Former NFL star leaves a $1,000 tip at Bahama Breeze in Cherry Hill

Retired NFL star Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson stopped into Bahama Breeze earlier this week to celebrate his fiancée’s birthday.

It turns out that the former receiver is a giver, with a history of largesse at restaurants.

Johnson left a $1,000 tip.

The server, who asked The Inquirer to identify her only by the name Indigo, waits tables to supplement her income as a middle-school teacher in South Jersey.

Indigo said she thought she had recognized Johnson, a sports commentator since his playing days for the Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots, but did not make a big deal of it.

It was a slow Monday, and she greeted Johnson and his fiancée — Sharelle Rosado, a Miami Realtor — as they sat down. The evening went smoothly, as Johnson and Rosado were engrossed with the football game.

As the couple walked out, Indigo said she asked for a photo.

Then she saw the receipt.

“I looked down and my eyes blew up and I thought, ‘No way!’ I thanked him,” said Indigo, who called the tip “a welcome gift.” She said she would put the money toward her dance team, Getting Better Everyday Step and Dance Team.

Johnson posted his receipt on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Inquirer staff writer Melanie Burney said she and a friend were having a drink at Bahama Breeze that night when “this good-looking couple was seated near us. When the waiter brought out a dish of ice cream with candles, we insisted on singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to the wife [the regular version and the Stevie Wonder version]. We encouraged the husband to sing, too, but he declined.”

It wasn’t till later that Burney realized that the “husband” was Johnson.

Johnson and Rosado returned the next day for lunch.

Last month, he left $3,000 in tips at Cincinnati restaurants the day before the Bengals honored him. (He wrote a note on one receipt that read: “I am the best FIFA player in the world!!”) He had another $3,000 tip day in January in Atlanta.

Earlier this year, he left $1,000 on a $78 tab at a Cincinnati restaurant before the Cincinnati-Baltimore NFC wild card game, adding, “Ravens don’t stand a chance tomorrow. Who dey?” (Johnson was right. The Bengals won, 24-17.)

Last year, he added a grand to his $24 meal at a restaurant in Greensboro, N.C., with the statement: “I once scored 6 touchdowns in Madden using myself,” and tipped $1,000 at an IHOP in Knoxville, Tenn.

Johnson also appends his receipts with the words “Proverbs 11:25,” as in, “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”