Curious where Austin's insiders are 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 eateries have been in the spotlight 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 increased their volume of reviews to identify statistically significant outliers compared to past performance.
Read on to see which spots are closing the summer out strong.
Sweet Chive
Open since 2018, this sushi bar and Taiwanese spot is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Sushi Bars" on Yelp.
Citywide, sushi bars saw a median 2.9 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, but Sweet Chive saw a 15.4 percent increase, maintaining a superior four-star rating throughout.
It's not the only trending outlier in the sushi bar category: KOBE Japanese Steakhouse has seen a 3.7% increase in reviews.
Located at 2515 E. Cesar Chavez St. in Holly, Sweet Chive offers rice bowls, beef noodle soup, vegetable chive pockets, cucumber salad and more. Sushi rolls include the spicy yellowtail, shrimp tempura and Philadelphia.
Anthem
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about downtown Austin's Anthem, the beer bar, cocktail bar and traditional American spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "American (Traditional)" on Yelp saw a median 3.1 percent increase in new reviews over the past month, Anthem bagged an 8.8 percent increase in new reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a superior 4.5-star rating.
Open at 91 Rainey St., Suite 120, Anthem's Hawaiian-themed menu includes an Aloha burger (bacon, gruyere cheese and grilled pineapple), a curry vegan hot dog on a pretzel bun and the coastal fish and fries (redfish fried in a tempura beer batter with cilantro and Cajun panko served with furikake fries).
Pueblo Viejo
East Cesar Chavez's Pueblo Viejo is also making waves. Open since 2010 at 502 Brushy St., the well-established food truck and Mexican spot has seen a 2.4 percent bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 2.4 percent for all businesses tagged "Mexican" on Yelp.
Pueblo Viejo's menu features breakfast, build-your-own and specialty tacos as well as gorditas and Mexican salad. Over the past month, it's maintained a healthy 4.5-star rating among Yelpers.
Sway
North Burnett's Sway is the city's buzziest cocktail bar by the numbers.
The cocktail bar and Thai spot, which opened at 11501 Rock Rose Ave., Suite 100, in November 2018, increased its new review count by 7.1 percent over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 4.6 percent for the Yelp category "Cocktail Bars." It outperformed the previous month by gaining 1.6 times more reviews than expected based on past performance.
Sway offers beer, wine, sake and specialty cocktails. Try the Tiger Lily made with lemongrass infused gin, strawberry-serrano syrup, lemon and soda water. Hungry? Pair your libation with snacks, ranging from satays to spicy chicken wings to fried crab rice. (View the menus.)
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.
