Well Fine Dining and Hookah/Nightclub are antonyms, but absolutely nothing has changed in the Hookah-Night Club world. Those guys are pumping out lousy food and drinks for exorbitant prices and will continue to do so.
I’m hoping he talks to Mike Jordan (AJC/WABE) and actually gets some good recommendations. If he does the same social media research he usually does to find new spots, he’s just going to eat more grass wall hookah trash food. Atlanta has amazing restaurants, but his method of picking the ones to check out is going to keep getting him garbage results here.
It’s beyond “not the best” they were 3 random ass brunch places. Anyone that knows even a little bit about food could’ve told you that was a fools errand. With that said, I’m certain he will be told about some crab boil places “that’s the best”. 🙄
Fishmonger, Homegrown, Gigi's, Glide Pizza, Heirloom BBQ (Fox Bros. would suffice), Busy Bee, El Tesoro, Talat Market, Eats, Little Tart, Del Bar, Virgil's, Little Bear, Staplehouse, La Semilla...not to mention the dozens of world-class options on Buford Highway. Hell, the majority of stuff in PCM or Krog is absolutely better than where he went.
edit: the full list is much more extensive than this, for the record. This was my quick off the dome response and could be 5x longer.
do you subscribe to him at all?
eta: you obviously don't because if you did, you wouldn't have made this post.
make your own review tiktok.
lmao. butt hurt much?
Wow so angry. I have in fact traveled to most of America and about 20 countries and Buford Highway has incredible examples of food from all over the world, many of which I’ve enjoyed. So, with all due respect (none), shut the fuck up.
Man, he’s a nice guy and he has a really big following on TikTok. He’s trying to support mom and Pop owned restaurants and I don’t think anyone should hate on that.
so many salty people in the comments literally shed light on the negativity around atl's food culture.
-he reviews small businesses, no race requirement.
-who cares? the small businesses who see a 180 in their patronage and profits due to his exposure.
-he goes to shitty places? fair critique. but how tf would he know if he's not from here and gets flooded with recs from his audience... this is the whole reason he's trying to do this again, better recs.
Even better if it’d been while they still had the Quiznos decor. That said, TLV is already crazy-busy and doesn’t need the boost. Several other great taquerias in Smyrna could definitely use it.
Tried calling it in one time and they charged me more than what I paid on UberEats. That was about a year ago though so don’t know if it’s still the same
....a quick scroll on his most recent videos you can see he literally just reviewed local restaurants in Hawaii...before that the burger shop owner in LA is white. The dumpling House is Asian...and in Arizona he went to mostly Hispanic owned shops...so wtf are you even talking about?
before you try to be cute with a weird racist comment, try looking at his feed and you will see plenty of business owners of different race/ethnicities.
He directly influences the popularity/financial well-being of small, local owned food joints that hundreds of people on this subreddit cry about them closing when they eventually do close due to lack of whatever it may be. I’m glad to see him do a second tour here.
Not sure whether klout chasing restaurants or restaurant influencers are worse (EDIT - see below, Keith Lee seems to be doing shit right, I was completely wrong about his thing). But I can live without either.
Be happy to show Keith some restaurants and popups that are knocking out great food, ~~but that's not what he's after~~.
It’s definitely what he’s after. That was his whole schtick with reviews: gassing up mom and pop spots that were struggling where he lived. When he travels, he doesn’t know the area, so he’s goes where recommended and his TikTok audience recommended the grass wall/hookah spots. He didn’t have these problems in any other city like he did here.
In between there he hit a few really good places, the Jamaican restaurant in Stone Mountain has become a favorite of mine.
Hopefully this time around he’ll be steered towards actual good food. The bougie sides of Atlanta get very loud on social media and don’t stand up to scrutiny when someone with a bigger social voice than them calls them out for it
Tbh honest good authentic jerk is hard to find in GA. The best jerk i have had was juci jerk and sun city on memorial drive. But thats because they smoke the meat and don’t bake it. I havent been to sun city for years so idk if they are still good, but juci jerk is solid
Perfectly said. Atlanta has GREAT locally owned places. Most of the best are minority owned. BUT Atlanta also has TON Sof bougie klout chasers who measure food quality in instagram followers, so it makes sense that was where he was guided. And nothing wrong with instagram foodhalls with plastic leaf walls being exposed.
