Want the inside word on Houston's buzziest local spots?
We took a data-driven look at the question, using Yelp to discover which restaurants have been most discussed this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at Houston 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 riding a trend this summer.
Midwest Coney Connection
Open since 2017, this food truck and traditional American spot, which offers hot dogs and more, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "American (Traditional)" on Yelp.
Citywide, traditional American spots saw a median 3.2% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Midwest Coney Connection saw a 52% increase, maintaining a terrific five-star rating throughout. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis Midwest Coney Connection's review count increased by more than 220%.
Located at 2829 Chimney Rock in Greater Uptown, Midwest Coney Connection specializes in hot dogs. Look for the Famous Flint Coney covered in beef, onions and mustard, and the Famous New Yorker with sauerkraut, onions and mustard. The truck also offers wings, chili fries and tacos (on Tuesdays).
Les Ba'get
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Central Northwest's Les Ba'get, the Vietnamese spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Vietnamese" on Yelp saw a median 2.7% increase in new reviews over the past month, Les Ba'get bagged a 29.5% increase in new reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a strong four-star rating.
Open at 1717 W. 34th St., Suite 800, since March, Les Ba'get offers soups, sandwiches, pho, shrimp, steak and eggs. Menu standouts include the coconut basil prawn noodles with fried shallots, roasted peanuts and garlic fish sauce, as well as the braised beef belly baguette with pate, aioli, cucumber, pickled daikon, carrots, scallions, cilantro and red jalepeño. (Check out the full menu here.)
Blanco Tacos + Tequila
Greater Uptown's Blanco Tacos + Tequila is also making waves. Open since December at 5115 Westheimer Road, Suite C2520, the Mexican spot has seen a 15.8% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 2.5% for all businesses tagged "Mexican" on Yelp.
This franchise has locations in Arizona and California. Blanco Tacos + Tequila offers Tex-Mex favorites like tacos, burritos, fajitas and tequila.
Go for happy hour and order the pork carnitas taco with candied jalapeño, orange, pecan guajillo pesto, cilantro, the double cheese nachos with black beans, guacamole, sour cream and pico de gallo and a classic margarita with Jose Cuervo especial and Patron citronge. Over the past month, Blanco Tacos + Tequila has maintained a sound four-star rating among Yelpers. (Explore the rest of the menu here.)
Shun Japanese Kitchen
Greenway / Upper Kirby Area's Shun Japanese Kitchen is the city's buzziest sushi bar by the numbers.
The sushi bar, which offers ramen and more and opened at 2802 S. Shepherd Drive in October, increased its new review count by 19.2% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 2.6% for the Yelp category "Sushi Bars." It outperformed the previous month by gaining 2.1 times more reviews than expected based on past performance.
Shun Japanese Kitchen offers seafood, dumplings, ramen and sushi. Look for the duck gyoza, the negitoro hand roll with fatty tuna tartare and scallions and the spicy chopped scallop hand roll with Japanese scallops, cucumber and spicy aioli. Don't forget the sunflower sake. (The rest of the menu can be found here.)
Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ
Memorial's popular Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ is currently on the upswing in the Japanese category on Yelp.
While businesses categorized as "Japanese" on Yelp saw a median 1.6 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, this Japanese, barbecue and Asian fusion spot increased its new reviews by 6.2 percent—and kept its rating consistent at four stars. Review counts increased by more than 270 percent on a month-to-month basis.
Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ has more than 700 locations worldwide. Open for business at 11301 Katy Freeway since 2017, the business offers diners the chance to cook their own meats and veggies at the in-table grill.
Groups of two or more can order prix-fixe barbecue courses that include starters like miso soup, rice and edamame, barbecue items like Yaki-Shabu beef miso, bistro hanger steak miso and New York steak and desserts. (Check out the rest of 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.
