Curious where Phoenix'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 analyze which local businesses have been getting extra attention this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at Phoenix 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 worth exploring this spring.
Tru Burger
Open since January, this bar and traditional American spot, which offers salads and more, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "American (Traditional)" on Yelp.
Citywide, traditional American spots saw a median 2.9 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, but Tru Burger saw a 44.7 percent increase, maintaining a strong 4.5-star rating throughout.
Located at 2535 N. Central Ave., Suite 103 in Encanto, Tru Burger offers customizable burgers with proteins like Black Angus beef, salmon, bison, portobello mushroom and more. Dig into its happy hour menu for tasty eats like zucchini fries and pastrami sliders. (Check it out here.)
Paz Cantina
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Central City's Paz Cantina, the popular Mexican spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Mexican" on Yelp saw a median 2.8 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, Paz Cantina bagged an 18.4 percent increase in new reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a mixed 3.5-star rating.
Open at 330 E. Roosevelt St. since September 2018, Paz Cantina offers tortas, tacos, nachos and quesadillas alongside entrees such as enchiladas, fajitas and chimichangas. Brunch items like the tres leches French toast and the paz Benedict are also available. (Check out the menu here.).
Teaspressa
Camelback East's Teaspressa is also making waves. Open since 2018 at 4628 E. Indian School Road, the well-established coffee and tea spot has seen a 10 percent bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 2.3 percent for all businesses tagged "Coffee & Tea" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis Teaspressa's review count increased by more than 190 percent.
Teaspressa offers cold and hot drinks like the popular London fog iced latte and lavender matcha macchiato. Pastries and snacks include the cucumber avocado toast and lemon poppyseed scones, as well as tea cakes and cookies made with local flowers. Over the past month, it's maintained a solid 4.5-star rating among Yelpers.
Desert Donuts
North Gateway's Desert Donuts is the city's buzziest breakfast and brunch spot by the numbers.
The well-established breakfast and brunch spot, which offers doughnuts, coffee and tea and opened at 3134 W. Carefree Highway, Suite A-10 in 2013, increased its new review count by 4.5 percent over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 2 percent for the Yelp category "Breakfast & Brunch." It outperformed the previous month by gaining 3.3 times more reviews than expected based on past performance.
Desert Donuts offers customized doughnut creations with your choice of toppings and glazes. It also serves up signature treats like the almond joy, bacon blast, peanut butter cup and chocolate coma plus favorites like the Bavarian cream, chunky monkey and the Carlton, which combines the apple pie doughnut with pecans and bacon bits.
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.
