, they attempted to serve him but Lee said he walked out because of the poor customer service.
The review has nearly 2 million likes on TikTok and over 17,000 comments, including one by the Detroit Lions.
The Real Milk and Honey’s owner later posted a video on the restaurant’s TikTok claiming not to know who Keith Lee is.
That was not Lee’s only experience with what he called poor customer service in Atlanta. Lee also called out the Atlanta Breakfast Club for only serving full parties.
Lee didn’t rip into every restaurant he went to in metro Atlanta, though. He singled out Jamaican Jerk Biz in Mableton, The Dining Experience in Fairburn and Juci Jerk in Stone Mountain as highlights.
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