There’s never good news that comes out of a terrorist attack, however after the most recent attack in NYC/NJ this past weekend which injured 29 people, there are a few positive outcomes:
- No deaths
- No critical injuries
- The 3 other explosive attempts were detonated by robots and cleared
- The terrorist, Ahmad Khan Rahami has been wounded, captured, and is now in custody
- The cop who wounded him was shot and struck by Rahami but was saved by his bulletproof vest
- The restaurant Ahmad worked at, which is also owned by his parents, dropped from a 4.5 star yelp review to a questionable 1.5
Ahmad’s father, Muhammad Rahami, runs the fried chicken restaurant, called First American Fried Chicken. It opened several years ago and became a “persistent neighborhood nuisance,” according to Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage.
Neighbors said the Rahami family did not comply with the neighborhood’s curfew of 10PM (for businesses), and in one case, one of Ahmad’s brothers got into a fight with an officer who came to close down the restaurant. The Brother fled to Afghanistan before the case was resolved. Muhammad Rahami then filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming he’d been discriminated against because of his ethnicity. Ahmad has also been cited making multiple trips to Afghanistan over the past couple years.
None of the above is reason enough to point fingers and suspect terrorism, but unfortunately the proof was in the pressure cooking chicken.
Their son then set off a slew of bombs through Saturday and Sunday with said pressure cookers, however the biggest blow from the entire stint may not be from the bomb itself, but the reviews on First American Fried Chicken’s Yelp page.
The restaurant’s Yelp page sank from a respectable 4.5 stars to a deep 1.5 in one day. I’m sure this business will have to be laid to rest considering a 1.5 star is more or less a death sentence to any establishment. But are we surprised? It’s a restaurant labelled “Fried Chicken” with the tagline “Burgers, B.B.Q. Ribs, Seafood, Subs, Ice Cream.” Not only is there little to no common ground between those food groups but in the window they advertise pizza. Even KFC and Pizza Hut, the depths of America’s dining, know damn well you keep those prized entities separate.
FAFC is literally just a hail mary of everything you could want when you’re drunk. Maybe this place is the Wal-Mart of late night crap to eat, and for that I respect it, but there’s no way a restaurant of that caliber could handle making that widespread of a mix to a food-critiques delight.
However according to Yelp pre-terrorism, their food wasn’t so bad. And with a 4.5 star rating, the millennial in me has no choice but to believe as such. But since September 19th, the reviews have taken a downward spiral, often from keyboard warriors spewed across the country, and it’s more than less an enjoyable read.
And then there is Bryan O with the poorly timed backhanded recommendation.
Interestingly enough Yelp flashed this message, so you knew the reviews comin’ in hot were biased and not based on the BBQpizzahalalchickenicecream food.
I also called their phone number to see how business was going…They didn’t answer and their voicemail was full, probably with verbal 1-star reviews which I would pay money to listen to. However the phone they use was probably also the phone that detonated the bomb, so I guess not. You can read the rest of the Yelp reviews here