Unsure where Boston's insiders are 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 local businesses have been getting a notable uptick in attention this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at Boston 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 riding a trend, right now.
Lobstah On A Roll
Open since November 2017, this spot to score seafood, soup and sandwiches is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Seafood" on Yelp.
Citywide, seafood spots saw review counts increase by a median of 1 percent over the past month, but Lobstah On A Roll saw an 8.6 percent increase, maintaining a solid 4.5-star rating throughout.
It's not the only trending outlier in the seafood category: Fin Point has seen a 6.1 percent increase in reviews, and Durgin-Park Restaurant has seen a 2.4 percent bump.
Located at 537A Columbus Ave. (between Claremont Park and Worcester Street) in Back Bay, Lobstah On A Roll offers a selection of craft sandwiches, like the six-inch lobster roll, a jumbo lump crab cake with a house-made remoulade, and a turkey breast sandwich with tomato and cranberry mayonnaise. (View the full menu here.)
City Winery
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about West End's City Winery, the event space, wine bar and New American spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "American (New)" on Yelp increased their review count by a median of 1.8 percent over the past month, City Winery bagged an 11 percent increase in reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a mixed three-star rating. It outperformed the previous month by gaining 1.6 times more reviews than expected based on its past performance.
Open at 80 Beverly St. (between State Highway 3 and Lovejoy Place) since November 2017, City Winery offers large and small plates, flatbreads, soups, salads, side and a wide selection of wines, cocktails and beers. Standouts among Yelpers include the pumpkin and goat cheese risotto balls and the braised duck tacos. (Check out the full menu here.)
Citrus & Salt
Back Bay's Citrus & Salt is also making waves. Open since November 2017 at 142 Berkeley St. (between Columbus Avenue and Stanhope Street), the well-established cocktail bar and Mexican spot has seen a 7.3 percent bump in reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1.5 percent for all businesses tagged "Cocktail Bars" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis, review counts increased by more than 160 percent.
Citrus & Salt offers beer, wine and sangria, as well as cocktails made with tequila, mezcal, rum and more. Try the Smoke Show cocktail — with mezcal, ginger beer, blueberry and lime — and the pork belly chicarrone tacos — served with Yucatan mayo, shredded lettuce and pickled onions. Over the past month, it's maintained a superior four-star rating among Yelpers.
