Keith Lee’s infamous 2023 Atlanta food tour had many suspecting the popular food content creator was not rushing to return to the Georgia capital.
Now he’s gearing up to appear at Blavity Fest 2025, but before he returns to Atlanta, here’s how he changed a Georgia restaurant forever.
Lee flew to Georgia to help a family-owned restaurant, Tacos y Mariscos Ofelia
According to Fox 5 Atlanta, Lee visited Tacos y Mariscos Ofelia, a family-owned restaurant in Bonaire, a small community near Warner Robins, Georgia, in October 2024 after it posted its struggles on social media. The viral video revealed the restaurant had fallen on hard times and was forced to close for two weeks due to low customer turnout. After seeing the video, Lee decided to help.
He filmed his review of the restaurant and tried multiple menu items. He thought most were good and ultimately chalked up their lack of customers to the restaurant’s remote location and minimal marketing.
But Lee had much more in store than a review for the restaurant. He surprised owner Mario Tiznado and his wife, Veronica, by giving them $6,000 to pay back rent and $900 to provide their loyal customers with free food.
“You made my life and my day,” Tiznado told Lee in his review video, The Telegraph of Macon reported.
The couple shared a Facebook post thanking Lee and their customers for pushing the content creator to see their viral video.
“This is what ya’ll did for us! All the shares and all the tags. This would not have been possible without you,” they wrote in part.
In another post, Veronica shared how much Lee’s visit meant to their family and customers.
“It took everything in me not to tell everyone about the free food before giving it to them because I was so excited about it,” she said. “Seeing our customers so happy when we told them it was free brought us so much joy. Thank you!”
Tacos y Mariscos Ofelia announced it’s closing its doors in January
In January, the restaurant announced that it would close its doors at the end of March, citing a landlord dispute as the reason for the shutdown, WGXA News reported.
“It did catch me off guard, I thought I had more time,” Veronica wrote in a Facebook post. “But looking at how things are we only have two months left and we are so sorry that we have to break this news so quickly. We hope that you guys can come and eat at our place.”
At the time, the outlet reported that the owners hoped to purchase a food truck to continue operations.
According to a recent Facebook post, Tacos y Mariscos Ofelia is preparing to open its second location.
