DALLAS — Keith Lee's DFW food tour has officially begun.
The TikTok-famous food critic has touched down in North Texas and has posted reviews on nine restaurants: Terry Black's Barbecue, Thunderbird Pies, Halal Fusionz, Hutchins BBQ, Absolutely Edible Cakes, Sweetly Seasoned, Brunchaholics, CeeZoos Bar & Lounge, and Roots Southern Table.
In the words of his catchphrase, he got 'em, he tried 'em, and rated them 1-10.
Remember, Lee's trip around DFW will be different from his previous food tours. This time, he's splitting his restaurant picks into three categories:
- Places with good food and good customer service, but needs more marketing
- Popular local spots voted on by DFW locals
- Restaurants with diverse backgrounds
Lee says he's checking out three restaurants for each of his three categories, which makes nine places in total.
First review: Thunderbird Pies
Thunderbird Pies, a Detroit-style pizza place in East Dallas, was the first review Lee posted Sunday.
Lee said Thunderbird fits Category 1 of his tour; he said it was highly recommended to him and it likely wasn't well-known due to marketing. (For the record: The owners of Cane Rosso and Zoli's Pizza, both well-known North Texas pizzerias with no shortage of local and social marketing, also own Thunderbird. But we're just passing along what Lee said.)
For transparency's sake, here's the Yelp page for Thunderbird to give you an idea of what other people have to say.
Lee and his family spent $139.12 on his order, which he said was easy to order online. Here were his ratings on each dish:
Lil' Bastards (fried brussels sprouts): 5/10
The fried brussels sprouts are topped with bacon marmalade, sweety drop peppers, and balsamic reduction.
Lee said the toppings were good, but the sprouts were too greasy for his liking and he couldn't taste them that well.
Buffalo wings with banana pepper ranch: 7/10 for wings, 4/10 for ranch
Lee liked the wings themselves for the "pizza shop wing" standards, in his words.
For the ranch, he said the banana pepper twist made it more tangy, but not in the best way.
Kale B.S. salad: Skipped (he didn't have a fork)
The Goat pizza: 3/10
The Goat pizza is Thunderbird's Pizza of the Month for January 2024. It has a brick cheese blend with pepperoni, hot soppressata, brisket, goat cheese, and jalapeño pesto.
Lee said he's a big fan of Detroit-style pizza, which has its sauce on top.
He noted that the Goat didn't have regular sauce, so if the pesto was meant to replace the sauce, he thought there should be more.
Budd pizza: 3/10
The Budd pizza is a regular dish for Thunderbird. On top of the brick cheese blend, it has caramelized cheese crust and tomato sauce on top.
Lee liked cheesy crust, but he said the sauce's onion flavor was too strong for his taste.
"Everybody's palette is different, so other people might like the onions. I'm just not a huge fan of it," he said.
Connie pizza (with added bacon): 7/10
The original Connie pizza just has double pepperoni cups and tomato sauce. The bacon was Lee's request.
Lee said the Connie was his favorite meal from Thunderbird. He said the presentation looked good and he liked the sauce-to-cheese ratio.
The bacon he added overpowered the pizza, in his opinion. It balanced out the sauce, but he said people who aren't pork fans may not like the bacon.
After Lee’s review dropped, Jeff 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. Amador is the chief marketing officer for the restaurant group behind Thunderbird Pies.
“We have no reason to push back on anything,” said Amador. “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.
Second review: Terry Black's Barbecue
Terry Black's is a popular barbecue spot in Dallas with two other locations in Texas. Here's their Yelp page to get a sense of what people think.
Terry Black's fits Category 2 of Keith Lee's tour. He said the restaurant won the first poll on his Instagram story with over 10,000 votes.
He also said he's gotten mixed reviews about the place, but the poll has spoken.
Lee said he and his family spent $191.03 on the to-go order. He also said he didn't like how the to-go orders were only available online and that those orders had a $75 minimum.
Original Sausage: 7.5/10
Lee said the Original Sausage was high quality, had a good snap and was nicely smoked.
Jalapeño Cheese Sausage: 1/10
Lee admitted that he spat out the cheese sausage off camera. He said the taste of the cheese and grease, and the taste of the meat itself was too overpowering for him.
Turkey: 7.9/10
The turkey was moist, high-quality and could work really well on a sandwich, according to Lee.
