Influencer Mr.ChimeTime gives a front seat critique of Detroit’s food scene
Melody BaetensRashad Mooreman is known to his 1.4 million TikTok followers as Mr.ChimeTime, a man who gives his brutally honest opinions on food across the country. He recently visited the Detroit area and has posted more than 50 TikToks of him eating cuisine from local restaurants and food trucks.
The North Carolina-based influencer is usually filming in the front seat of his car, which can be a tricky place to enjoy birria and consommé, sloppy loaded fries and juicy cheeseburgers. This model is working for him and his audience, though. His review can overwhelm a restaurant, which he addresses in one of his many recent Detroit-based posts, asking people to be patient with restaurants that are swamped because he featured them.
"We've been busy since his review," Larry Phillips of Waffle Cafe Detroit told The Detroit News. The neighborhood cafe has had a few visits from nationally known influencers since opening last spring, but none had the affect Mr.ChimeTime's video did. "The initial few days after was rough because we were short-staffed, but since then we've managed it better. Wait times have been a little longer but I think we've done a pretty good job of keeping communication open with customers."
Attention like this may be something Detroit businesses need to get used to, because Mr.ChimeTime is considering moving to Motown.
“Yes, I do love it here,” he said in a video posted last week. “Yes, I have looked at a couple lofts and penthouses out here, cause your boy might be moving down here for real. I don’t know.”
He also digressed a bit in another video, praising the city's grit during a visit to Detroit taco truck Tacos El Caballo, which was open and serving during a very wintry mix this month.
"I'm going to give it up for this food truck ... they out here getting that (expletive) work done," he said. "North Carolina, c'mon bro, get it together!
Maybe he will move to Detroit, maybe he won’t, but even just his weeks-long visit has caused so much internet drama within the food, restaurant and small business communities. When he loves a place, they get swamped. When he doesn’t, it can be detrimental because of his wide reach.
Not only does Mr.ChimeTime have 1.4 million TikTok followers, but he also he has half a million followers on Instagram and around the same number of people subscribe to his YouTube channel. He even gets attention outside of social media; his reviews have been covered extensively by Detroit television and print news media this month, including what you're reading right now.
It's unclear if Mooreman gives a business a heads up before a positive review so they can prepare. Phillips, who opened Waffle Cafe with fellow musician Kimyana Freeman, said they knew he was in the area reviewing other restaurants on the Avenue of Fashion and Freeman recognized him when he came into the cafe, but Mr.ChimeTime didn't directly reach out to say he was going to post video of him eating their sweet and savory waffles.
Here are some of the highlights of his 50-plus posts from Detroit area food businesses — the positive and the negative, sans any profanity or other things we can't repeat in a newspaper. For all his videos, search Mr.ChimeTime on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube.
Döner Shawarma food truck, Dearborn
"This is the truth," Mr.ChimeTime loved Döner Shawarma, a food truck in a gas station parking lot at S. Telegraph and Cherry Hill in Dearborn that makes packed, toasted döner kebab sandwiches. (Detroit News critic's note: I'm a huge fan of this food truck and have driven out here in rush hour traffic to get my fix.)
"I'm out here in Dearborn today because nothing in Detroit is open on a Monday. In addition to a few of the doner menu items, he also tried the food truck's burger, which has Doritos on it.
"I was expecting the chips to be stale, they're not, they're fresh ... no complaints here," he said. "This is a food truck you may want to try."
They Say, Detroit
While Mr.ChimeTime gave savage takedowns of Sweetwater Tavern in Detroit and Kuzzo's Fried Chicken for their chicken, he much more enjoyed the wings at Rivertown-area restaurant They Say.
"These wings are meaty as hell ... I can respect these wings, what I cannot respect is these dumb a-- flats," he said, after blazing through some catfish bites, salmon burger, lamb chops and sides from They Say. "The mac and cheese, that's on point."
Coney Dogs
Although not a fan in general of the entire concept of coney dogs, which he called "overrated, inebriated, glorified," Chime visited the places that were most recommended to him by his following.
Those included L. George's, Lou's Coney Island, Robert's Coney Island and his favorite, Parkside Coney Island. He didn't gush about any of these, but he did recommend that visitors pay a visit to each one if they're in Detroit.
"This is the perfect coney dog," he said of Parkside Coney Island in Highland Park. "It had a good amount of toppings, the hot dog has the snap ... everything about this coney was amazing. Although coney dogs is just hot dogs with a fancy name."
Waffle Cafe Detroit, Avenue of Fashion
This review went so well that the owners of Waffle Cafe decided to offer a meal combo called the Mr.ChimeTime Pack. The bundle, $39 for a limited time, includes loaded baked potato waffle, strawberry cheesecake waffle, grilled chicken waffle wrap and the Caesar salad waffle bowl with shrimp. The influencer raved about all of these items.
"This is good, it really is. Is it creative? Absolutely," he said of the chicken waffle wrap.
Breadless, Detroit
Mooreman had almost exclusively nice things to say about Detroit's Breadless. The healthy, gluten-free, fast-casual restaurant serves sandwiches wrapped in greens instead of bread, bowls and healthy snacks.
"This going to blow your mind," he said of the balsamic mushroom sandwich with roasted Portobello and oyster mushrooms and other vegan toppings wrapped in Swiss chard. "This is a good sandwich, I like this."
Detroit Style Pizza
The influencer paid a visit to eight of the city's many pizzerias that make square-style pie, and gave a bit of a run-down to his audience about what Detroit Style Pizza is.
While he had complimentary things to say about the carryout pizza from historic DSP businesses Cloverleaf, Buddy's, Shield's and Loui's (which he called "Lou's" every time), he preferred slices from Grandma Bob's, Sicily's Pizza and PizzaPapalis's Detroit style (not the Chicago style it's known for).
His favorite?
"The pizza at Green Lantern. When it comes to Detroit-style pizza, it is amazing and hands-down the best. It was crispy, it was covered in cheese, covered in sauce, the pepperoni was crispy," he said, although he was irked that when he placed his order he wasn't offered a choice in size and was automatically given a large pizza, but Green Lantern only makes one size for their square Detroit-style.
"Whoever suggested Green Lantern ... ya'll the real MVPs. I would fly anywhere any day from wherever I am just to get that pizza. That's it Detroit, I love y'all, thank y'all for changing my life."
Michigan & Trumbull, Detroit
That wasn't the end of Mr.ChimeTime's praise for Detroit style pizza. Thursday night he posted several photos of pizza from Michigan & Trumbull, a Detroit style pizza joint that recently relocated from Corktown to 1331 Holden in Detroit.
"The Most UNDERRATED DETROIT STYLE Pizza joint in Detroit PERIOD," he wrote on Instagram Thursday night. While he didn't name Michigan & Trumbull or tag the business, owners confirmed to The Detroit News that he visited Thursday night.
"Underrated" is disputable; The Detroit News gave Michigan & Trumbull a glowing four-star review in 2022.
mbaetens@detroitnews.com