The Keith Lee Effect
posted by My'Hessa Andrews | November 21, 2023 | In OpinionKeith Lee, a famous food critic on social media, just shook-up Atlanta’s restaurant scene, leaving people both pleased and angered over his reactions and responses to restaurants’ food and customer service.
Lee is a retired 10-year MMA fighter, as well as a husband and father of two kids. Lee is famous because of his story, shared on TikTok, and is known for his honesty.
Lee has faced backlash in the past from restaurants that didn’t like his reviews of their establishments.
This time he went to The Real Milk and Honey in Atlanta. Opening his video with no food, he stated the workers would not let him and his family eat because the restaurant was closed for deep cleaning. The doors were open, however, and customers coming in to pick up food, but the restaurant did not let his family order.
After receiving over 12 million views on TikTok, The Real Milk and Honey responded with a video saying: “Who is Keith Lee”? That response lead to more criticism of the restaurant.
In another incident in Atlanta Lee left two restaurants because of preferential treatment after finding out who he was. While visiting Old Lady Gang, Lee’s family went into the restaurant and were told there was an hour and a half wait time. After Lee went in, and upon finding out who he was, the time shrunk to five minutes.
Even after having a lot of negative experiences, Lee still went to smaller business, hidden gems, where he found much better food and customer service. Juci Jerk, a Jamaican restaurant served Lee with respect and precision, resulting in a 10 out of 10 rating, and also he also matched their sales, which was a little over two thousand dollars. The next day, after that review, the line was out of the door with people waiting to try their food. This is one of many people that Lee has helped over his career.
All his work did go unnoticed by people stating that he’s tearing down Black businesses and that is not credible as a food critic. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter if you’re a black business or not that doesn’t give you the right to treat people with disrespect. Lee never asked to be a food critic, the internet helped him become one.
If you only want celebrities to eat at your restaurant, make a celebrity-only restaurant. Also let’s not forget that the same people that work nine-to-five that these restaurants disrespect are the same people that help you keep that restaurant open. Great customer service and great food makes a restaurant great not a grass wall and a D.J.
Photo Courtesy of YJ-Lee.
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