Wondering where Austin's insiders are 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 to discover which restaurants have been seeing especially high review volumes this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at Austin 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 worth exploring, right now.
The Breakfast Bar
Open since November, this breakfast and brunch spot is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp.
Citywide, breakfast and brunch spots saw a median 1.4% increase in new reviews over the past month. The Breakfast Bar only recently appeared on Yelp, but while many new businesses struggle to gain reviews, it has seen strong initial popularity.
What's the business known for? "Our specialty is Lollipop chicken and waffles. We use a sweet cream pancake recipe that’s fluffy on the inside but crispy around the edges" — that's according to its Yelp page.
It's not the only trending outlier in the breakfast and brunch category: Torchy's Tacos has seen an 8.5% increase in reviews, and Nervous Charlie's and Bird Bird Biscuit have seen 6.6 and 6.5% increases, respectively.
Located at 13717 Mopac Service Road, The Breakfast Bar offers southern breakfast dishes like jalapeño biscuits and sausage gravy, shrimp and grits and pork chops and eggs. It also offers specialty cocktails like fruit-infused mimosas and White Claw Italian sodas.
The Breakfast Bar is open from 8 a.m.–2 p.m. daily.
Salt Traders Coastal Cooking
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Barton Hills's Salt Traders Coastal Cooking, the wine bar and New American spot, which offers seafood and more, 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, Salt Traders Coastal Cooking bagged a 50% increase in new reviews within that time frame, maintaining a strong 4.5-star rating.
There's more that's trending on Austin's New American scene: Rosedale Kitchen and Bar has seen a 19.4% increase in reviews, and Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille and Caroline have seen 17.4 and 4.7% increases, respectively.
Open at 1101 S. MoPac Expressway since January, Salt Traders Coastal Cooking Zilker offers oysters, chowder fries, fish tacos, lobster rolls and enchiladas. Cocktails, beer and wine are also on offer.
Salt Traders Coastal Cooking is open from 11 a.m.–10 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, 11 a.m.–11 p.m. on Wednesday and 11 a.m.–10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Oak Sports Bar & Grill
Dawson's Oak Sports Bar & Grill is also making waves. Open since February at 3715 S. First St., the sports bar and traditional American spot has seen a 35.5% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1.3% for all businesses tagged "American (Traditional)" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis Oak Sports Bar & Grill's review count increased by more than 1,100%.
There's more than one hot spot trending in Austin's traditional American category: SPIN Austin has seen a 7.6% increase in reviews, and Anthem and TLC Austin have seen 6.9 and 5.4% increases, respectively.
Besides burgers, this new business also offers boneless wings, fried pickles and desserts like the Darryl Strawberry Shortcake with powdered sugar. Over the past month, it's seen its Yelp rating improve from three stars to 3.5 stars.
Oak Sports Bar & Grill is open from 4 p.m.–midnight on Monday and Tuesday, 11 a.m.–midnight on Wednesday-Friday and Sunday and 11 a.m.–1 a.m. on Saturday.
Nixta Taqueria
Chestnut's Nixta Taqueria is the city's buzziest Mexican spot by the numbers.
The Mexican spot, which opened at 2512 E. 12th St. in October, is still relatively new to Yelp but has seen a surge of new reviews. Meanwhile, the median new review count for the Yelp category "Mexican" was up 1.5% over the past month.
It's not the only trending outlier in the Mexican category: Comedor has seen a 12.2% increase in reviews.
Nixta Taqueria offers tacos and tostadas made of blue corn from Oaxaca and white masa sourced from Barton Springs Mill. They come filled with ingredients like duck carnitas, roasted sweet potatoes and vegan options like the butternut squash and beet tartare. It also has a variety of paletas and aquas frescas.
Nixta Taqueria is open from 11 a.m.–2 p.m. and 5–9 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m.–10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m.–3 p.m. on Sunday. (It's closed on Monday and Thursday.)
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.
