Unsure where Seattle'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 and SafeGraph, a dataset of commercial points of interest and their visitor patterns, to uncover which local businesses have been seeing especially high review volumes this month.
To find out who made the list, we first looked at Seattle 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. Then we analyzed foot traffic data from SafeGraph to validate the trends.
Read on to see which spots are extra cool this autumn.
Mr. West Cafe Bar
Open since July, this wine bar and breakfast and brunch spot, which offers coffee, tea and more, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp.
Citywide, breakfast and brunch spots saw a median 1.4% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Mr. West Cafe Bar saw a substantial 187.5% increase, maintaining a convincing four-star rating throughout.
Located at 2685 N.E. Village Lane in Ravenna, Mr. West Cafe Bar offers a variety of breakfast fare, including avocado toast, croissant egg sandwiches, yogurt with apples and oats and fresh pastries, as well as cappuccinos, matcha lattes and more.
Mr West Cafe Bar is open from 7 a.m.–10 p.m. daily.
Fiasco
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Wallingford's Fiasco, the wine bar and Italian spot, which offers pizza and more, is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Italian" on Yelp saw a median 1.4% increase in new reviews over the past month, Fiasco bagged a 35.6% increase in new reviews within that time frame, maintaining a sound 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 3400 Stone Way North (between 35th and 34th streets) since March, Fiasco offers such Italian fare as bruschetta, ciabatta sandwiches and pizza. The menu also offers pasta dishes like the basil pesto fusilli with sun-dried tomato, kalamata olive, pine nuts and vegan parmesan.
Craving dessert? Dig into tiramisu, affogato or gelato in flavors like chocolate, vanilla or mojito.
Fiasco is open from 11 a.m.–10 p.m. on Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.–11 p.m. on Friday, 9 a.m.–11 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m.–9 p.m. on Sunday.
Agave Cocina & Tequila
West Seattle's Agave Cocina & Tequila is also making waves. Open since May at 4725 42nd Ave. SW (between Alaska and Edmunds streets), the cocktail bar and Mexican spot has seen a 27.7% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1.6% for all businesses tagged "Mexican" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis, Agave Cocina & Tequila's review count increased by more than 130%.
There's more than one hot spot trending in Seattle's Mexican category: Blue Water Taco Grill has seen a 4% increase in reviews.
Agave Cocina & Tequila offers Mexican-inspired quick bites, including tacos with fried artichokes, short ribs, carnitas or chicken tinga. It also offer traditional fare like the agave burrito, which comes with bell peppers, caramelized onions, black beans, rice, guacamole, cheese, cascabel salsa and a choice of meat.
The taqueria also serves draft beer and a variety of margaritas and mezcal cocktails.
Agave Cocina & Tequila is open from 11 a.m.–10 p.m. on Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.–midnight on Friday, 10 a.m.–midnight on Saturday and 10 a.m.–10 p.m. on Sunday.
Arriba Cantina
Ravenna's Arriba Cantina is the city's buzziest bar by the numbers.
The bar and Mexican spot, which opened at 2316 N.E. 65th St., Suite 101 (between North 24th and North 23rd avenues) in March, increased its new review count by 16.4% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 1.3% for the Yelp category "Bars." It outperformed the previous month by gaining 2.5 times more reviews than expected based on past performance.
Stop by Arriba Cantina to nosh on queso fundido or a chorizo quesadilla, before digging into shrimp ceviche, poblano and onion tamales or octopus tacos. The eatery also offers a brunch menu on weekends from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Arriba Cantina is open from 4 p.m.–10 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m.–10 p.m. on weekends.
Broadfork Cafe
Queen Anne's Broadfork Cafe has been getting a lot more foot traffic lately.
While Broadfork Cafe stayed in line with the median 2% increase in new reviews for businesses categorized as "Sandwiches" on Yelp over the past month, visits to Broadfork Cafe increased by more than 50%, according to SafeGraph's foot traffic data.
Open for business at 111 Queen Anne Ave. North, Suite 102 (between North Warren Avenue and John Street) since 2018, Broadfork Cafe offers a variety of sandwiches, with options like an artichoke melt, a vegan grilled cheese, a barbecue pulled jackfruit and a veggie burger. Smoothies in flavors like chocolate peanut butter, strawberry banana and blueberry matcha are also available.
Broadfork Cafe is open from 7 a.m.–8 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. on Saturday. (It's closed on Sunday.) According to SafeGraph, people visit Broadfork Cafe most on Saturdays and Tuesdays, and it attracts a quarter of its total visitors over those two days, with a slowdown on Mondays.
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.
