Johan Malcolm left a long string of tweets addressed to Williams - while frequently tagging both ESPN and well-known personality Stephen A. Smith in the hopes of making the tip snub public - in an attempt to guilt the 11-year NFL veteran, who was in town for a game in Washington.
These kinds of stories usually end there, with celebrities who have thousands of followers - more than 230,000 in this case - not even noticing the small dent in mentions.
But Williams noticed - and wasn't backing down.
In dozens of public tweets, Williams detailed his horror story with the restaurant. His jeremiad included a wait of more than an hour and a half for food, his drink going un-refilled and a particularly bad mix-up in his order.
Williams said he used to wait tables and he's familiar with the industry. He contended leaving a tiny tip was actually a favour - and sent a subtle message without alerting the server's boss.
"I tried to leave exact change but couldn't," Williams said. "I waited on my food for over 1.5 hours ... She never asked for refills.
"I ordered chicken and shrimp in my pasta they put it on my salad. They took it back and removed it from salad and put it in my pasta leaving a shrimp tail in the salad.
"I use to wait tables and use to be a bag boy so I know what I'm doing here."
Well, her boss now knows.
The co-owner of the restaurant, Jimmy Marcos, told TMZ the server will be fired over her handling of Williams.
"We were in the wrong," Marcos said, with a message to Williams (and the world that now sees his establishment in a bad light). "I want to offer anything I can do. I'll be sure to apologise in person next time he visits and pick up his next meal."
