Viral TikTok Food Critic Keith Lee Talks About How It Began And How It's Going

TikTok food critic Keith Lee has been enjoying a wild ride since going viral for his honest food reviews. He's helped numerous dying food establishments find new life, and has picked up nearly 11 million followers along the way.

Lee recently sat down with Mario Lopez and Kit Hoover on "Access Hollywood" to talk about his newfound fame, how things got started, and how things are going.

For Lee, this new popularity and fame has been an adjustment for him and his family. He talked about how things got started and how fast they've progressed for him during his appearance on "Access Hollywood."

When asked what he thinks the reason so many people enjoy his food reviews is, Lee's humility shined through as he responded, "I'm me."

"I'm honest, I'm transparent. I don't put on a facade. I don't try to be anything else but me. And I think people just enjoy people being genuine, and I think it's rare nowadays with social media. Everybody puts on a character or a front to try and make it popular," he said. "I never did it for views. I never did it for followers. I just like to eat food."

When asked about how he decides where to go eat, he explained that he's a foodie and he checks out social media and review sites before choosing where to eat that night. "I don't specifically grab food for video. Like, I don't go and shoot content," he said.

Lee also said because of his popularity, he now has to wear a disguise to get food otherwise he will get "parades and bags of food."

When asked about his first review, he said he's been doing them since 2021, but the first review that did well was a food truck in Vegas called "303 Food Truck."

"They had a cheesecake sandwich with cannoli cream in the middle," he said. "It was amazing."

He then talked about his previous job as a professional fighter since 2018. He first started doing social media in 2020 but it wasn't until November of last year that it really took off. "I'm still actively fighting, but right now food is my focus," he said. "I've been so busy. I can't train as much as I want to."

One very popular video was when Lee reviewed dying Vegas pizza place, Frankensons Pizzeria. He told the story about how that review came to be.

"People email me. Somebody emailed me randomly and was like hey, this is a family-owned business, the food is delicious, but business is really slow. We don't know why. We just want you to come try the food," he said.

"So I went. The owner had no idea who I was. I called on the phone, like I always do, cause I have social anxiety. So I never go in in person and tell people who I am. I just call, order, and by the time you realize who I am, I already made a video and it's on TikTok."

After trying to food, loving it, and making a video with his honest review, he helped the business go from just two customers a day and only three employees to needing 27 employees because business is nonstop. Lee has even gone back to the pizzeria after his review went viral and was met with a line around the building to get food.

Lee, along with the two hosts of the show, taste tested some food from Los Angeles restaurant, "Philly's Best." Lee gave each sandwich a rating just like he does in his popular review videos.

They tried a classic Philly cheesesteak, a classic Italian hoagie, and a pork roll sandwich. Lee liked all three but rated the pork roll sandwich the highest with a 9. For anyone who follows Lee's content, they know just how great a rating of 9 is.

Lee currently has nearly 11 million followers on TikTok and 577,000 on Instagram. His TikTok videos have collected more than 382 million likes and growing. He's helped many restaurants go from no customers to more than they can handle, and he plans to continue with no end in sight.