Unsure where Austin'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 discover which local businesses have been seeing especially high review volumes this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at Austin 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 cool this spring.
Shore Raw Bar & Grill
Open since December 2018, this breakfast and brunch and Mexican spot, which offers seafood and more, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Mexican" on Yelp.
Citywide, Mexican spots saw a median 1.7 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, but Shore Raw Bar & Grill saw an 80 percent increase, maintaining a sound four-star rating throughout.
Located at 8665 W. Sh 71, Suite 100, in West Oak Hill, Shore Raw Bar & Grill offers oysters, fish, shrimp skewers, tacos, sandwiches and desserts like lemon poppy seed and tres leches cakes.
Torchy's Tacos
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about downtown Austin's Torchy's Tacos, the breakfast and brunch spot, which offers tacos and more, is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp saw a median 2.3 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, Torchy's Tacos bagged a 36.2 percent increase in new reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a healthy 4.5-star rating. It significantly outperformed the previous month by gaining 1.5 times more reviews than expected based on its past performance.
There's more that's trending on Austin's breakfast and brunch scene: Il Brutto has seen a 7.1 percent increase in reviews.
Open at 110 San Antonio St., Unit 120, since November, Torchy's Tacos offers everything from classic breakfast tacos to unique creations such as the Tipsy Chick with chicken fajita, fresh spinach, grilled corn, green chiles, cheddar cheese with chipotle sauce and a side of bacon bourbon marmalade.
Wilder Wood Restaurant & Bar
Central East Austin's Wilder Wood Restaurant & Bar is also making waves. Open since September 2017 at 1300 E. Seventh St., the cocktail bar and gluten-free spot, which offers tacos and more, has seen a 15.8 percent bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 3.4 percent for all businesses tagged "Cocktail Bars" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis Wilder Wood Restaurant & Bar's review count increased by more than 240 percent.
Wilder Wood Restaurant & Bar offers shrimp ceviche, bison burgers and chicken fried steak. Over the past month, it's maintained a strong four-star rating among Yelpers.
Pluckers
St. Johns' Pluckers is the city's buzziest traditional American spot by the numbers.
The sports bar and traditional American spot, which opened at 6406 N. Interstate Highway 35 Frontage Road, Suite 2949, on July 2017, increased its new review count by 12.6 percent over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 2.3 percent for the Yelp category "American (Traditional)." It outperformed the previous month by gaining 1.7 times more reviews than expected based on past performance.
It's not the only trending outlier in the traditional American category: First Watch has seen a 7.9 percent increase in reviews.
Pluckers specializes in boneless wings that come with sauces like maple chipotle, ginger peach Sriracha and spicy garlic Parmesan. Other offerings include starters like fried pickles and stuffed jalapeños, burgers like the plant-based Impossible Burger and desserts like fried Twinkies.
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.
