Curious where Atlanta'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 data set of commercial points of interest and their visitor patterns, to deduce which restaurants have been getting a notable increase 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 are extra cool this autumn.
Le Colonial
This bar and Vietnamese and French spot is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Bars" on Yelp.
Citywide, bars saw a median 1.5% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Le Colonial saw a 42.3% increase, maintaining a convincing four-star rating throughout.
Located at 3035 Peachtree Road NE in Buckhead Village, Le Colonial offers crispy red snapper and roasted half duck as signature dishes.
Blackbird
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Downtown's Blackbird, the New American and French spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "American (New)" on Yelp saw a median 1.4% increase in new reviews over the past month, Blackbird bagged a 27.4% increase in new reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a superior four-star rating.
There's more that's trending on Atlanta's New American scene: Boxcar has seen an 11.8% increase in reviews, and The hive buckhead and Howell's Kitchen and Bar have seen 8.1% and 3.3% increases, respectively.
Open at 393 Marietta St. NW since March, Blackbird offers a mix of modern and classic dishes using ingredients sourced from local suppliers.
Highland Bakery Midtown
Highland Bakery Midtown is also making waves. Open at 1180 Peachtree St. NE, Suite C, the well-established breakfast and brunch spot, which offers coffee and tea and sandwiches, has seen a 1.3% increase in new reviews over the last month — matching that of all businesses tagged "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp — but it's seen a 50% increase in visits over the same timeframe, according to SafeGraph's foot traffic data.
Highland Bakery Midtown offer sweet potato pancakes, croissants, biscuits and more on the menu. Over the past month, it's maintained a mixed three-star rating among Yelpers.
Folk Art
Folk Art is the city's buzziest Southern spot by the numbers.
The well-established traditional American, breakfast and brunch and Southern spot, which opened at 465 N. Highland Ave. NE in 2013, increased its new review count by 2.6% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 1.3% for the Yelp category "Southern." It outperformed the previous month by gaining 2.9 times more reviews than expected based on past performance.
Folk Art offers sweet potato waffles, sweet potato pancakes and more.
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.