Brisket: 8.5/10
The brisket was Lee's highlight from his review. He liked the smokiness and the peppery flavor.
"I could be wrong, but it tastes like mesquite wood. And if it's not mesquite wood, whatever wood they used was really strong, and I'm a fan," Lee said.
He then tried the brisket with Terry Black's barbecue sauce. He preferred the brisket on its own.
Ribs: 8.7/10
Lee had to go back to order a rack of ribs. For $100, he said he got 13 ribs.
With that being said, he said the ribs were so good, he would've been mad if he left without trying them.
"Is it expensive? Yes. It barbecue expensive? Yes. But this is personally the highest rating for me," he said.
Cornbread: 2.5/10
In Lee's words, "The cornbread was just cornbread, and it was on the drier side."
Mac and Cheese: 1/10
Lee's family bought a quart size of mac and cheese, which he said was the smallest size they could get.
And he admitted that he wasn't a fan.
"It just taste like a salty, wet noodle," he said. "Excuse my description, but that's just my personal opinion."
Third review: Halal Fusionz
Halal Fusionz is located in Farmers Branch and is described on their website as a modern blend of Pakistani and Tex Mex.
The owner of the restaurant, Ahmed Siyaji, emailed Keith Lee asking for him to stop by saying he started the restaurant in his late mother's memory.
Halal Fusionz fits Category 3 of Keith Lee's tour. Lee said he and his family spent $18 on the to-go order, and he admitted he paid via Apple Pay revealing his identity by accident.
Birria Taco with side of consomme : 8.7/10
Instead of the traditional birria meat Halal Fusionz uses Nihari meat served inside a naan shell.
"It's amazing but it's spicy..boyyy... omg I'm sweating. I'm in a full sweat," Lee said.
He went on to say it featured a lot of spices he's never tried but says the combination of the cheese, meat, and shell was a highlight to give it a high rating.
Mango Mojito Mocktail: 8.5/10
Lee normally doesn't rate drinks but said the mango mojito mocktail was a refreshing taste after eating a combo of spicy foods.
Paneer Tikka Taco: 8.7/10
This taco was created for vegetarians and although Lee isn't one he was impressed with the flavor. He said the cucumber cool-down sauce paired well with it.
"This is delicious. You can see that they really care about quality here. It's real fresh," Lee said.
Chipotle Kheema Taco: 9.3 /10
"That's the best one," he said after taking a bite. "They use an amazing amount of spices and seasonings on this meat."
This taco got Lee's highest rating so far on his food tour.
Paneer Tikka Chili Elote: 2/10
Lee couldn't finish the corn saying it was too spicy - in fact, the spiciest item he tried thus far.
He felt it was missing mayo, cheese, chili powder, salt, and lime. All of which are commonly used to make traditional elotes.
After his review, Lee went inside to meet the owner Ahmed Siyaji, and tipped him $1,000.
Fourth review: Hutchins BBQ
Hutchins BBQ is one of the most popular barbeque spots in North Texas. They have locations in McKinney and Frisco and they ship orders nationwide.
Hutchins has previously been named one of Texas Monthly's Top 50 BBQ spots in the state, and their Yelp reviews back up the praise.
This review falls under Category 2 of Keith Lee's food tour. Lee started his review saying Hutchins was voted on over 17,000 times in his Instagram poll. He will only review one other popular restaurant in DFW.
He also said that many of the smaller eateries he wants to check out have been closed in the days he's been in North Texas.
Texas Twinkies: 8.5/10
Texas Twinkies are large, bacon-wrapped jalapeños stuffed with brisket and cream cheese.
Lee said the Twinkies started his review off on a high note and he'd eat the rest of it afterwards.
"It's brisket in there, and it's smoked, and it's spicy, and it's meaty, and it's godd--- delicious," he said.
Brisket: 9.3/10
Lee tried the brisket with and without BBQ sauce, but he said the brisket needed no help from the sauce.
"This brisket is phenomenal," he said while showing the brisket to the camera, which was falling apart on its own.
Original Smoked Sausage: 6/10
Lee couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something about the sausage that he said was too strong for his taste.
"It's some kind of either, like, spice or maybe the meat that was used that's, like, very pungent and overpowering," he said. "It is good, but it's not my favorite."
