When ordering food to be delivered, it’s normal to expect that what you get is going to look a little different from the pictures.
Items may have shifted during transit, menus may have changed, and other issues may have occurred that prevent your food from looking as Instagram-worthy as the image on your delivery app.
What one would hope, however, is that the image is at least somewhat representative of the product they receive.
That was not the case for TikTok user Keith (@younggunsceo). In a video with over 470,000 views, Keith says he placed an order from Atlanta’s African Tender restaurant for shrimp and grits with a side of sweet yams.
When the food arrived, it was a pale imitation of the photos. This makes sense because, as Keith reveals in the video, the photos used by the restaurant are simply taken from various sites on the internet.
Looking at the restaurant’s website, the picture of sweet yams appears to be taken from a recipe for “Easy Southern Candied Sweet Potatoes” from StaySnatched.com. While the image for Shrimp & Grits has changed since Keith placed his order, the new image is also taken from the web, appearing on various sites such as the Facebook page of a restaurant supply company.
Numerous other images for menu listings appear lifted from other sources, some with substantial errors. For example, while the menu offers cheese fries (“Our seasoned fries topped with cheddar cheese”), the image used is from a recipe on a site called Tornadough Alli for fries with chili, cheese, and chives.
@younggunsceo I just knew i was about to be eating good #ubereats yall gots to tighten up. This cant be real life #badcustomerservice ♬ original sound – Younggunsceo
“Oh my god,” Keith says, looking at the food he received. “What is this?”
Keith eventually reached out to Uber Eats support, who denied him a refund. It instead told him to simply leave a review.
“So they just allow merchants to go to Google, pull photos, and send back what I just got?” he asks. “Y’all got to do better than this, because this is not going to work.”
It appears that this restaurant is part of a delivery-only complex of ghost kitchens called “Forrest Eatery.” While its building appears relatively small on Google Maps, it claims to be home to almost 90 restaurants available for to-go or delivery orders.
This concept is generally referred to as a “ghost kitchen,” in which restaurants operate without a storefront (or within existing restaurants) solely to cater to delivery or to-go clients.
These are not without controversy. Earlier in the year, a user on TikTok went viral after noting several delivery restaurants being run out of her local IHOP. YouTuber Eddy Burback also made waves after using an app to order what appeared to be nine versions of the exact same sandwich—from 9 different restaurants.
Many have accused these restaurants of deceiving customers with this practice.
Back on TikTok, users offered tips to avoid issues like these in the future.
“That rating of a 3.3 shoulda been your first red flag. They plaaayyyeeed,” wrote one user.
“If I decide to purchase from a restaurant I never been to I always Google it and check for reviews and photos,” offered a second.
The Daily Dot reached out to African Tender via contact form as well as to Keith and Uber via email.