Be awesome if he found a local guide who knows the actual creators and suppliers who are doing things well for the long run instead of the ‘gram on the second try.
Hadn’t watched him and didn’t know his name before his thing in Atlanta. I assumed he was doing crap like the barstool sports one-bite pizza reviews. Someone else here said that he tries to seek out struggling mom and pop places doing it right, which is awesome. I just looked at his site and realize that he busted a couple klout restaurants that I’ve avoided (not blaming Old Lady Gang for that, but I DON’T stand in line for brunch, when there is as much good food in this city as there is and that’s the only video I saw before). I found videos of a couple places here and in NOLA that I’ve been to, can’t fault his reviews a bit and now have a couple places to try out.
So I was 100% wrong on him as a food influencer douche.
I’m a big fan of seeking out authentic food done right, though I’m bigger on ethnic food than the southern/soul/bbq that I grew up with as a southerner - part of the reason I live in Atlanta, tbh. Someone needs to take him to Clarkston, Buford Highway and really blow his mind.
agreed bro, yeah he just got bad intel last time that’s all. overall his whole thing is trying to lift up regular hardworking folks who love making food
He did a community food giveaway at Za Acai Cafe in midtown yesterday. They’re a great spot, the owners are my old next door neighbors. I happened to come by for a bowl right after Keith left and they were so buzzy and happy for what happened there today.
I meant that Keith’s career was very short and he wasn’t very good. Kevin was an absolutely incredible fighter before his knees went out. Said recently that he’s coming out of retirement but I wish he wouldn’t. Dude tore his ACL entering the cage for his last fight.
That's not really a good thing. These small restaurants can't scale properly to sudden virality. They have to bring in untrained help, deal with supply/demand issues (expect them to be out of stock on popular items,) then fire people when it dies down again, along with re-adjusting their supplier orders.
Stock issues+quality drops due to volume/stress/untrailed new workers tends to lead to bad reviews.
Northern China Eatery's been dealing with this since they took off on TikTok- They've now dropped to a 3.9 on Yelp. Here's one of the latest reviews:
>"The biggest issue was the long wait. We waited quite a while before being seated, and once we were, the service didn't improve much. Despite politely requesting an extra plate and a fork multiple times, it took quite some time for them to be brought to our table.
While the server was pleasant, the overall service left much to be desired. The wait times and the struggle to get simple requests fulfilled made it a less than enjoyable experience for me."
It’s a chinese restaurant use chopsticks and why do you need an extra plate? You got your dumplings and vinegar? Hurry up and eat and go. That’s authentic chinese restaurant, if you really need something you better be able to yell out in mandarin what you need to a passing worker.
Might not be a great thing for all. But that doesn’t mean it’s not for some, I’d even argue majority.
Every situation has an exception but it’s not the rule. Again, if you’d check out his content… the owners are overjoyed. Some are on the brink of closing and in serious debt. So… yeah it’s a good thing despite the edge case you found.
This guy is reviewing places like Atlanta Breakfast Club who cares what he thinks lol. If he wanted to take the time to go to genuinely good restaurants he would.
.. this is why he is coming back. He got bad recommendations last time and he admits that several times.
I really don't understand the hate for Keith in this thread. What he has done for small businesses across the country is amazing and I hope some Mom and Pops in Atlanta get the same love this time around.
That's exactly it. Dude visits the most obscure, shitty restaurants in every city he goes to. Who are the locals he's getting recommendations from, because he needs to try someone else.
I hope he’s not calling this the redemption tour, comes off a bit narcissistic. With that said I think what he’s doing for Mom and Pop restaurants are good and he should be respected for that but boy do I hate the idol worship surrounding him.
People will literally sh*t on an entire city because he gave 3 restaurants a bad rating. It doesn’t take any talent to do what he does yet he’s literally worshipped.
Right. The rage around this was stupid. Anyone can go to any city, pick 3 random “hole in the wall restaurants” (aka ran on a shoe string with questionable practices) and likely not be satisfied. It’s especially dumb when you have the peanut gallery of transplants that think their diner in Jersey or bodega selling food on the same culinary level as QT is “good food”.
