WASHINGTON — Hundreds of people lined up for free meals after Keith Lee made another stop on his food tour in the area.
Lee has started quite the buzz around town, even sharing some opinions about restaurants in the area being alcohol-driven. People who live in the area are sharing their opinions on his statements, meanwhile, another local business is benefiting.
People who live here in the DMV have something to say when it comes to the food scene in the area.
“Why would y'all send him to Hong Kong?” one person asked.
There are questions about who recommended some of the restaurants that famous TikTok Food Critic Keith Lee has stopped by.
“The DMV wasn’t getting so many great reviews from him,” said one D.C. native named Lisa.
Lee says he visited about 12 restaurants in the D.C. area but made the decision not to post all his reviews.
“I don’t think it’s constructive, so for the privacy of the restaurant that we went to I’m not going to say what restaurant it is,” Lee said in a TikTok.
This comes just days after Lee posted a video saying he feels like the D.C. food scene is more geared toward alcohol.
"If you don't drink it seems like slim pickings and I'm talking about everything... alcohol, bottomless,” Lee said.
However, his presence continues to make an impact.
“I seen that on Twitter and I said let’s go see what that’s about. So here I am,” Lisa said.
Hundreds of people lined up down the street outside of Jerk At Nite, A Caribbean fusion restaurant in Northeast DC. Lee paid for 200 meals for anyone who stopped by, some waiting for hours but leaving with an everlasting impression.
"It be the sauce, it be the tenderness to it,” Rico Mitchell said after getting his free meal. “It be everything...”
This is a huge deal for this restaurant.
“Giving a small business in D.C. a chance so it can become a consistent trend and hopefully grow into something more special,” Jerk At Nite owner, Denville Myrie Jr. said.
The original location on H Street closed its doors after a fire three weeks ago.
“We had a good year and it burned down and most of our staff were struggling without having hours on the schedule,” Myrie Jr. said. “We couldn’t employ a lot of people because we were down one store. The H Street going down really broke us.”
The timing of all of this couldn't be more perfect. Lee left them $2,000 in hopes of helping them reopen their base location.
“Keith Lee came about two weeks later and put us on the map again and now we’re back giving DC the food we’ve been wanting to give them from H Street,” Myrie Jr. said.
The goal is to work to reopen the original location, where customers continue to visit, not knowing that one is temporarily closed. This is now the third business where WUSA 9 has seen Lee step in and help with more than just a TikTok review.