A popular Creole-style restaurant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, gave the famous critic his just desserts after being Keith Lee’d. Over the weekend, Keith Lee shared a dissatisfied review of the Bayou Affect with his 16 million followers. But the restaurant owners turned the tables on Lee, posting a hilarious comeback on TikTok that went viral.
‘The former MMA fighter was directed to the Bayou Affect by his followers local to the area who responded to a poll asking which popular Baton Rouge restaurant best embodied the city’s food scene. In the review from his car, Lee discussed the ordering snafus that caused him to wait over an hour for his food.
“The customer service was OK,” he said in the critique, noting that he arrived to pick up his four-item order around 6 p.m.
“My family went to go pick up the food and they were sitting there for an hour to the point where they had to go to the counter and ask what the reason behind the wait time was. Eventually, they told them they never put the order in.”
Lee even gave one dish, the Philly Cheesesteak Egg Rolls, a 5 out of 10. (For the record, they’re known for their Bayou Egg Rolls.)
“I’m just being 100 percent honest, I don’t mean no harm,” he continued.
He also ordered catfish and spicy lemon pepper wings, which is rated 7.5 and 8 respectively. For the fourth item, which were seasoned fries, he gave it a 4/10 rating, noting his belief that “these came out the freezer.”
But owner and head chef Skylar Leblanc wanted to set the record straight on some “untruths” in her own video. Backed up by her husband and an employee, “itsCrystal106,” she flashed her phone showing the Keith Lee review. “We’ve seen it; let’s try it and rate it 1 through 10,” she said in the sweetest voice possible.
It became clear from the get-go that this would be a scathing rebuke of Lee’s review as the headline flashed across the screen: “Keith Lee tells Untruth about Baton Rouge Restaurant. After politely thanking Keith Lee for trying the restaurant, Leblanc pulled no punches when she stated: we’re “going to tell our truth.”
“This is not to get mad at Keith Lee because he had an honest experience, but I believe it was based off what he was told and not the actual truth,” she said, stoking a bit of intrigue as the video’s 1 million viewers wonder what exactly the truth is.
This is perhaps the nicest way of calling someone a liar, but it’s clear no one should mess with the Bayou Affect when she goes on to show footage pulled from security cameras at the restaurant.
Bayou affect replied to Keith lee’s review 🤔 pic.twitter.com/jemZ5AwsDF
— ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (@sumbodycute) June 17, 2024
Lee claimed the restaurant forgot to put his order in when he called, and it wasn’t until his family had waited over an hour that the staff realized the mistake.
“First and foremost, we did have his order,” she stated as a clip rolled of Keith Lee’s driver cruising through the doors to pick up the food. She claimed Lee’s people gave the name “Keva” when ordering, but when the driver asked for the bag of food he gave his name as “Steven” — and Leblanc had the receipts and surveillance video to back her claim. Ordering mystery solved!
Lee criticized the restaurant over a missing item from his order, claiming that instead of refunding him, they offered store credit — a controversial practice that would surely be frowned on in the restaurant industry. Leblanc, however, showed a receipt to demonstrate he was not initially charged for the missing item, so there was no refund to give.
“Just to clear any confusion in regards to the store credit, it was not issued as a refund,” she revealed. “We noted that the customer told us a different name vs. what he put in. Especially after waiting, we wanted to give a complimentary credit as we would to any customer that the situation might have happened to.”
As for Lee’s contention that the store had only “five or six” patrons at the time therefore mistakes shouldn’t have been made, Leblanc countered that business was booming that day, thanks in large part to the “Keith Lee effect,” the phenomenon where a single review from Lee catapults a restaurant to fame.
“On a Wednesday, being mentioned by Keith Lee literally caused us to be packed,” she claimed despite her video showing the restaurant had maybe three customers or four inside when Lee’s tie-wearing driver walks in.
But the Bayou Affect believes they got the last laugh after Leblanc gently chided Lee for not ordering their signature dishes, implying that he simply didn’t do his research before eating there.
“Keith Lee, we’re known for our lamb chops,” she advised the critic as a tantalizing photo of their lamb chop plate graced the screen. “Though we’re all grateful for the items that you did try, and we know those are delicious … we just would have loved if you had tried the things we are known for,” she continued. For food choices, the team at Bayou Affect gave Lee a 2 out of 10. Ouch!
But the teasing was all in good fun. Leblanc’s husband, who stood by her through the TikTok video, extended an olive branch to the powerful critic and had sweet words for his wife, “I’m so proud of my wife,” he said with a smile before adding, “and I appreciate you, Keith Lee, for coming out and supporting the Bayou Affect. We started off real small and I appreciate everything you have done for us and this family.”
As for the other employee who appeared next to Leblanc, itsCrystal106 neatly summed up the experience in a TikTok post.
“All I want to say is the internet is wild, oh my God,” adding that she’s going to indulge in some self-care before the inevitable hordes descend on the Bayou Affect — all thanks to Keith Lee.
But that didn’t stop online hecklers from trolling their business for selling food that was not up to his their standards. “Why y’all got mid sh-t on the menu??” said one person on X, while another wrote, “I was understanding until they said his food choices was 2 out of 10. You shouldn’t have food on your menu that you personally would rate 2 out of 10.”
A third person said, “They said that they called in under the different name. His name was Stephen and the name they had down was Keva? I’m betting they just got the name wrong in the first place.”
Lee also visited another Baton Rouge restaurant during his visit. He left a “life-changing” $3,000 tip at Fork N Spoon after rating the breakfast items he ate with at least a 7.9 rating.