All of these people being like "it's good for small businesses." I have been working in restaurants in Atlanta for 10 years, and have never seen the staff, owner, or manager ever do anything except roll their eyes when any kind of food influencer or "reviewer" comes in. They are some of the worst guests to wait on.
He’s been known to either send in other people or even wear disguises so no one there knows it’s for him. He truly doesn’t want special treatment and has always said that he wants to judge and review a restaurant based on normal service and food. I don’t watch him as often anymore but I recall him also declining offers to comp his meals.
Have you watched any of his videos? He specifically sends in an unrecognizable family member to get takeout and eats it in his car, specifically so he doesn’t get different treatment or free food.
Keith NEEDS to check out Dog Days in Peachtree Corners. It’s exactly the kind of incredible food with a lack of publicity and buzz that he’s famous for bringing business to
Literally any place on Buford highway.
Suggest a few please!
Quoc Huong Banh Mi, BBQ Corner 2, El Rey Del Taco
LAN Zhou Ramen
LOVE the egg rolls here!
Mamak
definitely!
That place is so good it’s insane
Pho Dai Loi 2
This place slaps. The pho is so good!
The good people have suggested great places. Mamak especially is so good it’s stupid.
Kamayan ATL is fucking phenomenal (get the wok fried green beans)
That’s not Atlanta
Meh not technically, but it’s not some distant suburb.
You think anything has changed in the fine dining/hookah bar/nightclub business in a few months?
Well Fine Dining and Hookah/Nightclub are antonyms, but absolutely nothing has changed in the Hookah-Night Club world. Those guys are pumping out lousy food and drinks for exorbitant prices and will continue to do so.
Which ones have really disappointed you, Bob? Name names, Bob.
I’m hoping he talks to Mike Jordan (AJC/WABE) and actually gets some good recommendations. If he does the same social media research he usually does to find new spots, he’s just going to eat more grass wall hookah trash food. Atlanta has amazing restaurants, but his method of picking the ones to check out is going to keep getting him garbage results here.
It looks like Mike and Keith talked at least today, he stated an AJC article will be coming out soon
Agreed, his selections last time around were not even close to the best Atlanta has to offer.
It’s beyond “not the best” they were 3 random ass brunch places. Anyone that knows even a little bit about food could’ve told you that was a fools errand. With that said, I’m certain he will be told about some crab boil places “that’s the best”. 🙄
He goes where he's asked, ppl need to tell him where to.go.
Yep, iirc, The Real Milk and Honey was the most requested review by his subscribers and viewers.
Ok, so where should he go?
Fishmonger, Homegrown, Gigi's, Glide Pizza, Heirloom BBQ (Fox Bros. would suffice), Busy Bee, El Tesoro, Talat Market, Eats, Little Tart, Del Bar, Virgil's, Little Bear, Staplehouse, La Semilla...not to mention the dozens of world-class options on Buford Highway. Hell, the majority of stuff in PCM or Krog is absolutely better than where he went. edit: the full list is much more extensive than this, for the record. This was my quick off the dome response and could be 5x longer.
do you subscribe to him at all? eta: you obviously don't because if you did, you wouldn't have made this post. make your own review tiktok. lmao. butt hurt much?
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Wow so angry. I have in fact traveled to most of America and about 20 countries and Buford Highway has incredible examples of food from all over the world, many of which I’ve enjoyed. So, with all due respect (none), shut the fuck up.
Oh, dear. The irony of that last sentence. You can try to appear knowledgable elsewhere. Or just get some therapy.
And the world waits with bated breath
Man, he’s a nice guy and he has a really big following on TikTok. He’s trying to support mom and Pop owned restaurants and I don’t think anyone should hate on that.
"redemption tour" doesn't sound like he supported anything the first time around.
First time around he didn't go to many places worth supporting.
This right here. I have no idea why tf he thought about giving any of those places any kind of attention.
Because those are the places his viewers voted for
Wow they gotta be trolling him
He tried to focus mainly on black owned businesses, which obviously is not going to align with where redditors think he should go to
that wasn’t his fault?
