TikToker’s video appears to show a Texas Roadhouse with an all-white section and an all-Black section, and commenters debate why

For TikToker Whoistoniii, a visit to Texas Roadhouse turned into a video she posted on TikTok with a simple question in the caption: “I’m trippin?” The video has drawn more than 12.3 million views.

In her post, she walks through the restaurant and passes two parallel lines of booths that she says are occupied entirely by white customers. She asks why it feels like the restaurant put them in a segregated section. She then turns a corner and shows another line of booths where, she says, every customer is Black.

The video does not show why customers were seated where they were. Texas Roadhouse has separately responded to a different viral claim that servers tamper with Black customers’ food, calling it “completely unfounded.” Texas Roadhouse had not commented on this video at the time of publication.

Commenters were divided. One wrote, “no baby u not trippin. this wild.” Another wrote, “That’s so insulting.. I would be p—ed.” Others asked how seating works, with one writing, “i’m confused. Don’t the hosts pick where customers sit? aren’t the host like 16-17?” In a separate viral video, customers at a Texas Roadhouse in Spartanburg, South Carolina, said a manager told their party of 10 where they had to sit.

Commenters share their own claims

Some commenters said they work or worked at Texas Roadhouse and described their own experiences with how tables are assigned. Those claims could not be verified.

The video has renewed discussion of what researchers call “tableside racism,” the discriminatory treatment of Black diners in restaurants. It is not clear whether race played any role in the seating shown in this video. Yellow Scene noted that research on the topic has found that servers can hold stereotypes of Black customers as poor tippers. In one study, nearly 70 percent of surveyed servers viewed Black patrons as below-average tippers, though the research found the actual tipping difference between white and Black customers to be less than 5 percent.

As Zach Brewster, an associate professor at Wayne State University, explained to Yellow Scene, “While tableside racism is an undeniable problem for consumers of color, particularly Black Americans, and the financial health of restaurant establishments, there are reasons to be hopeful. Most servers do not stereotype nor discriminate against Black restaurant patrons.”