Keith Lee Forced to Take His $5K Tip Back Home After Four Security Guards Blocked Him from Blessing Viral ‘Tendernism’ Star
TikTok influencer Keith Lee has good intentions when he paid a visit to a popular food spot known for their melt-in-your-mouth barbecue.
The viral food critic and his family went to Destination Smoke House to visit the infamous “Unc” known as pitmaster Walter “Mr. Tendernism” Johnson, expecting a feel-good moment much like other viral clips of the elderly man checking the tenderness of any BBQ meat at the restaurant to show how it falls right off the bone.
Instead, Lee ran into an unexpected roadblock, leaving fans stunned that his generosity was not openly welcomed.
In one of his recent videos, Lee attempted an act of kindness, as he often does in viral content shared on his social media platforms.
A Dec. 29 video documented Lee’s visit to the newly famous barbecue restaurant in Murietta, California. Known for smoked ribs and brisket cooked to an almost unreal level of tenderness, the hot spot has gone viral for meat that nearly melts on contact and pulls apart effortlessly in clips that rack up millions of views.
Toward the beginning of Lee’s video, he is sitting in his car with a bag full of food and says, “My whole mission today is to see, in my opinion, is the food actually tendernism or do I just love watching Unc. Let’s find out together.”
The 29-year-old entrepreneur shared that he and his family spent $129.77 on beef ribs, oxtails, brisket, yams, mac and cheese, cole slaw, two orders of texas toast and four sides of BBQ sauce. According to his family, who reported the news back to Lee, not only was the food ready in 10 minutes, but the customer service was overall good.
As for the Unc, Lee confirmed that he was present later in the video but he was unable to make contact as he intended. “Unc was walking around with four different security guards, which I fully understand because people probably bombarding him nonstop,” Lee said over a clip of him having a discussion with a woman at the front desk.
Out of all the food, he rated the oxtails the highest, giving it a 9.7 out of 10. The brisket and beef ribs were rated between a 6 and a 7.5. Finally, the yams were given an 8 but as for the mac and cheese, Lee said he was “not a fan of that at all.”
“For me, the standout is absolutely the oxtail, but past the oxtail the standout is Unc.”
Explaining why, Lee added, “Not only in my opinion is it extremely hard to get people engaged like that, to show your true personality, to be yourself, no matter how fast things take off in this space. I don’t think he intended for it to go the way it’s going. I think he just wanted to show his love for food and his love of what it is that he doing.”
Despite his kind gesture of “personally taking” money from his own bank, he admitted he was turned down.
After walking out of the restaurant, Lee continued in the video, “So, update: We cannot get to Unc. Security say it was over with for today. They say that he was filming something. I believe he was filming a podcast. We had $5,000 in cash — or $4,000 in cash — we was gon’ give him in hand. Uh, they didn’t take it.”
But Lee didn’t let the moment get him down, instead he turned it into a positive, adding, “So we not only gon’ take this money and feed some people, but we just gone do what we feel like we supposed to do in the community with it.”
A few fans reacting to Lee’s video said, “I just KNOW Unc finna cuss some people out when he see this video,” and “Unc’s entourage blocking his blessings.”
Another person made a suggestion saying, “Unc needs better people around him that are aware of the social media world.”
Destination Smokehouse grew out of a family coffee shop in Hemet, California, which owner Nick Yepremian turned into a restaurant in 2020. During COVID, he teamed up with pitmaster Walter Johnson, aka “Mr. Tendernism,” whose gumbo and ultra-tender barbecue ideas helped propel the spot to viral fame. Yepremian has said Johnson gave him not just a signature cooking style, but crucial life perspective from an elder he deeply respects.
“Walter is a huge part of my confidence to continue in the restaurant business,” said Yepremian in a YouTube video about the restaurants origin story. “He is a huge part of learning how to be a better man more than anything.”
While the restaurant’s rise has been rooted in mentorship, respect, and community, Lee’s visit was meant to extend that same spirit of generosity. But the moment took an unexpected turn, echoing a familiar pattern for the food critic.
It wasn’t the first time Lee’s generosity sparked complications. In early 2024, a $4,000 tip he left at a Dallas food truck led to backlash after the owner failed to distribute the money as instructed, prompting a apology after public pressure.
And that unfortunate incident hasn’t stopped Lee from continuing to give back to various communities around the country. His kind gestures and highly loved content recently led him to win the first ever Creator of the Year award at the TikTok awards earlier this month.