Want the inside word on Seattle's buzziest local spots?
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 eateries 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 worth exploring this winter.
Rupee Bar
Open since October, this bar and Sri Lankan spot is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Bars" on Yelp.
Citywide, bars saw a median 1.2% increase in new reviews over the past month. Rupee Bar only recently appeared on Yelp, but while many new businesses struggle to gain reviews, it has seen strong initial popularity.
It's not the only trending outlier in the bar category: Zane + Wylie's Seattle Steakhouse has seen an 8.9% increase in reviews.
Located at 6307 24th Ave. NW (between 63rd and 64th streets) in Ballard, Rupee Bar offers curries, ribs, prawns, eggplant dishes, Thali salad with chickpeas and more.
Rupee Bar is open from 4 p.m.–10 p.m. on Tuesday-Saturday and 4 p.m.–9 p.m. on Sunday. (It's closed on Monday.)
Mecca Cafe
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Queen Anne's Mecca Cafe, the well-established dive bar and traditional American breakfast and brunch spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp saw a median 1.1% increase in new reviews over the past month, Mecca Cafe bagged a 2.1% increase in new reviews within that time frame, maintaining a strong four-star rating. It significantly outperformed the previous month by gaining 1.8 times more reviews than expected based on its past performance.
There's more that's trending on Seattle's breakfast and brunch scene: Watson's Counter has seen a 10.3% increase in reviews, and Cafe Opla has seen a 1.8% bump.
Open at 526 Queen Anne Ave. North (between Republican and Mercer streets) since 1929, Mecca Cafe offers custard French toast, chicken and biscuits, three-egg omelets, salmon eggs Benedict, huevos rancheros and more.
Mecca Cafe is open from 6 a.m.–2 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday and 6 a.m.–4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Kokkaku
Wallingford's Kokkaku is also making waves. Open since August 2017 at 2208 N. 45th St. (between North Corliss and North Bagley avenues), the steakhouse and New American and Japanese spot has seen a 7.8% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1% for all businesses tagged "American (New)" on Yelp.
Kokkaku offers wagyu steak, sashimi, roasted duck leg, seared scallop risotto and more. Over the past month, it's maintained a convincing four-star rating among Yelpers.
Kokkaku is open from 4:30 p.m.–10 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 4:30 p.m.–9 p.m. on Sunday. (It's closed on Tuesday.)
Eden Hill Restaurant
Queen Anne's Eden Hill Restaurant is the city's buzziest seafood spot by the numbers.
The bar and New American spot, which offers seafood and more and opened at 2209 Queen Anne Ave. North (between Mc Graw and Boston streets) in 2015, increased its new review count by 1% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 0.9% for the Yelp category "Seafood." As for foot traffic, visits to Eden Hill Restaurant increased by more than 50% over the past month, according to SafeGraph data.
Eden Hill Restaurant offers seafood dishes like oysters, black cod mousse, smoked crab rice, halibut and more.
Eden Hill Restaurant is open from 5 p.m.–10 p.m. on Thursday-Sunday. (It's closed on Monday-Wednesday.) According to SafeGraph, with a slowdown on Sundays.
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.
