Keith Lee, beloved TikTok food critic, has taken his reviews on the road. His latest stint in Atlanta has been less than ideal, and now the restaurants are responding.
Real Housewives star Kandi Burruss' Old Lady Gang restaurant was one of Lee's stops. After being inundated with messages from someone associated with the star to try it out, he obliged. Curiously, he did not get any food.
Lee sent his family in to get the food because they would be treated like everyday people, and they were informed it would take over an hour for a table and they wouldn't accept a to-go order. When Lee went in to investigate, waitstaff informed him that the table would be ready in five minutes, presumably due to Lee's importance. This left a bad taste in the critic's mouth and he left empty handed.
“As always, I don’t want any special treatment. I wanna be treated like everybody else,” Lee said. “I pay for my food like everybody else. I’m a normal person. I’m a normal customer. Things like this is exactly why I do reviews the way I do.”
Burruss responded to the incident on her TikTok account and explained that the restaurant does not accept to-go orders because it would "overwhelm our kitchen by having to have such long times for the people who are actually at the restaurant."
Burruss did not respond to Lee's claim that they would seat him faster than the other people waiting. In the comments, people were upset she glossed over that concern.
"Girl, we, the Keith Lee-ans, don’t care about not having to-go orders on the weekends! He said that! Nice way to not address the wait time!" one commenter wrote.
Lee also visited The Real Milk & Honey, where he also did not purchase any food. He attempted to call the restaurant to place an order and was greeted with an automated message that said they didn't take orders over the phone and to place an order through DoorDash. The app said the restaurant was closed which contradicted the hours online.
Lee once again sent his family inside to order. The staff told them the restaurant was closed for deep cleaning despite people grabbing their orders and eating inside. Lee went inside and they immediately attempted to serve him, but he once again declined. He did tell his audience not to attack the businesses online, but the damage was done.
The owner of the restaurant reportedly took to the radio to address Lee aggressively, saying that you don't go to a restaurant for good service.
Shortly after, the restaurant's bizarre "rules" went viral, which included a rule of 18% gratuity added to parties of five or more which contradicts another rule saying only parties of four or less are allowed on days that end in "y" (which is all of them).
After facing the wrath of the internet, The Real Milk & Honey issued a proper apology and vowed to change how they operate.
"Today, we extend our apologies to all as we address a recent incident that highlighted a review from a high profile food blogger," the statement said. "We've taken time to reflect on the incident and have started internal corrective actions with our team regarding communication styles."
They go on to say that the rules are "outdated" and will be issuing an updated version soon.
Lee's Atlanta romp has since come to an end and he issued a statement implying that his family was threatened despite him offering an unbiased review of the restaurants that they requested.
Let's hope that this is the end of Lee's explosive Atlanta saga.
