Keith Lee isn’t your regular food critic. The American only orders takeout and always eats the meal in his car, offering bite-by-bite reviews for his more than 16 million followers on TikTok. He mostly eschews the kind of high-end restaurants that traditional critics visit and instead reviews beloved mom-and-pop joints and no-frills spots.
But similar to high-profile critics, a good review from Lee can drive a rush of new and eager customers, hour-long waits and lines snaking around the block. Call it the “Keith Lee effect.”
Earlier this month, the Las Vegas-based creator visited Toronto for his first international food tour, stopping at seven restaurants downtown, in Scarborough and the Greater Toronto Area. He tried Bahamian and Somali food for the first time, trekked to a backyard bakery in Ajax, and encountered some of the nicest customer-service workers he’s met. “Toronto is the top three of places since we’ve been on this food tour, and it’s not even up for debate,” Lee said in a TikTok.
The Globe spoke with four restaurants he visited and how they’re managing the Keith Lee effect.
Afro’s Pizza
Afro’s Pizza had been steadily building up a loyal clientele for its fine-dining inspired, affordable pizzas since opening in January, 2024, near Toronto Metropolitan University. But since Lee stopped by, they’ve seen a 400-per-cent increase in business, co-owner Rodney Best says.
Now, they’re “dangerously overwhelmed,” but doing the best they can. They’ve had lineups out the door, with some people waiting patiently for more than 90 minutes for some of the pizza Lee said was “really good.”
Best and his brother and co-owner Nathan Wang both come from gourmet backgrounds, so they wanted to ensure every meal from Afro’s Pizza was fresh, high quality, yet still affordable for every university kid in the area.
What Keith ate:
- mac and cheese
- the Davis Jr. personal pizza
- the Davis Jr. personal pizza with beef
- the Hendrix experience personal pizza
- the samosa personal pizza
Price: $79.04
Old Nassau
Old Nassau, a Bahamian restaurant near Weston and Lawrence, marked Lee’s first time trying food from the Bahamas. He said the fried snapper fish was “seasoned to perfection.”
What Keith ate:
- banana pancakes
- crack chicken with everything
- pork chops with peas and rice
- fried snapper
Price: $80
Sisters & Co
Sisters & Co co-owner and chef Hilary Lee started crying after watching Keith Lee review her restaurant’s food on TikTok. She and her two best friends, Michelle Ha and Vivian Mac, opened their Asian fusion brunch restaurant in August, 2019, in Toronto’s Dundas West neighbourhood, and recently opened a new location in Markham.
Hilary Lee never worked in a professional kitchen and never went to culinary school, so to hear Keith Lee say he can taste the quality in their dishes, was “unbelievable,” she told The Globe.
Since his visit, Sisters & Co has seen an increase in sales every day and noticed a change in demographic. People who don’t normally have Asian fusion brunch are coming in and are excited to try the food.
Hilary Lee feels super happy and fortunate to have experienced the Keith Lee effect, though she wished he’d tried spot’s signature dish, bulgogi beef Benedict.
What Keith ate:
- Earl grey pancakes
- citrus mascarpone waffles
- bare-naked eggs Benedict customized with bacon
Price: $74.07
Biscuits to Baskets
A month ago, Biscuits to Baskets owners Suzanne Smith and her husband, Colter Smith, had no clue who Lee was. That someone would visit their Ajax backyard chocolate business on a Friday and leave a $2,500 tip was shocking enough.
Then Lee’s video review was posted on Saturday, and Smith’s son Andrew Fliegel urged her to prepare for the influx of customers he was sure would come the next day. They spent that night baking up a storm, and haven’t really stopped. “I was just baking, baking, baking, mixing, mixing, mixing,” Smith says.
Things have continued to get busier since that first weekend. “It’s been crazy, mind-blowing. It’s definitely been a ride.”
What Keith ate:
- Korean sponge toffee latte
- cake flight with carrot cake, banana cake, chocolate cake and biscoff cake
Price: $36.16
Sahan Restaurant
The Warden and Lawrence Somali restaurant’s customer service received a nine out of 10 score from Lee.
What Keith ate:
- awlal and rice (goat ribs)
- beef stew and chapati
- T-bone steak and pasta
- (suqaar) chicken stew
- milk cake
Price: $98.25
No 1. Jerk
When the staff at No. 1 Jerk found out Lee was coming to Toronto, they had everyone they knew blowing up his DMs. The Scarborough spot run by Koi Chen was known for its high-school student lunch rushes and had built up a legion of loyal customers over its eight years. But it’s been harder to keep afloat with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic still linger, Koi’s daughter Leyla Chen told The Globe.
Since Lee’s visit they’ve seen an influx of online orders and they keep selling out of the curry goat roti – a dish Lee gave a 7.5 out of 10, but said “if you like curry goat and you’re used to spices and flavours like that, I could easily see that being a nine and a half or nine.”
Chen says she wishes Lee had ordered a plate of jerk chicken “with some rice and peas and some gravy and all the fixings,” or one of the soups that sell out every day, but the whole experience has been positive. Even Lee mentioning that a staff member was hungover when he visited resulted in positive and supportive comments. “At the beginning, we were not sure about what kind of impact we were gonna get, but it quickly turned into all the comments supporting my dad and understanding that we’re all human at the end of the day.”
What Keith ate:
- barbecue goat chicken sandwich
- curry goat roti
- oxtail rice and peas plate
Price: $52.19
Sumaq Iraqi Charcoal Grill
Lee visited Sumaq’s Scarborough location to try shawarma, giving the chicken shawarma an 8.2 out of 10 and the veal shawarma 8.4 out of 10 – high scores overall from the TikTok critic.
What Keith ate:
- veal shawarma
- chicken shawarma
- mixed meat shawarma
Price: $37.82