Ahmad Khan Rahami: Yelp reviewers trash fried chicken restaurant owned by family of New York bombing suspect

Despite the Rahami family's previous run-ins with the authorities in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the restaurant previously had a positive average rating of more than four stars

FBI investigators at the Rahami family's fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey on Monday ((Getty Images))

The Yelp review page for a fried chicken restaurant owned by the family of New York bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami has been flooded with negative reviews in the hours since he was identified. Most reviewers on the page for First American Fried Chicken in Elizabeth, New Jersey appear not to have eaten there, but instead criticised the Rahami family for fostering terrorism.

Rahami, 28, was born in Afghanistan but is a US citizen and a resident of Elizabeth, around 15 miles from New York City. The prime suspect in a series of attacks this weekend – including a blast that injured 29 in Manhattan on Saturday night – he was arrested after a shootout with police on Monday in nearby Linden, New Jersey.

The one-star Yelp reviews came from states across the US, including Texas and California. Some were crass or tasteless, others openly Islamophobic. “Spend your money on businesses that don’t hate America,” one advised. “I hope your son gets waterboarded,” read another. A reviewer from Louisiana described the Rahamis as “Filthy Mohammedan Savages.”

(Yelp.com (Yelp.com)

Yelp flagged the page on Monday, with an alert saying the site would “work to remove both positive and negative posts that appear to be motivated more by news coverage that the reviewer’s personal consumer experience with the business.”

(Yelp.com (Yelp.com)

Until Monday morning, the restaurant had just three reviews – which were mostly positive – and an average rating of 4.67 of a possible five stars. By lunchtime, however, its rating had plummeted to below two stars.

“Zach D”, a user from Missouri, tried to redress the balance with a five-star review. “This family deserves a lot of credit. Starting a business in America isn’t easy – but they’ve done it,” he wrote. “We all have black sheep in our family.”

(Yelp.com (Yelp.com)

It also emerged on Monday that the Rahami family had had several run-ins with the authorities in Elizabeth over the years. Speaking to reporters outside First American Fried Chicken, the town’s mayor Chris Bollwage confirmed reports that residents had complained about the 24-hour business attracting crowds of rowdy late-night patrons.

“There was lots of noise, it was open 24 hours, neighbours in this neighbourhood complained,” Mr Bollwage said, adding that the family had been “disruptive… for many, many years.”

The Elizabeth City Council had ordered the restaurant to close at 10pm, but the Rahanis reportedly ignored the authorities and went on serving into the small hours. One of Ahmad Rahami’s brothers was arrested after allegedly assaulting a police officer who attempted to enforce the curfew.

In a lawsuit filed against the city and uncovered by the Daily Mail, the Rahami family said the citations against their restaurant were motivated by Islamophobia, claiming they had been subjected to racial harassment. The suit was thrown out. Mr Bollwage insisted that race and religion “had absolutely nothing to do with” the curfew.