Kansas City Coffee Shop Called "Demonic" in Viral TikTok Review Gets Flood of Community Support Instead
A bad review turned out to be the best advertisement. Oddly Correct Coffee Roasters, a longtime coffee shop in Kansas City, Missouri, was recently trashed on TikTok by two women who called it "demonic" and creepy. After the video went viral, the plot twisted 180 degrees: local neighbors and fellow business owners flooded in to show support, and the shop was hit with "unexpected traffic" — so much that the owners had to cut back kitchen hours to cope. The feel-good reversal became one of the week's most heartwarming stories on American social media.
In the now-deleted TikTok clip, the two women sat in their car discussing their visit. "It was a little scary driving here," one said. "It felt demonic in there. Everything about it just felt demonic." The other added: "And weird paintings all over the walls." Notably, the pair apparently hadn't even tried the coffee before vowing never to return.
Co-owner Mike Schroeder later told NBC's Today that the review was a "wild take." But he took it in stride: "We just kind of joked around, like, 'Oh man, October's coming up. We should just really lean into being demonic.'" With Halloween approaching, the shop decided to lean into the haunted-house persona as a marketing joke.
What really made the story take off was Kansas City's response. After the video spread, longtime customers and local businesses poured into the Troost Avenue location to vote with their wallets, catching the shop off guard with the surge. Schroeder admitted the assumptions behind the review stung, but the community's support meant more.
Oddly Correct is an 18-year-old company known for its homemade syrups, vegan treats, block parties and pour-off competitions, and has been a neighborhood staple since relocating to Troost Avenue in 2021. In the algorithm age, a 15-second clip can decide a small shop's fate — and this time, the neighbors chose to show up for the old familiar taste on their own street. The moral of this review-gone-wrong tale: don't judge a coffee you never tasted.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 咖啡馆内景，CC BY-SA 4.0（Wikimedia Commons，Downtowngal 摄）
