Seattle Sushi Chain Temporarily Shuts Down Restaurants After Backlash From Keith Lee Fans

Fob Sushi Bar’s Seattle metro area locations have temporarily closed citing recent food safety concerns after fans of popular food TikTok personality Keith Lee alleged that they saw something moving in a recent video of the Lee’s visit to a Fob location in Seattle.

The popular online food reviewer known for critiquing restaurants from his car hit the Emerald City on one of his trademark surprise food trips and began posting content on Sunday, November 10. The first place he shared was at Fob Sushi Bar, and Lee said it was chosen for a visit because it was one of the most recommended places in town.

“[This is] sushi done in the most unique way I’ve ever seen in my life,” Lee tells the camera in his introduction. He goes on to explain that Fob sells sushi by the pound — Lee picked out $15 worth, grabbing a large box but then only filling up a small portion of it because he has a shellfish allergy (famously, he left SF abruptly after having a reaction). As seen in the video, many of the nigiri and sashimi servings were contaminated by being in close proximity to shellfish. He eats several pieces of sushi, mostly declaring the sushi rice overcooked but the fish good.

What happened next put the restaurant at the mercy of over a million eyeballs. Some folks began to comment claiming they saw something moving on one of the pieces of sushi Lee ate at 1:50 in the video.

Lee’s viewers demanded a statement from Fob Sushi, which responded with a post on Instagram. The restaurant called claims that there was a worm in the piece of fish “false” and added, “[W]e follow strict FDA and HACCP standards to ensure the highest quality and safety in every dish. The movement in the video is due to natural elasticity in the fish—not worms.” The post details at what temperature the fish is stored, and from which suppliers it is acquired, and offers a reminder that the restaurant has never faced any health concerns. King 5 in Seattle dug into it, and found the restaurant was visited by the health inspector in January and that no issues were found.

Lee has since made a response video to the drama saying, “It did appear that something moved,” although he didn’t see it at the time and says he cannot “confirm or deny” what it was. Lee suffered no ill effects but goes on to claim that someone went there on his recommendation the next day and alleges that individual ended up in the hospital.

“For the restaurant to post a statement indicating that me holding the sushi or me holding the chopsticks a certain way is why the sushi moved — I personally don’t agree with it,” Lee said. “Because I’ve had sushi a thousand times, and I’ve held sushi a thousand different ways, and never once have I seen sushi behaving that way.” He goes on to clarify that he is not saying there was a worm or parasite in his food, but that the sushi moving was not his fault.

On Monday, November 18, Fob Sushi addressed its response to the situation in a post to Instagram, announcing that it was closing its locations in Bellevue, where Lee ate, and Seattle “until further notice.” The restaurant said it is conducting a “thorough investigation” into what happened and how to prevent it from happening again.