Unsure where New Orleans'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 deduce which restaurants have been on the tips of diners' tongues this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at New Orleans 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 have the momentum heading into summer.
Nola Cantina
Open since 2019, this bar and Latin American spot is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Bars" on Yelp.
Citywide, bars saw a median 2.5 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, but Nola Cantina saw a 36.8 percent increase, with a slight downward trend from a four-star rating a month ago to 3.5 stars today.
Located at 437 Esplanade Ave. in Marigny, Nola Cantina offers items like fish tacos, poached Gulf shrimp and smoked paprika churros.
Landry's Seafood House
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about the French Quarter's Landry's Seafood House, the Cajun/Creole spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Cajun/Creole" on Yelp saw a median 1.9 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, Landry's Seafood House bagged a 12.4 percent increase in new reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a mixed 3.5-star rating.
There's more that's trending on New Orleans's Cajun/Creole scene: Morrow's has seen an 8.7 percent increase in reviews, and Mahony's Po-Boys & Seafood has seen a 6 percent bump.
Open at 620 Decatur St., Unit 1A, since February 2018, Landry's Seafood House offers a hot and cold oyster bar, shareable plates like New Orleans-style crawfish bread and Southern-fried catfish.
Monty's on the Square
The French Quarter's Monty's on the Square is also making waves. Open since 2016 at 801 Decatur St., the well-established Cajun/Creole and breakfast and brunch spot has seen a 5.7 percent bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 2.3 percent for all businesses tagged "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis Monty's on the Square's review count increased by more than 300 percent.
There's more than one hotspot trending in New Orleans's breakfast and brunch category: Vessel NOLA has seen a 5.4 percent increase in reviews.
Monty's on the Square, which offers biscuits and gravy, pizza pies, fried shrimp po'boys and more, has maintained a mixed 3.5-star rating among Yelpers the past month.
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.
