Oysters and more: What's trending on San Jose's food scene?

Oysters and more: What's trending on San Jose's food scene?Claw Shack. | Photo: Michelle N./Yelp
Hoodline
Published on May 16, 2019

Want the dirt on San Jose's buzziest local spots?

We took a data-driven look at the question, using Yelp to deduce which eateries have been most discussed this month.

To find out who made the list, we looked at San Jose 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 hot, right now.

SimpleViet

Photo: SimpleViet/Yelp

Open since 2016, this Vietnamese and Asian fusion spot is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Asian Fusion" on Yelp.

Citywide, Asian fusion spots saw a median 2.3 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, but SimpleViet saw a 46.3 percent increase, with a slight downward trend from a 4.5-star rating a month ago to four stars today.

It's not the only trending outlier in the Asian fusion category: Ginza Sushi has seen an 11.8 percent increase in reviews.

Located at 2223 Business Circle, Suite 20 in West San Carlos / Burbank, SimpleViet offers pho, rice bowls and more.

Claw Shack

Photo: Trizzie P./Yelp

Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Evergreen North's Claw Shack, the Cajun/Creole spot, which offers chicken wings and seafood, is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.

While businesses categorized as "Seafood" on Yelp saw a median 2.4 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, Claw Shack bagged a 13.5 percent increase in new reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a superior 4.5-star rating. It significantly outperformed the previous month by gaining 2.0 times more reviews than expected based on its past performance.

There's more that's trending on San Jose's seafood scene: SJ Crawfish has seen a 6.3 percent increase in reviews.

Open at 2847 S. White Road, Claw Shack offers fried entrees, oysters, crawfish, clams and shrimp.

Back A Yard

Photo: Ly D./Yelp

East San Jose's Back A Yard is also making waves. Open since 2017 at 1011 Capitol Expy, the well-established Caribbean spot, which offers barbecue and more, has seen a 5.9 percent bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 2.3 percent for all businesses tagged "Barbeque" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis Back A Yard's review count increased by more than 140 percent.

Back A Yard offers jerk chicken, barbecue ribs, curried goat and more. Over the past month, it's maintained a strong 4.5-star rating among Yelpers.


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.