Curious where San Diego'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 analyze which local businesses have been most discussed this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at San Diego 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 getting plenty of attention, right now.
Sirens Bar and Restaurant
Open since February, this Italian and breakfast and brunch spot, which offers seafood and more, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Seafood" on Yelp.
Citywide, seafood spots saw a median 1.7 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, but Sirens Bar and Restaurant saw a 39.4 percent increase, maintaining a sound 4.5-star rating throughout.
It's not the only trending outlier in the seafood category: Point Loma Fish Shop has seen a 10.3 percent increase in reviews.
Located at 3797 Park Blvd. (between Robinson Avenue and Essex Street) in North Park, Sirens Bar and Restaurant offers salads, soups, oysters, fish, steak, pasta and more. Yelpers recommend ordering the lobster mac and cheese, the clams with fennel sausage and, for dessert, a cannoli dip made of chocolate pieces, orange zest, ricotta, mascarpone and cannoli shell chips for dipping.
Check out the entire menu here.
Louisiana Purchase
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about North Park's Louisiana Purchase, the cocktail bar and Cajun/Creole spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Cocktail Bars" on Yelp saw a median 2.4 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, Louisiana Purchase bagged a 65.9 percent increase in new reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a mixed 3.5-star rating.
Open at 2305 University Ave. (between Louisiana and Texas streets) since March, Louisiana Purchase aims to bring a bit of the French Quarter to Southern California. "Voodoo" brunch menu standouts include Gene's fried shrimp po boy, fruit and cream-stuffed French toast and alligator cheesecake.
The bar serves up classic New Orleans-inspired cocktails like Ramos gin fizz. Heading there with a crowd? Order the sharable Pablo Discobar, served in a real disco ball.
Here's the entire menu.
Great Maple
University City's Great Maple is the city's buzziest New American spot by the numbers.
The popular New American and breakfast and brunch spot, which opened at 8675 Genesee Ave., Suite 1200 (between Nobel Drive and Bus Access Road) in 2018, increased its new review count by 14.3 percent over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 1.5 percent for the Yelp category "American (New)."
Great Maple has three other Southern California locations. The spot offers salad, sandwiches, burgers, seafood and more. On the dinner menu, look for the mini brie grilled cheese (house-made cherry chutney, honey and rosemary olive oil) as a starter, followed by the steak frites (flat iron steak, chimichurri and french fries) or the fried chicken and doughnuts (buttermilk fried chicken, maple bacon doughnuts and maple syrup).
The franchise also serves brunch seven days a week.
Explore the menu here.
Gaslamp Fish House
The Gaslamp's Gaslamp Fish House is currently on the upswing in the traditional American category on Yelp.
While businesses categorized as "American (Traditional)" on Yelp saw a median 1.7 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, this traditional American spot, which offers seafood and coffee and tea, increased its by 13.8 percent—and kept its rating consistent at four stars.
Open for business at 411 Broadway (between State Street and Fourth Avenue) since last spring, the business offers soup, salad, seafood and beef dishes.
Yelpers recommend the oysters, bacon-wrapped swordfish and ceviche at happy hour, along with the sharable fish and seafood a la plancha (full lobster tail, salmon, rockfish, jumbo shrimp, mussels, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, fire-roasted tomatoes and garlic lemon beurre blanc) from the dinner menu.
Check out the full menu here.
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.
