Noodles and more: What's trending on New York City's food scene?

Noodles and more: What's trending on New York City's food scene?Photo: Meet Noodles/Yelp
Hoodline
Published on July 10, 2019

As fans of cronuts and cake pops can attest, food trends come and go. So how can you tell which tastes are trending right now?

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

To find out who made the list, we looked at New York City 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 increased their volume of reviews to identify statistically significant outliers compared to past performance.

Read on to see which spots are worth exploring, right now.

Meet Noodles

Photo: Meet Noodles/Yelp

Open since May 2019, this Chinese spot, which offers noodles, ramen and more, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Ramen" on Yelp.

Citywide, ramen spots saw a median 2.9% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Meet Noodles saw a substantial 118.8% increase, maintaining a sound 4.5-star rating throughout.

Located at 50 Third Ave. (between 1st Ave And 11th Street) in the East Village, Meet Noodles offers a variety of Chinese chicken, beef and vegetarian dishes, including basil fried chicken.

Junzi Kitchen

Photo: Junzi Kitchen/Yelp

Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Theater District's Junzi Kitchen, the Chinese spot, which offers noodles and salads, is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.

While businesses categorized as "Salad" on Yelp saw a median 2% increase in new reviews over the past month, Junzi Kitchen bagged a 47.1% increase in new reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a convincing 4.5-star rating.

There's more that's trending on New York City's salad scene: Forma Pasta Factory has seen a 30.2% increase in reviews.

Open at 135 W. 41st St. (between Avenue Of The Americas and Broadway) since April 2019, Junzi Kitchen offers bok choy salad, bing wraps and more.

Kitsby

Photo: Kitsby/Yelp

Williamsburg's Kitsby is also making waves. Open since April 2019 at 186 Grand St. (between Bedford and Driggs avenues), the bakery and coffee and tea spot, which offers desserts and more, has seen a 45.7% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1.5% for all businesses tagged "Bakeries" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis Kitsby's review count increased by more than 160%.

Kitsby offers cream puffs, cheesecake and more. Over the past month, it's seen its Yelp rating tick down from five stars to 4.5 stars.

Sup Crab

Photo: Sup Crab/Yelp

Chinatown's Sup Crab is the city's buzziest seafood spot by the numbers.

The seafood, Cajun/Creole and Chinese spot, which opened at 97 Bowery (between Hester and Grand streets) on December 2018, increased its new review count by 48.4% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 2.4% for the Yelp category "Seafood."

Sup Crab offers seafood boils, fried calamari and popcorn chicken.

The Springs Bar and Lounge

Photo: The Springs Bar and Lounge/Yelp

Greenpoint's The Springs Bar and Lounge is currently on the upswing in the traditional American category on Yelp.

While businesses categorized as "American (Traditional)" on Yelp saw a median 2.3% increase in new reviews over the past month, this cocktail bar and traditional American spot increased its new reviews by 26% — and kept its rating consistent at three stars. Review counts increased by more than 500% on a month-to-month basis.

Open for business at 224 Franklin St. (between Freeman and Huron streets) since May 2018, the spot offers cocktail slushies, including the Aperol Seltzer slushie with Aperol, gin, sparkling wine, lemon and Perrier. View the 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.