At a criticism workshop for local journalists, a colleague of mine made a surprising admission about a well-known and oft-praised Black-owned restaurant in Detroit.
“Everyone raves about them but honestly I was not impressed at all,” she said with hesitation and what sounded like remorse for daring to utter the words.
The food wasn’t well seasoned. The customer service was lacking. There was nothing remarkable or positive to say about this supposed “fine dining” spot, but she kept those comments to herself outside this closed group of fellow writers.
Social media food influencer Rashad Mooreman, aka Mr.ChimeTime, is not giving Detroit restaurants the same courtesy. He’s been in Detroit for about a month ranking things like the best coney dog and Detroit-style pizza, as well as restaurants like SuperCrisp, Breadless, Hygrade Deli, and even Pantheion Strip Club (iykyk).
Mr.ChimeTime, who is based in North Carolina, travels to different cities asking residents what restaurants and food trucks he should try there. After getting large takeout orders from these places, he eats the food in his car giving them honest rankings, much like Detroit-bred influencer Keith Lee. Unlike Lee, however, ChimeTime is brutally honest bordering on straight-up rude when he doesn’t like something, in some cases remarking that the food tastes like “ass.”
He’s started several social media shitstorms during his stay in Detroit over what constitutes a Reuben vs. corned beef sandwich and also because some of the places he reviewed feel like he randomly found them on Google, rather than Detroiters recommending them. Now people are in a frenzy over his harsh critiques of two Black-owned restaurants in particular, Kuzzo’s Chicken and Waffles and Trap Vegan.
“This shit better be worth every bit of that hour and 15 minutes that I waited for this food,” he tells viewers in his review of Kuzzo’s noting that the long wait came after his initial order via an online system didn’t even go through. Spoiler alert, he found the food was not worth it.
ChimeTime completely trashed Kuzzo’s, saying the chicken was flavorless, the waffle was like chewing gum, everything was cooked in bad grease, and the gumbo sauce for the salmon and grits tasted like “wet dog food.”
“They just coated [the fried chicken] in flour, threw it in the grease, and said fuck you,” he says in the video. “This right here was not voted the best chicken and waffles in Detroit. Stop lying.”
To top it off, he ordered cheese grits and was given a small cup of cheese grits and a larger cup of grits with no cheese that he had to mix together himself. In the end, he gave Kuzzo’s a 3.8 out of 10.
Many commenters echoed his experience, while others like Detroit-based food and culture account @enjoymotorcity came to the restaurant’s defense.
ChimeTime didn’t even review the food at Trap Vegan and instead started beef with them after simply posting, “No Lie… Y’all’s Favorite Vegan ‘TRAP’ Joint in Detroit Rude ASF!!”
Trap Vegan posted a lengthy statement about their encounter with ChimeTime that started when he tried placing an order on an “unauthorized Doordash storefront” that showed the restaurant as closed. According to ChimeTime’s accounts and Trap Vegan’s statement, he called the restaurant and was told they don’t take orders over the phone. By his account, restaurant employees were rude and hung up on him. Though Trap Vegan apologized for the lapse in customer service, ChimeTime made a lengthy video with recordings of his interaction in the store saying the restaurant lied about what happened.
Now the social media discourse has people on one side saying Black-owned restaurants should be called out when their service is bad and others seeming to push supporting Black-owned no matter what.
I am all for supporting Black-owned businesses, but I’m going to keep it real with them when service is subpar, just like I would any other business. I want Black-owned businesses to thrive everywhere, but especially in a majority-Black city like Detroit. But I am not going to hype up a bad Black-owned restaurant, just because they are Black-owned.
I am a fan of Trap Vegan. They have some of the best vegan burgers in Detroit and I patronize them whenever I am on the Avenue of Fashion. I also know that customer service does not seem to be their strong suit and I have come to expect a long wait. Will I continue to eat there? Absolutely. Can they do better? Absolutely.
More than one thing can be true at a time. We can support Black-owned businesses and root for their success while being honest about our experiences there. Constructive criticism is how businesses (and all of us humans) grow and improve. But people should not be going out of their way to be overly critical of these restaurants either.
Obviously, ChimeTime is not setting out to destroy Black-owned restaurants. SuperCrisp, owned by Chef Mike Ransom of Ima fame, was one of the best things he tried in Detroit. He also spoke highly of What’s the Dill and Breadless, both of which are also Black-owned.
Back at the criticism workshop, when the question of how honest journalists should be with reviews came up, our teachers introduced the idea of “punching up vs. punching down.”
If you’re reviewing a national chain, for example, it’s unlikely to hurt their pockets much when you call them garbage and say you’ll never eat there again. Local businesses, however, stand to lose much more, so while we can be honest about our experience, it should be done with a bit more care. Think, “These are the ways they could improve” instead of “This is complete shit and they should close.”
When people are running to Google to leave one-star reviews based solely on a social media influencer’s experience, it feels like punching down, which is bullying. And at the same time, Black-owned restaurants need to be open to customer feedback and be willing to sincerely address their mistakes if they want our business.
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