Curious where Miami's in-the-know crowd is eating and drinking? It's easy to spot lines out the door, but some underlying trends are harder to see.
We took a data-driven look at the question, using Yelp to discover which eateries have been seeing especially high review volumes this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at Miami businesses on Yelp by category and counted how many reviews each received. Rather than compare them based on number of reviews alone, we calculated a percentage increase in reviews over the past month, and tracked businesses that consistently increase their volume of reviews to identify statistically significant outliers compared to past performance.
Read on to see which spots are extra cool, right now.
Mason Eatery
Open since June, this American breakfast and brunch spot is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "American (New)" on Yelp.
Citywide, New American spots saw review counts increase by a median of 2.9 percent over the past month, but Mason Eatery saw a 16.4 percent increase, maintaining a superior 4.5-star rating throughout. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis review counts increased by more than 160 percent.
It's not the only trending outlier in the New American category: American Social has seen a 5.4 percent increase in reviews.
Located at 3470 N. Miami Ave., Mason Eatery offers brunch, lunch, dinner, desserts and cocktails. Look for items like the pastrami hash that's made with Yukon gold potatoes, garlic mayo and fried egg; add a side grapefruit or try a stack of buttermilk pancakes for breakfast. For dinner, try an entrée like the steak frites with hanger steak, yucca fries, French onion jus and red mojo. Follow it with a carrot cake for dessert and a red wine sangria for an after-dinner cocktail.
The Wharf Miami
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about downtown Miami's The Wharf Miami, the well-established music venue, pop-up restaurant and cocktail bar is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Cocktail Bars" on Yelp increased their review count by a median of 3.6 percent over the past month, The Wharf Miami bagged a 5.9 percent increase in reviews within that timeframe, with a slight upward trend from a 3.5-star rating a month ago to its current four stars. It significantly outperformed the previous month by gaining 2.7 times more reviews than expected based on its past performance.
Open at 114 S.W. North River Drive since November, The Wharf Miami is a dock of several restaurants with a riverfront view. Among the restaurants at the Wharf Miami are: Spris Artisan Pizza, Garcia’s Seafood Grille & Fish Market and Mojo Donuts and Fried Chicken. Order lobster ravioli and a plate of stone crabs to share from Garcia's Seafood Grille & Fishmarket. Or grab a few slices of truffle pizza and rum punch from Spris Artisan Pizza.
Novikov Miami
Downtown Miami's Novikov Miami is also making waves. Open since June at 300 S. Biscayne Blvd., the seafood market, bar and Japanese spot has seen a 15.2 percent bump in reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 3.1 percent for all businesses tagged "Bars" on Yelp.
There's more than one hotspot trending in Miami's bar category: La Centrale has seen a 13.6 percent increase in reviews.
With locations in London, Dubai and Moscow, Miami marks Novikov’s newest locaton. Novikov Miami offers a Japanese/Chinese menu of sushi, seafood, rice, noodles and dessert. Expect to see a varied selection such as main lobster, yellow snapper, kimchi wagyu, tempura black shrimp, duck fried rice and much more. Over the past month, it's seen its Yelp rating improve from four stars to 4.5 stars.