Pork ribs: 9.5/10
Lee picked the pork ribs over beef out of his own preference, but he said the pork looked as large as the beef ribs.
He was also a fan of the meat falling off the bone so easily. He said he was barely using his teeth to rip the meat off.
"This [is] the best rib I've done had in a long time," Lee said.
Potato Salad: 5/10
Lee said there was a lot of red onion and a strong dill flavor, but the potato salad was OK overall.
"It's not our potato salad, but it's cool. I'm not mad at it," he said. "It's just potato salad. I'm in the middle of this."
Peach Cobbler: 9/10
Lee said he's not usually a fan of sweets, so desserts don't usually get a high rating.
He doesn't think it's actually peach cobbler, but he said it's "f------ phenomenal."
"You can call it peach cobbler, you can call it whatever you want. Just call me when you make it," he said.
Fifth review: Absolutely Edible Cakes
Absolutely Edible is a catering and bakery company in Rowlett. Their website says they're a one-stop shop for all catering needs and they're well known for its "Sweet Potato Thang," a modern twist on sweet potato pie.
This falls into Category 1 of Keith Lee's food tour. Absolutely's owner Nikita Jackson posted on social media saying Lee should visit her bakery first when he came to North Texas.
"Keith Lee? Where you at? 'Cause Imma bug ya 'til I hug ya," she said in in the post. She also wore a t-shirt with the same phrase.
Sweet Potato Thang: 9.1/10
Lee says he doesn't like sweets, but this is the third dessert that he's rated at least a 9. He even points out that each of those desserts have been in Texas.
"In my opinion, this is not overly sweet. It's sweet potato pie, but it's like a .... she a auntie. That's the only way I can describe it. This [is] auntie's sweet potato pie," he said.
Lee then passed the "thang" to his family who said it beats out Patti Labelle's pie.
Red Velvet Cake: 9/10 for the cake, 7.5 for cake with icing
Lee wasn't a fan of the icing-to-cake ratio, but he said the cake's really good for anyone who likes sweets.
"The cake by itself is a 9. So it's the icing that I'm not a huge fan of. Icing is where all of the sugar is," he said.
Lee ended the video by surprising Chef Jackson with a visit. He said they ended up talking for four hours.
Jackson said Absolutely Edible has been open for over two decades, but business died down after a while and many locals don't even know about the bakery.
On the day of Lee's visit, she said she had one sale the entire day.
"I would bake up desserts and then I would trash desserts. I've trashed cookies. I made a dozen cookies we trashed yesterday," she said.
Lee and his family gave Jackson a $4,000 tip. They also paid for the first 100 slices of Sweet Potato Thangz so other customers can get them for free.
Absolutely Edible experienced the Keith Lee effect with a line out of the door the next day.
Sixth review: Sweetly Seasoned
Sweetly Seasoned is a Dallas food truck with a specialty in barbecue and desserts. The business also caters and sells breakfast plates in addition to other options.
This falls under Category 1 of Keith Lee's tour. The owner's son tagged him on social media to visit the truck in North Dallas.
Pulled Pork Sandwich: 7.8/10
Overall, Lee was satisfied with the sandwich. He did say that he wished the burger buns were higher quality.
"A sweet bun on this would take this over the top. But as it is... I'm not mad at that," he said.
Texas Best Fried Ribs: 7/10
The deep-fired ribs come dipped in Sweetly's special BBQ sauce. Lee said the ribs were so good on their own, he'd give them a higher rating without the sauce.
"I feel like if she'd take this sauce off, this can be an 8.5," he said. "All that crust? You better let that crust speak for itself."
Jerk Chicken Tacos: 8.7/10
"It's just a chicken taco... it's a GREAT chicken taco," Lee said. "It's seasoned. That salsa's spicy."
Banana Pudding: 7.3/10 from Keith, 8.6 from Ronni
Reminder: Keith Lee doesn't have the biggest sweet tooth, so he advised viewers to not take his thoughts on deserts too seriously.
"It's not the greatest banana pudding I've ever had, but it's better than most banana puddings I've had before," he said.
His wife Ronni tried the pudding too. She's a bigger fan of sweets and gave it an 8.6/10.
In addition to the food truck, there was a barber and a braid stylist by the truck who had their own customers.
Keith Lee met the truck owner and tipped an extra $4,000: $1,000 for the barber, $1,000 for the braider, and $2,000 for the owner.
