TikTok Star Exposes ATL Restaurants For Special Treatment Of Celebs

ATLANTA, GA — Metro Atlanta restaurants have been the hot topic on social media after TikTok food blogger Keith Lee shined a spotlight on local customer-service practices during his recent food tour.

Lee, whose TikTok handle is keith_lee125, recently visited multiple restaurants in town and shared what he says is his honest opinion.

In a series of videos, with the most recent posted shortly after midnight Tuesday, Lee calls out Atlanta restaurant staff for allowing celebrities to bypass extensive wait times while other customers endure hourslong wait periods.

The reviews have gained about 80 million combined views since being posted a few days ago and have gotten the attention of rap star Cardi B, who weighed in on Atlanta's restaurant culture.

"Eating in Atlanta, it is such an event," she can be heard saying in Lee's tour recap. "You (can) barely order in Atlanta restaurants."

Lee arrived to the Atlanta Breakfast Club upon leaving the airport and was met with a set of rules that were "unique" to him, the first being no orders can be accepted until everyone in the party was seated. He was also told once orders are taken, no add-ons could be accepted.

"She wouldn't even explain the menu to us," he said of a waitress.

Lee and his family were able to taste the food, which he rated a 7.8 out of 10.

"For my first stop in Atlanta, I'm very interested to see what the rest of this trip holds," he said in the video.

Old Lady Gang

In a review of Old Lady Gang, owned by famed entrepreneur and singer Kandi Burruss and husband Todd Tucker, Lee sent his family members into the restaurant to order takeout food. His family was told to-go orders are not made on the weekends due to the restaurant being busy and that the wait time to be seated was about an hour to an hour-and-a-half.

He later says in his tour recap Tuesday, the wait time was two-and-a-half hours.

When Lee went into OLG himself, staff told him they would have a table ready in five minutes despite the long wait time for other customers.

As a person who maintains he will not accept special treatment, Lee opted to do takeout rather than dine-in but not before he ensured two women who had been waiting in a car beside his were able to be quickly seated.

He said in the video posted Tuesday the women had been waiting for an hour-and-a-half. Two more women trying to do takeout in a car near his had been waiting, as well, so he made sure they were able to quickly get their orders before he received his food. The waitress received a $500 tip, he said.

"I will be very transparent and honest, I am frustrated," Lee said in the earlier review, adding he is not in agreement with shaming OLG or any other business based on his experience. " ... Atlanta has definitely been a unique experience for me and something I'll never forget. Thank you for inviting me. I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart genuinely, but I'm a normal person and I want to be treated like everybody else."

Burruss responded via Facebook to the review of OLG, saying she appreciates Lee's visit to her restaurant.

"It is very unfortunate that we couldn't serve him and his family," she said. "We would have loved to, okay? But, he's right. We don't take to-go orders on the weekends, and the simple reason is because we do love and appreciate the people who come and support our restaurant."

Burruss noted OLG receives frequent local support and support from out-of-towners on the weekends, and because of this, OLG does not want to "overwhelm" its kitchen and cause wait times to be even longer.

She went on to thank Lee and says she hopes he can be served the next time he visits OLG.

The Real Milk and Honey

Lee also made a tour stop to The Real Milk and Honey but left without taste-testing its food.

Staff told Lee call-in orders could not be accommodated, but DoorDash orders would be accepted. When trying to order through DoorDash, he said he was not able to do so.

When Lee and his family arrived at The Real Milk and Honey, he said the workers told them the restaurant was closed early for deep cleaning though the doors were open and people were able to grab their orders. Lee does admit he is unsure if those customers ordered their meals early.

He said though the staff was nice to him and his family, the rules put into place at The Real Milk and Honey "just wasn't for us."

The establishment responded Tuesday to the review, noting the house rules that have circulated social media recently are outdated.

"It's crucial to always take feedback and make improvements for the success of our business, and our community," The Real Milk and Honey said on TikTok, adding "internal corrective actions with (their) team regarding communication styles" were taking place.

New house rules were posted shortly after, with the No. 1 rule being, "We guarantee good food ... Everything else is left to chance."

Juci Jerk and Jamaican Jerk Biz

Juci Jerk was the first Atlanta eatery Lee visited to allow call-in ordering, he said in a review of the restaurant.

"Everybody else, they don't take no call-ins, no walk-ins, no nothing," Lee said. "You can barely order food."

Lee seemed to enjoy the restaurant's dishes and complimented its customer service.

He also spoke highly of the customer service at Jamaican Jerk Biz, which stayed open past closing time after his family tried to call in an order.

The restaurant staff did not know the order was for Lee, and when he arrived to pick up his food, he matched the eatery's sales profit for the day - spending about $2,800 for his order. He told a staff member to re-add the gratuity to his order after she had removed it.

"This made my whole Atlanta trip," Lee said in the review. "I'm forever grateful and forever appreciative for the opportunity just to be in this moment."

While in town, Lee also tried rapper Lil' Baby's The Seafood Menu Atlanta, The Dining Experience and The Bodega. Since the release of Lee's reviews, some restaurants have gained heightened exposure to customers, as seen in his tour recap.