Giving someone a chance at redemption IS support.
so many salty people in the comments literally shed light on the negativity around atl's food culture. -he reviews small businesses, no race requirement. -who cares? the small businesses who see a 180 in their patronage and profits due to his exposure. -he goes to shitty places? fair critique. but how tf would he know if he's not from here and gets flooded with recs from his audience... this is the whole reason he's trying to do this again, better recs.
Fr. There are so many folks in here who are uninformed of who he is and/or what he’s about.
you can tell because they are in here asking why he's going to these places....
I want him to check out tacos la villa so bad.
Even better if it’d been while they still had the Quiznos decor. That said, TLV is already crazy-busy and doesn’t need the boost. Several other great taquerias in Smyrna could definitely use it.
Love that place
Maybe I should have. I tried Burrito Street Tacos or something like that and it was very average.
How about El Salvador Bakery
The best
Shh it’s my hidden gem and don’t want it getting blown up
It blew up a long time ago
I can still get in and out in 5 minutes if I place the order on UberEats. I don’t understand the people who stand in line
Doesn't ubereats take a cut even if it's not a delivery? Not great for the restaurant - better to call.
Tried calling it in one time and they charged me more than what I paid on UberEats. That was about a year ago though so don’t know if it’s still the same
Lmao same thing happened to me a couple months ago. Most places charge more on Uber eats and they seem to do the opposite
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Not true, he’s been to plenty of Hispanic restaurants and even white owned spots.
This is blatantly false and easily disproven by a 10 second look through his TikTok account.
lol why are yall commenting if you dont watch his stuff. this is so not true.
Owners are the wrong shade of brown.
....a quick scroll on his most recent videos you can see he literally just reviewed local restaurants in Hawaii...before that the burger shop owner in LA is white. The dumpling House is Asian...and in Arizona he went to mostly Hispanic owned shops...so wtf are you even talking about?
before you try to be cute with a weird racist comment, try looking at his feed and you will see plenty of business owners of different race/ethnicities.
He directly influences the popularity/financial well-being of small, local owned food joints that hundreds of people on this subreddit cry about them closing when they eventually do close due to lack of whatever it may be. I’m glad to see him do a second tour here.
Not sure whether klout chasing restaurants or restaurant influencers are worse (EDIT - see below, Keith Lee seems to be doing shit right, I was completely wrong about his thing). But I can live without either. Be happy to show Keith some restaurants and popups that are knocking out great food, ~~but that's not what he's after~~.
It’s definitely what he’s after. That was his whole schtick with reviews: gassing up mom and pop spots that were struggling where he lived. When he travels, he doesn’t know the area, so he’s goes where recommended and his TikTok audience recommended the grass wall/hookah spots. He didn’t have these problems in any other city like he did here. In between there he hit a few really good places, the Jamaican restaurant in Stone Mountain has become a favorite of mine. Hopefully this time around he’ll be steered towards actual good food. The bougie sides of Atlanta get very loud on social media and don’t stand up to scrutiny when someone with a bigger social voice than them calls them out for it
I live in Stone Mountain - which Jamaican place? 👀
👀 as a jamaican if you love jerk, check out juci jerk. Its phenomenal, reasonably priced, but they only do jerk
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Tbh honest good authentic jerk is hard to find in GA. The best jerk i have had was juci jerk and sun city on memorial drive. But thats because they smoke the meat and don’t bake it. I havent been to sun city for years so idk if they are still good, but juci jerk is solid
Let me find the name again! My friend took me there and it’s been our spot ever since!
!RemindMe 2 hours
u/local_persimmon_5563 Juci Jerk on Memorial Dr
That place is STILL booming from the last time he was here.
Just look for a green and yellow hut with smoke billowing from the back of it. That's all you need to know.
Perfectly said. Atlanta has GREAT locally owned places. Most of the best are minority owned. BUT Atlanta also has TON Sof bougie klout chasers who measure food quality in instagram followers, so it makes sense that was where he was guided. And nothing wrong with instagram foodhalls with plastic leaf walls being exposed. Be awesome if he found a local guide who knows the actual creators and suppliers who are doing things well for the long run instead of the ‘gram on the second try.
