ATLANTA — An Atlanta TikTok food critic surprised a local owner with a kind gesture after giving a raving review leading to the business' success.
What started as a video of Red Rice Restaurant's owner encouraging Mr. ChimeTime to try her food ended in what she calls a "blessing."
Rashad Mooreman, who is known as Mr. ChimeTime on TikTok, has been known for his harsh reviews of Atlanta restaurants. Earlier this week, the reviewer posted a review of Red Rice Restaurant's food. The restaurant serves soul food on Moreland Avenue inside the BP gas station.
At the beginning of his video, he said, "I've had a hard time, a very hard time finding some good soul food, and I think I may have found it."
Mr. ChimeTime then inserts a clip of the owner into the food review, and she tells him to come to the restaurant.
"He done been all around Atlanta. He don't like nobody food. I need him to come to Red Rice," she said in the clip.
You can watch the full review in the video below.
In the video, Mr. ChimeTime then proceeds to review the food, trying the restaurant's smothered turkey wings.
"Something just happened to me that has never happened to me eating this food," he said, commenting on its tenderness.
Mr. ChimeTime also had the famous red rice, which shares a name with the restaurant, which he compared to jollof rice. He then tried jerk chicken, black-eyed peas and mac and cheese.
"The love and care that she put into these black-eyed peas is unmatched," he said.
Lastly, Mr. ChimeTime tried the lamb chops, which appeared to be his favorite.
The video then cuts to another clip in which the critic, who has over 2 million followers, speaks with the owner and personally tells her he loves the food.
Mr. ChimeTime gave her $5,000 as a tip. It included $1,000 worth of prepaid food for customers. He encouraged people to try the food and gave them a specific day and time to get free food, which was on Wednesday.
"I cook this. My kids cook this. We cook this from the heart. We love what we do," the owner said.
Red Rice Restaurant reported on its social media pages that it received an overwhelming response after the review was posted. After Wednesday's response, the restaurant owner delayed Thursday's opening.
A video posted by @Gourmettangiie on social media showed the line wrapping around the side of the gas station.
Mr. ChimeTime's review comes a year after the famous social media critic Keith Lee visited Atlanta, which sparked a debate around the city's restaurant culture. It also comes just weeks after Lee helped a struggling restaurant in Warner Robbins.
