A short clip on TikTok with a closeup of a plate of macaroni and cheese is going viral because the person filming found something in it that was distinctively not, uh, macaroni and cheese.
The video, posted on TikTok user @naymula100, is only a few seconds long, but you should avoid it if you’re sensitive and eating yourself. It shows a plate of mac and cheese ordered from the Katz’s location at 2200 N. Shepherd Dr. in the Heights. The camera pans out to show a dark object resting on the surface of the pasta, and a second voice says: “Girl, is it legs on there?”
The clip has drawn tens of thousands of views, and more than a thousand comments since. The object appears to be an insect, though how it got there is anyone’s question. You can check out the clip for yourself below.
@naymula100 Man heck Nawll #katzs #roaches @Katzs this is so trifling roach marinated in the macaroni and cheese. #fy #restaurant #houston 🤮
♬ original sound – Fantasy candles
Katz’s operates five Houston-area locations, and you can go there whenever to order food. The around-the-clock element is the whole thing behind the brand, and it is even fixed in the neon slogan “Katz’s Never Kloses.” One user joked that: “If it ‘never closes,’ it’s never thoroughly cleaned!”
“Did you call an attorney? That is a lawsuit really,” another comment read.
In the video, the two friends talk about it now being a free meal because of the insect, which users found odd. “I would be throwing up,” one person wrote.
“Man, it’s getting easier and easier to eat at the house,” a user chimed in.
We Got This Covered has not independently verified the footage, and Katz’s has yet to address the situation.
The restaurant at the center of it
As mentioned above, Katz’s operates five locations in Houston: Montrose on Westheimer, the Galleria, Memorial City, and The Woodlands, and lastly, the subject of our video, the Heights. The doors to the Heights branch officially opened on September 15, 2020, and the 24-hour service began the following week.
In July 2026, the Army closed a dining facility in Fort Hood indefinitely after a video of roaches circulated on social media. There was no inspection, though whether public scrutiny will do the same to Katz’s is unclear at this point.
The Houston Health Department, which handles complaints against food establishments in the city, hasn’t announced an inspection either. It’s worth bearing in mind that until verified, the footage shows one plate on one night, and nothing about the circumstances that led to it.
While people may be more receptive to foods made of bugs than we thought, they probably don’t appreciate it when an untoward crunch surprises them mid-bite.