Seventh review: Taste Project
Keith Lee didn't actually review anything for this restaurant ... but for a reason.
Lee called Fort Worth's Taste Project "one of the dopest restaurants" he had ever seen. Here's why:
Taste Project offers healthy food, but everything on the menu is a "pay as you want" scale:
- Pay what you can afford,
- Pay what you would typically pay, or
- Pay what you would typically pay, plus a little extra.
On the restaurant's website, their mission statement says "We believe everyone should have access to healthy nutritional food. Our vision is to see our community become the solution to the challenges our community faces as it relates to hunger."
He didn't get any food because "it was already packed" when they went in there, and he "didn't want to take away from the shine off of the food or the mission."
Inspired, Lee went into the restaurant and left them a $4,000 donation.
Eighth review: Brunchaholics
Brunchaholics is a newly-opened restaurant in DeSoto. They have soul food and creole cuisine, which they add as a twist to their breakfast/brunch options.
Catfish Basket: 8.3/10
Keith Lee had a simple response in his review: "This is delicious. It's seasoned, it's crispy.... It has a lemon pepper seasoning on here.. It's a little tangy from the lemon."
Soul Food Burrito: 8.8/10 for chicken, 9/10 for the catfish
The Soul Food Burrito comes with either catfish or chicken, stuffed with mac and cheese and greens, and wrapped in a jalapeño tortilla.
The Lee couple liked the catfish burrito slightly more than the chicken, but both versions received really high ratings.
"The greens [are], like, vinegar greens... The mac and cheese is creamy... The jalapeño tortillas [does have] a spice, but it's not a crazy spice," Keith said.
Before leaving, Lee met the owners, left a $2,000 tip, and left an extra $1,500 to pay for other customers' food. Keep in mind, he recorded the video on Jan. 31.
Ninth review: CeeZoos Bar & Lounge
CeeZoos Bar & Lounge is a sports bar/lounge spot in South Dallas, located on Botham Jean Boulevard. You can grab some comfort food with the ambience of jazz and R&B.
This falls under Category 1 of Keith Lee's tour: Mom and pop shops that may not be well known, but need marketing.
Chicken and waffles: 8.0/10
Keith Lee said he enjoyed this dish. He said the waffle was soft and buttery.
"(The wings) are different, but that's why I keep coming back to them," he said.
Lamp chops with eggs, cheesy rice & toast: 3.0/10
Lee said the lamp chops lacked flavor, and that they asked for the meat cooked medium, but it was prepared more than medium.
Breakfast patties with grits & toast: 1.0/10
Lee said the salmon patties were seasoned well, but he personally couldn't get over an "overwhelming fish taste."
Surprise review: Roots Southern Table
Keith Lee's latest review was for Roots Southern Table, a southern restaurant in Farmers Branch co-founded by Chef Tiffany Derry and Tom Foley.
You can check out restaurant reviews here.
In his video, Lee shared that Roots received over 13,000 votes in one of the polls on his Instagram story. He also showed a message telling him to visit.
Beef Short Ribs: 7/10
Keith Lee admitted that the price played a part in his ranking, but he also said he was "in the middle" about how the ribs tasted.
"It is seasoned really well, and it is tender," he said. "It's not the best short rib I've ever had, but it's also not the worst."
He did really enjoy the mashed potatoes, though!
Biscuit: 6.5/10
"It's very fluffy, it's not dry, and it's salted well," said Lee. "It's just a biscuit."
Duck-Fat Fried Chicken: 6/10
Lee couldn't pinpoint it, but there was something about the taste of the chicken that he didn't enjoy.
"For me, the chicken itself, I'm not a huge fan of. It's not the worst chicken, but it's also not the best chicken."
My Mother's Gumbo: 4/10 from Lee's sister
Since Keith Lee is allergic to shellfish, his sister tried Root's gumbo, which was the dish recommended to him.
Lee's sister said the gumbo tasted good, but the texture was too "slimy but loose" for her liking.
"I'm not a fan of the texture, but the flavor is there. You can tell there's a lot of okra in it," she said.
The end of Keith Lee's Dallas food tour
North Texas started off rough with Keith Lee's food tour, but his reviews got better with almost each restaurant he tried.
Again, Lee said he would check out three restaurants for each of his three categories, which makes nine reviews in total.