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 and SafeGraph, a dataset of commercial points of interest and their visitor patterns, to deduce which restaurants have been getting a notable uptick in attention this month.
To find out who made the list, we first looked at Atlanta 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 have the momentum heading into the end of the year.
Fin & Feathers
This breakfast and brunch and traditional American spot, which offers soul food and more, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp.
Citywide, breakfast and brunch spots saw a median 1.6% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Fin & Feathers saw a 65.2% increase, with a slight upward trend from a four-star rating a month ago to 4.5 stars today.
It's not the only trending outlier in the breakfast and brunch category: Local Green Atlanta has seen an 8.1% increase in reviews.
Located at 360 Edgewood Ave. SE in Sweet Auburn, Fin & Feathers offers catfish, honey bourbon salmon and a slew of breakfast options.
Velvet Taco
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Velvet Taco, the New American and breakfast and brunch spot, which offers tacos and more, is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "American (New)" on Yelp saw a median 1.2% increase in new reviews over the past month, Velvet Taco bagged a 30.9% increase in new reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a healthy four-star rating.
There's more that's trending on Atlanta's New American scene: Boxcar has seen a 9.3% increase in reviews, and Howell's Kitchen and Bar and endive Publik house have seen 3.2% and 1.2% increases, respectively.
Open at 77 W. Paces Ferry Road NW, Suite #35A, Velvet Taco offers more than 20 types of tacos, as well as red curry coconut queso, elote corn and tater tots topped with herb goat cheese, smoked cheddar, avocado cream, chile butter, peppered bacon and microgreens.
Grand Lux Cafe
Grand Lux Cafe is also making waves. Open since at 3500 Peachtree Road NE, Suite #2093, the popular traditional American spot, which offers desserts and pizza, has seen a 6.2% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1.5% for all businesses tagged "American (Traditional)" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis, Grand Lux Cafe's review count increased by more than 260%.
Grand Lux Cafe offers pot roast cheese fries, crispy caramel chicken, garlic shrimp pasta and more. Over the past month, it's maintained a mixed 3.5-star rating among Yelpers.
Pin & Proper
Grant Park's Pin & Proper is the city's buzziest bar by the numbers.
The bar and traditional American and bowling spot, which opened at 1039 Grant St. SE, D10, in 2018, increased its new review count by 5.6% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 1.2% for the Yelp category "Bars." According to SafeGraph foot traffic data, Pin & Proper saw visits double over the past month.
With 3.5 stars on Yelp, Pin & Proper offers sharable snacks like fried pickles, pretzel bites and peach barbecue wings. The menu also features flatbreads, sandwiches and salads.
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.
