TikTok food reviewer Keith Lee is officially in Dallas, and he’s already shared his thoughts on two restaurants.
Thunderbird Pies and Terry Black’s Barbecue, both located in East Dallas, were his first two stops.
His TikTok videos reviewing the restaurants had a combined 7.6 million views less than 12 hours after they were posted.
In his video on Thunderbird Pies, a Detroit-style pizza spot owned by the group behind Cane Rosso and Zoli’s, he tried three of the restaurant’s pizzas and a few sides. He said he wished the pizzas had more sauce but that he didn’t like the red sauce, which he found to be too onion-forward. The caramelized cheese crust around the edge of the pies got Lee’s stamp of approval, but the dough was a bit too bouncy for his liking.
Two of the pizzas he tried, the Budd and the Goat, he gave ratings of 3 out of 10. The Connie, which he added bacon to, he gave a 7 out of 10.
“Overall, with a few minor adjustments, I could see this place being good,” he said of Thunderbird Pies.
Jeff Amador, chief marketing officer for the restaurant group behind Thunderbird Pies, told The Dallas Morning News that the video review was a complete surprise. He didn’t think Lee would visit any of their restaurants since they have almost a dozen in their portfolio and Lee usually looks for smaller, family-owned places.
After Lee’s review dropped, Amador said he and the Thunderbird Pies staff had to stop reading the comments on the video, many of which said the restaurant did Dallas wrong.
“We certainly wish that someone with 16 million followers loved [Thunderbird Pies] as much as other people do,” said Amador.
He said he hopes the negative comments on the videos don’t translate into getting review-bombed online.
The things that Lee didn’t care for, like the Brussels sprouts being fried or one of the pizzas not having any sauce on it, aren’t quality issues that need to be fixed, Amador said. Those are dishes they’ve had on the menu for years, he said, and people either like them or they don’t.
“We have no reason to push back on anything,” he said. “He did a nice job of saying it was just his opinion and encouraged people to try it for themselves, and that’s what we hope people do.”
At Terry Black’s in Deep Ellum, Lee liked the brisket, which he rated an 8.5 out of 10, but wasn’t blown away by the sides or the jalapeño cheddar sausage, which he gave a 1 out of 10 for its greasiness and “overpowering meat flavor.” The restaurant’s mac-n-cheese, which he said tasted like a “salty, wet noodle,” also got a 1 out of 10 rating from Lee.
Lee said he picked Terry Black’s as one of his Dallas stops after it was recommended by more than 10,000 people in an Instagram poll he posted.
“I appreciate the invite, but personally, I think Dallas’ got a lot more to offer when it comes to barbecue,” he said.
Lee, who lives in Las Vegas, was a professional mixed martial arts fighter before finding TikTok fame for his food reviews. He typically orders take-out anonymously from the restaurants he visits and reviews the food from his car.