Spilling the Sauce: Keith Lee Addresses The Atlanta And NYC Food Tour Stops

Viral TikTok food reviewer Keith Lee is spilling the sauce on his thoughts about the Atlanta and New York City stops on his food tour.

After having a rough time in Atlanta and sharing his honest reviews and then experiencing some drama in New York City after trying a salmon chopped cheese, Lee is opening up and talking about it all.

Lee began doing food reviews for TikTok in his own hometown of Las Vegas before taking his show on the road for a multi-city food tour. So far, Lee has stopped in Atlanta, Detroit, New Orleans, Los Angeles and New York City.

For fans who follow Lee on TikTok, they know how tough the Atlanta stop was for the food critic, and all the roadblocks he was met with. Lee simply said Atlanta was "different."

"Atlanta was different, for sure. I think what it was, was that people were getting the message of what I do confused," he told Speedy Morman, host of "360 with Speedy" on Complex.

"A lot of people wanted me to go to either super popular spots or they wanted me to go to spots that they had a negative experience at and wanted me to shine light on that negative experience just to tear the business down so they can feel vindicated. And that's not what I do."

He continued to explain that he felt it was more a place where "people wanted to see the negativity."

"I think people enjoyed the rise of like, 'Oh he don't like this place, or he can't get food at this place or he got negative service,'" he continued. "And I think some of it was based on the fact that a lot of people had the same experiences like you said, but I also think some of it was based on the fact that I very rarely are in impositions of any kind of negativity, no matter what the perspective of it is."

Lee said that the service in Atlanta was different than what he was used to because the rules are not the same. He said that while it was "surreal" it didn't bother him that people were coming at him.

The New York City salmon chopped cheese then entered the chat.

After Lee shared a review of a salmon chopped cheese that he was recommended to try by a fan, many New Yorkers left comments and even created their own TikTok videos to share their frustrations.

"I went and got a salmon chopped cheese, everybody was like, 'You got a salmon chopped cheese? Bro, get out of New York.' Even though I was suggested to go there," he said. "I didn't know that salmon chopped cheese was a thing. This was my first time really eating around New York."

Speedy then explained that he's born and raised in New York and he never heard a salmon chopped cheese. Lee gave his perspective on why he tried the recommended chopped cheese without question.

"I saw a small Black owned business that just opened, and don't have the marketing because they had like 400 followers on TikTok and like 1,000 followers on Instagram, and not a lot of people were talking about them. This is right up my alley, this is the place to go," Lee said.

"I looked at it from that perspective. I didn't look at it from the perspective of I'm going to a New York staple and I want a New York staple. I looked at it from the perspective of like, I'm looking for a place that has good food, good customer service, but needs marketing."

Unfortunately, many of Lee's social media followers got wrapped up in the food item - the salmon chopped cheese - and not the mission he's on to help a new, small business with much needed marketing.

He also explained that he "didn't have the time to get in front of the narrative" from people feeling he was disrespecting New York by getting a food that most people never heard of.

Lee's TikTok video quickly went viral with more than 4.6 million views and more than 15,000 comments, some of which were about the salmon chopped cheese as a choice to review, while others gave suggestions on places and foods Lee should try while in the city.