Curious where San Antonio'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 discover which local businesses have been getting outsized attention this month.
To find out who made the list, we first looked at San Antonio 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 establishments are getting heaps of attention, right now.
Comfort Cafe
Open since May, this non-profit restaurant, which serves breakfast, brunch, comfort food and more, is trending, in comparison to other businesses categorized as "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp.
Citywide, breakfast and brunch eateries saw a median 2.2% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Comfort Cafe saw an impressive 109.1% increase, maintaining a sterling five-star rating throughout. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis, Comfort Cafe's review count increased by more than 300%.
It's not the only trending outlier in the breakfast and brunch category: Alamo Biscuit Co. & Panaderia has seen a 14.4% increase in reviews, and Aldaco's Stone Oak and La Panaderia have seen 1.7 and 2.4% increases, respectively.
Located at 5616 Bandera Road, Comfort Cafe is known for classic morning dishes such as poached eggs, crepes, huevos rancheros, eggs Benedict with salmon, French toast and coffee beverages.
Comfort Cafe is open from 8 a.m.–3 p.m. on Friday-Sunday. (It's closed on Monday-Thursday.)
The Good Kind
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about King William's The Good Kind, the cafe and bar is a hot topic, according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Bars" on Yelp saw a median 1.6% increase in new reviews over the past month, The Good Kind bagged a 30.8% increase in new reviews within that time frame, maintaining a superior four-star rating. It significantly outperformed the previous month by gaining 1.7 times more reviews than expected, based on its past performance.
First established in 2017 and open at 1127 S. St. Mary's St., The Good Kind offers a variety of menu items that are available for dine-in or take-out, ranging from gluten-free macaroni and cheese, a warm meatball sandwich, nachos and Asian-style sticky wings to tomato basil soup, a veggie burger and assorted salads.
The Good Kind is open from 11 a.m.–9 p.m. on Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.–10 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m.–8 p.m. on Sunday.
Pluckers Wing Bar
Pluckers Wing Bar is also making waves. Open at 15651 I-10 West, the well-established traditional American sports bar chain, which serves chicken wings and more, has seen a 31.1% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 2.4% for all businesses tagged "American (Traditional)" on Yelp.
There's more than one hot spot trending in San Antonio's traditional American category: Mr. C’s Fried Chicken & Waffles has seen a 7.2% increase in reviews.
Pluckers Wing Bar specializes in quintessential American gastropub fare. Besides chicken wings, noteworthy items to look for on the menu include a Southwest Caesar salad, fried Oreos, a grilled cheese sandwich, stuffed jalapeños and a sizable list of hamburger options. Over the past month, it's seen its Yelp rating improve from three stars to 3.5 stars.
Pluckers Wing Bar is open from 11 a.m.–midnight daily.
Beto's Alt-Mex
The well-established Beto's Alt-Mex has seen a major increase in foot traffic recently.
While Beto's Alt-Mex stayed in line with the median 2.6% increase in new reviews for businesses categorized as "Mexican" on Yelp over the past month, the business saw a 31% increase in visits, according to SafeGraph's foot traffic data.
Open for business at 8142 Broadway St., Beto's Alt-Mex offers its own unique interpretation of traditional Mexican plates, taking inspiration from Mexican street food and Latin culture. On the menu, anticipate items like creamy black bean soup, jicama salad, tacos al pastor, roasted street corn and a burger topped with poblano sauce.
Beto's Alt-Mex is open from 11 a.m.–9 p.m. on Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.–10 p.m. on Friday, 9 a.m.–10 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m.–9 p.m. on Sunday. According to SafeGraph, people tend to visit Beto's Alt-Mex on Fridays and Saturdays, and it attracts a quarter of its total visitors over those two days, with a slowdown on Wednesdays.
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.
