As fans of cronuts and cake pops can attest, food trends come and go. So how can you tell which tastes are trending right this minute?
We took a data-driven look at the question, using Yelp to analyze which eateries have been seeing especially high review volumes this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at San Jose 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 sizzling hot this autumn.
Growler USA
Open since September 2019, this pub and traditional American spot, which offers chicken wings and more, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "American (Traditional)" on Yelp.
Citywide, traditional American spots saw a median 1% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Growler USA - San Jose saw a striking 268.8% increase, with a slight downward trend from a four-star rating a month ago to 3.5 stars today.
It's not the only trending outlier in the traditional American category: Cafe Rosalena has seen a 0.5% increase in reviews.
Located at 787 The Alameda, Suite 10 in downtown San Jose, Growler USA - San Jose offers burgers, beers, cheesesteaks and ciders.
Growler USA is open from 11 a.m.–11 p.m. on Monday-Saturday and 10 a.m.–10 p.m. on Sunday.
The Penny Cafe at Five Points
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about downtown San Jose's The Penny Cafe at Five Points, the coffee and tea spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Coffee & Tea" on Yelp saw a median 2.3% increase in new reviews over the past month, The Penny Cafe at Five Points bagged a considerable 175% increase in new reviews within that time frame, maintaining an excellent five-star rating. It significantly outperformed the previous month by gaining 4.7 times more reviews than expected based on its past performance.
There's more that's trending on San Jose's coffee and tea scene: Voyager Craft Coffee has seen a 30.4% increase in reviews, and 7 Leaves Cafe and Lucky Tea have seen 15.6 and 11.1% increases, respectively.
Open at 169 W. Santa Clara St. since February 2019, The Penny Cafe at Five Points offers coffee, bagels, doughnuts and teas.
The Penny Cafe at Five Points is open from 7 a.m.–4 p.m. on weekdays. (It's closed on weekends.)
SomiSomi
The Rose Garden's SomiSomi is also making waves. Open since 2016 at 2855 Stevens Creek Blvd., the Korean spot, which offers desserts and ice cream and frozen yogurt, has seen a 53.3% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1.7% for all businesses tagged "Korean" on Yelp.
SomiSomi offers soft-serve ice cream in fish-shaped waffle cones. Over the past month, it's seen its Yelp rating tick down from four stars to 3.5 stars.
Nabi Q
East San Jose's Nabi Q is the city's buzziest seafood spot by the numbers.
The Korean spot, which offers barbecue and seafood and opened at 1780 Story Road, Suite 20 in August 2019, increased its new review count by 12% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 1.1% for the Yelp category "Seafood." It outperformed the previous month by gaining 2.8 times more reviews than expected based on past performance.
It's not the only trending outlier in the seafood category: Eat Eat Crawfish has seen a 7.3% increase in reviews, and Mariscos Costa Alegre has seen a 6.9% bump.
Nabi Q offers basil chicken, shrimp, noodle soups and salmon.
Nabi Q is open from 11 a.m.–9 p.m. on Monday-Saturday and 11 a.m.–8 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.
