Wondering where New York City'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 deduce which local businesses have been getting outsized attention this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at New York City 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.
Au Cheval Diner
Open since March of 2019, this diner is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Diners" on Yelp.
Citywide, diners saw a median 2 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, but Au Cheval Diner saw a massive 169.4 percent increase, with a slight downward trend from a 4.5-star rating a month ago to four stars today.
Located at 33 Cortlandt Alley (between Walker and Canal streets) in Chinatown, Au Cheval Diner offers a fried bologna sandwich, a honey-fried chicken and foie gras with scrambled eggs and toast. (View the full menu here.)
Wayan
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Nolita's Wayan, the French and Indonesian spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "French" on Yelp saw a median 1.5 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, Wayan bagged a 63.6 percent increase in new reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a 4.5-star rating.
Open at 20 Spring St. (between Mott and Elizabeth streets) since February of 2019, Wayan offers chicken satay with a peanut sauce, eggplant balado with cherry tomatoes, a steamed black sea bass with a chili-calamansi vinaigrette and more. (Check out the menu here.)
MangiPasta
Belmont's MangiPasta is also making waves. Open since August of 2018 at 608 E. 187th St., the Italian spot has seen a 52.9 percent bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 2.1 percent for all businesses tagged "Italian" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis MangiPasta's review count increased by more than 300 percent.
There's more than one hotspot trending in New York City's Italian category: Pasta by Hudson has seen a 41.9 percent increase in reviews.
MangiPasta offers made-to-order pasta—guests choose their type of pasta, the sauce, protein and more. It also offers desserts, wine and beer. (Check out the menu here.) Over the past month, it's maintained its five-star rating.
This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
