Want the inside word on Oakland's buzziest local spots?
We took a data-driven look at the question, using Yelp to deduce which local businesses have been seeing especially high review volumes this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at Oakland 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 extra hot, right now.
Almond & Oak
Open since June, this cocktail bar and New American spot is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "American (New)" on Yelp.
Citywide, New American spots saw a median 1.3% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Almond & Oak saw a 65.2% increase, maintaining a sound 4.5-star rating throughout. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis, Almond & Oak's review count increased by more than 190%.
It's not the only trending outlier in the New American category: Grand Lake Kitchen - Lake Merritt has seen a 0.3% increase in reviews.
Located at 3311 Grand Ave. (between Elwood and Santa Clara avenues), Almond & Oak offers corn soup with scallions, basil oil and chive blossoms; grilled asparagus with fried goat cheese, roasted beets, grapes and candied walnuts; and flatbread topped with hummus, yogurt, watermelon radish and herb salad. The menu also features ratatouille, California king salmon and confit pork shoulder.
Almond & Oak is open from 5:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m. on Tuesday-Thursday, 5:30 p.m.–10 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m.–2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.–10 p.m. on weekends. (It's closed on Monday.)
Grand Lake Kitchen
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about East Peralta's Grand Lake Kitchen, the cocktail bar and breakfast and brunch spot, which offers sandwiches and more, is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp saw a median 1.5% increase in new reviews over the past month, Grand Lake Kitchen bagged a 30.8% increase in new reviews within that time frame, maintaining a convincing four-star rating. It significantly outperformed the previous month by gaining 1.3 times more reviews than expected based on its past performance.
Open at 2042 MacArthur Blvd. (between Dimond Avenue) since May, Grand Lake Kitchen serves up a variety of brunch dishes like savory French toast, baked eggs and chilaquiles with black beans, scrambled eggs, avocado, queso fresco, pickled red onion and sour cream. Its dinner menu offers pan-roasted chicken breast, spiced chickpea stew and fried squash blossoms.
Grand Lake Kitchen is open from 9 a.m.–10 p.m. daily.
The Saap Avenue
Piedmont Avenue's The Saap Avenue is also making waves. Open since 2017 at 4395 Piedmont Ave., Suite 2 (between Pleasant Valley Avenue and Brandon Street), the popular cocktail bar, whiskey bar and Laotian spot has seen a 9.4% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 3.1% for all businesses tagged "Cocktail Bars" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis The Saap Avenue's review count increased by more than 170%.
The Saap Avenue offers crispy tiger prawns, fried chicken larb and short rib beef noodle soup. When it comes to dessert, look for mango sticky rice and coconut jelly custard. Over the past month, it's maintained a superior 4.5-star rating among Yelpers.
The Saap Avenue is open from 5 p.m.–10:30 p.m. on Monday-Thursday, 5 p.m.–11:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 5 p.m.–9:30 p.m. on Sunday.
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.
