Unsure 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 deduce which restaurants have been getting a significant uptick in attention 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 increased their volume of reviews to identify statistically significant outliers compared to past performance.
Read on to see which spots are getting plenty of attention this autumn.
Harland Brewing
Open since July, this brewery and beer bar is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Beer Bar" on Yelp.
Citywide, beer bars saw a median 1.7% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Harland Brewing saw a formidable 250% increase, maintaining a healthy 4.5-star rating throughout.
Located at 3718 Paseo Place, Suite 1300 in Carmel Valley, Harland Brewing is the latest endeavor by Josh Landen, who sold locally based St. Archer Brewing to MillerCoors in 2015, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Harland Brewing's centerpiece brews, available on tap at the new tasting room, are a blonde ale, a Mexican lager and an IPA. It also offers a variety of seasonal IPAs, including the New Zealand Hazy, a citrusy, tropical hop with fruity esters.
Harland Brewing is open from noon–9 p.m. on Sunday-Thursday and noon–10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Malandrino
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Hillcrest's Malandrino, the Italian spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Italian" on Yelp saw a median 1.3% increase in new reviews over the past month, Malandrino bagged an 84.6% increase in new reviews within that time frame, maintaining a superior 4.5-star rating.
There's more that's trending on San Diego's Italian scene: De Niro Ristorante has seen a 23.4% increase in reviews, and Il Dandy has seen a 23.3% bump.
Open at 3650 Fifth Ave. since July, Malandrino offers such specialty dinners as chicken piccata and shrimp scampi, as well as a variety of pasta dishes, including spaghetti puttanesca and pappardelle meat ragu.
Malandrino is open from 4–9 p.m. on Tuesday-Saturday and 4-8 p.m. on Sunday. (It's closed on Monday.)
The Holding Company
Ocean Beach's The Holding Company is also making waves. Open since early July at 5046 Newport Ave. (between Bacon and Abbott streets), the bar and music venue has seen a 41.7% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1.3% for all businesses tagged "Bars" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis, The Holding Company's review count increased by more than 180%.
The Holding Company offers such starters as honey walnut shrimp, tofu fries and Asian street corn — charred corn on the cob smothered in coconut milk, sauteed green onions and a housemade sauce. It also offers a variety of plates including lemon grass chicken, pork dumplings and kimchi fried rice.
Over the past month, it's maintained a healthy four-star rating among Yelpers.
The Holding Company is open from noon–2 a.m. daily.
Surf City Pizza & Gelato
Pacific Beach's Surf City Pizza & Gelato is the city's buzziest pizza spot by the numbers.
The spot to score pizza, gelato and salads, which opened at 4263 Mission Blvd. (between Thomas and Reed avenues) in early March, increased its new review count by 35.3% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 1.8% for the Yelp category "Pizza." It outperformed the previous month by gaining 6.0 times more reviews than expected based on past performance.
The spot's pizza offerings include a variety of Neapolitan-style custom pies, including the primo pepperoni, the mushroom trio and the sausage bomb with spicy Cajun sausage, sweet onion, bacon and Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce. Its gelato is available in bowls and waffle cones, or as cookie sandwiches.
Surf City Pizza & Gelato is open from 5–9 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday; 5 p.m.–2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday; and 1–8:30 p.m. on Sunday. (It's closed on Tuesday.)
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.
