Chicken Stand Co-Owner Allegedly Threatens Yelp Reviewers

The co-owner of a fried chicken pop-up in Los Angeles is under fire for allegedly bullying customers who left unsatisfactory reviews about his Raging Hot Chicken stand. A report published by Eater details over a dozen inappropriate private messages sent from Gabe Killian's social media accounts to an unnamed patron, calling him or her a "true loser," a "piece of s—," an "awful human being," and an "idiot."

A screengrab from a Facebook chat uploaded to the stand's Yelp page shows the chef, identified by Eater as also being a stand-up comedian, asking, "Is it true that your mom is a ho?" to which the other person asks, "Because of the poor review?"

In an additional conversation obtained by Eater, a Facebook user by the name of Gabriel Killian says, "You f—– with the wrong person homie" and "You better come see me because it's gonna be worse when I find you."

When Eater inquired about his apparent comments, Killian reportedly admitted to messaging multiple Yelp users about their own comments, but claims that the majority of them are from fake reviewers who have never actually eaten at his stand.

When the publication asked him for an official statement over Twitter, Killian and his co-founder reportedly wrote: "We have absolutely no problem with negative reviews. We welcome them, as long as they are from real customers. However, fake reviews from trolls...are NOT welcome. We made the rookie mistake of messaging trolls to insult them, but we've realized that it was completely unnecessary for us to stoop to that level. We are very new to the restaurant game and are learning as we go. Onward and upward."

In a statement to The Daily Meal, Killian said he does not respond to negative reviewers who are "real customers," but that he did threaten one person "after he had made it personal, following an extended back and forth conversation." He also said that each screenshot used by Eater reproduced conversations sent to "proven trolls," and alleged that a Hollywood-based competitor influenced Eater to produce a "biased" and "deceptive" article. This, he admits, he "can't claim as a fact," but can only assume because he and his competitor have mutual friends, "so that is what we have heard and think could very well be the case." 

Killian says he has offered to pay for lie detector tests "for me and those I call fake reviewers," to further prove his case.

For a more laid-back look at customers' restaurant experience analyses, here are some of the funniest Yelp reviews left for chain restaurants.