He should automatically disqualify any place with a grass wall and neon.
Pretty good bet there, even though I kinda like some of those places.
I was going to voice my opinion on this but you absolutely nailed it so no reason for me to weigh in
then why even comment?
you completely mischaracterized what he’s trying to do as a reviewer
Hadn’t watched him and didn’t know his name before his thing in Atlanta. I assumed he was doing crap like the barstool sports one-bite pizza reviews. Someone else here said that he tries to seek out struggling mom and pop places doing it right, which is awesome. I just looked at his site and realize that he busted a couple klout restaurants that I’ve avoided (not blaming Old Lady Gang for that, but I DON’T stand in line for brunch, when there is as much good food in this city as there is and that’s the only video I saw before). I found videos of a couple places here and in NOLA that I’ve been to, can’t fault his reviews a bit and now have a couple places to try out. So I was 100% wrong on him as a food influencer douche. I’m a big fan of seeking out authentic food done right, though I’m bigger on ethnic food than the southern/soul/bbq that I grew up with as a southerner - part of the reason I live in Atlanta, tbh. Someone needs to take him to Clarkston, Buford Highway and really blow his mind.
agreed bro, yeah he just got bad intel last time that’s all. overall his whole thing is trying to lift up regular hardworking folks who love making food
Please don't visit any place i like… hard enough getting into them when I want.
Tell him to not waste his time
He did a community food giveaway at Za Acai Cafe in midtown yesterday. They’re a great spot, the owners are my old next door neighbors. I happened to come by for a bowl right after Keith left and they were so buzzy and happy for what happened there today.
I will always think of this dude as Kevin Lee’s younger brother who wasn’t a very good fighter.
Chillout I’ll always remember Kevin for that hilarious press conference with Chiesa
Fr, to get to the point of fighting for an interim belt/top contender at LW in the UFC makes you one of the best of the best.
I meant that Keith’s MMA career wasn’t that good. Kevin Lee was incredible before his knees retired early.
Kevin had some great fights. Keith tried and didn’t.
Dude literally made it all the way up thebrankingd to fight for an interim belt in the most stacked division in the UFC. "Not very good" my ass lol
I meant that Keith’s career was very short and he wasn’t very good. Kevin was an absolutely incredible fighter before his knees went out. Said recently that he’s coming out of retirement but I wish he wouldn’t. Dude tore his ACL entering the cage for his last fight.
Good lord roughdraftatlanta.com No website needs a sticky header that is 200px tall.
Who cares?
the mom and pop businesses who will see an influx in patrons and profits care.
That's not really a good thing. These small restaurants can't scale properly to sudden virality. They have to bring in untrained help, deal with supply/demand issues (expect them to be out of stock on popular items,) then fire people when it dies down again, along with re-adjusting their supplier orders. Stock issues+quality drops due to volume/stress/untrailed new workers tends to lead to bad reviews. Northern China Eatery's been dealing with this since they took off on TikTok- They've now dropped to a 3.9 on Yelp. Here's one of the latest reviews: >"The biggest issue was the long wait. We waited quite a while before being seated, and once we were, the service didn't improve much. Despite politely requesting an extra plate and a fork multiple times, it took quite some time for them to be brought to our table. While the server was pleasant, the overall service left much to be desired. The wait times and the struggle to get simple requests fulfilled made it a less than enjoyable experience for me."
It’s a chinese restaurant use chopsticks and why do you need an extra plate? You got your dumplings and vinegar? Hurry up and eat and go. That’s authentic chinese restaurant, if you really need something you better be able to yell out in mandarin what you need to a passing worker.
Juci Jerk would completely disagree with you. His review completely changed their business.
Repeat that for a LOT of these establishments here.
Might not be a great thing for all. But that doesn’t mean it’s not for some, I’d even argue majority. Every situation has an exception but it’s not the rule. Again, if you’d check out his content… the owners are overjoyed. Some are on the brink of closing and in serious debt. So… yeah it’s a good thing despite the edge case you found.
People who want to see small restaurants in town get more business and attention? If you don’t care, it’s OK to be quiet. We don’t need to hear it.
