TikTok's culinary savant Keith Lee dished out his 2023 city rankings and placed Atlanta at the bottom of his dining destination list. According to Atlanta News First, the food critic, known for his bluntness and a massive following of over 14 million viewers on the platform, ranked Atlanta's food scene lower than that of New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Houston, and New Orleans.
The viral sensation pinpointed poor service as the chief culprit for Atlanta's dismal performance, saying "it was hard to get food." Despite this, Lee affirmed that the cuisine he managed to sample was "absolutely delicious." During his reviews in Atlanta, establishments like Old Lady Gang, The Real Milk and Honey, and the Atlanta Breakfast Club were specifically called out for their service, or lack thereof, according to WSB-TV.
This isn't a story without its share of irony, as Lee, in his pursuit of typical customer treatment, noted that both Old Lady Gang and The Real Milk and Honey attempted to offer him preferential service. "Just because I have a certain amount of followers on social media, don't make me different from nobody," he told WSB-TV.
Lee's quest for an authentic dining experience led to a situation at The Real Milk and Honey, where his family couldn't place an order despite multiple attempts and were ultimately told upon their visit that service was not possible due to deep cleaning activities. Attempts to dine at Old Lady Gang also hit a snag, where they encountered long waiting times and a no-go on takeout orders during weekends. Nonetheless, not all was grim for the ATL's dining establishments – eateries like Jamaican Jerk Biz in Mableton, The Dining Experience in Fairburn, and Juci Jerk in Stone Mountain received Lee's acclaim, drawing attention to the shine within the rough, as Atlanta News First reported.
The food critic's visit chronicled his experiences in a series of TikTok videos which cumulatively raked in millions of views, with his critique of The Real Milk and Honey alone amassing over 2 million watches. This level of virality serves a stern reminder to the culinary scenes of major cities – the power of social media can uplift or unravel the reputation of dining ventures in real-time, with the clicks, views, and shares of the internet's denizens hanging in the balance.