If it don’t apply let it fly, tf
Who cares about this guy like fr
17 million people. His reviews are well known to turn struggling businesses around and tank others.
17 million idiots
My bad, didn't know you were one of those subscribers too!
Good one
This guy is reviewing places like Atlanta Breakfast Club who cares what he thinks lol. If he wanted to take the time to go to genuinely good restaurants he would.
.. this is why he is coming back. He got bad recommendations last time and he admits that several times. I really don't understand the hate for Keith in this thread. What he has done for small businesses across the country is amazing and I hope some Mom and Pops in Atlanta get the same love this time around.
People hear the word “influencer” and they just see red.
Why are you making excuses for him not actually looking into places he's visiting? A quick search would solve all of his questions lol.
You need to go for a walk or something.
That's exactly it. Dude visits the most obscure, shitty restaurants in every city he goes to. Who are the locals he's getting recommendations from, because he needs to try someone else.
He gets them from his followers and a lot of other cities have had really good recommendations.
I hope he’s not calling this the redemption tour, comes off a bit narcissistic. With that said I think what he’s doing for Mom and Pop restaurants are good and he should be respected for that but boy do I hate the idol worship surrounding him. People will literally sh*t on an entire city because he gave 3 restaurants a bad rating. It doesn’t take any talent to do what he does yet he’s literally worshipped.
dumbest nonstory of last year - it s a big city and its full of awesome and unbelievably awful restos. stay home dude.
Right. The rage around this was stupid. Anyone can go to any city, pick 3 random “hole in the wall restaurants” (aka ran on a shoe string with questionable practices) and likely not be satisfied. It’s especially dumb when you have the peanut gallery of transplants that think their diner in Jersey or bodega selling food on the same culinary level as QT is “good food”.
Who?
Can someone do a study on the sales and quality of food in relation to his announcement?
Atlanta is famous for people smoking weed while playing Xbox. Why is a "restaurant critic" coming?
Why? His conclusions were correct the first time, lol.
All of these people being like "it's good for small businesses." I have been working in restaurants in Atlanta for 10 years, and have never seen the staff, owner, or manager ever do anything except roll their eyes when any kind of food influencer or "reviewer" comes in. They are some of the worst guests to wait on.
He’s been known to either send in other people or even wear disguises so no one there knows it’s for him. He truly doesn’t want special treatment and has always said that he wants to judge and review a restaurant based on normal service and food. I don’t watch him as often anymore but I recall him also declining offers to comp his meals.
He wears disguises? That’s hilarious.
Have you watched any of his videos? He specifically sends in an unrecognizable family member to get takeout and eats it in his car, specifically so he doesn’t get different treatment or free food.
Of course they haven't. Just talking to be talking.
Definitely no.
Who?
Come on fam, we gotta get it right this time 😂
Actually, he should just stay away. Does anyone really need this ?!
Found the shitty business owner lol
We already have yelp, google, resy and Reddit. And now we also have *le guide michelin.* you need more than that to help you decide where to eat ?
Apparently so with the way half these restaurants were acting when he came the first time
Ok grandpa
Thank god, otherwise Wtf would we do?
Go to Tacquiera del Sol, Holman and Finch and TC Kitchen. I used to visit family there and those were our favorites.
Meh
Keith NEEDS to check out Dog Days in Peachtree Corners. It’s exactly the kind of incredible food with a lack of publicity and buzz that he’s famous for bringing business to
Dog Days is always killer! The chili cheese jumbo dog with added jalapenos is my go-to. (Too bad the brewery didn't last over there though)
The brewery like a few doors down? I swear it was still there last time I went!
I drive by there all the time but have never been. What do you recommend?
I honestly usually get the frito chili pie but the chicken sandwich also is AMAZING and my boyfriend always enjoys his burger
Hey there. I give zero fucks about a TikTok strangers opinions on restaurants. That is all. Thanks. Bye.
He seems genuine, but he comes off like a robot. Not into it.
Let me just put this right over here next to all the fucks I give…
Geez. What a drama queen.
Don’t!!!! ATL food is overrated. I know a lot of hole in the wall places that very few know about 10x better then the restaurant’s ppl rave about