Want the intel on San Francisco's hottest food and beverage spots?
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 analyze which local F&B destinations have been on the tips of diners' tongues this month.
To find out who made the list, we first looked at San Francisco 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, right now.
Funny Library Coffee Shop
Open since early April, this cafe is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Coffee & Tea" on Yelp.
Citywide, coffee and tea spots saw a median 1.6% increase in new reviews over the past month. Funny Library Coffee Shop only recently appeared on Yelp, but while many new businesses struggle to gain reviews, it has seen strong initial popularity.
What does this business focus on? "The Funny Library Coffee Shop is a whimsical communal workspace that houses our most-prized possessions and funny books. The street-level café hosts a separate entrance convenient for foot traffic along the 4th Street corridor, as well as outdoor seating providing plenty of space for lounging, working and charging up. The Funny Library Coffee Shop pours coffee by Laughing Man Coffee and offers a grab-and-go station with gourmet pastries and healthy, fresh light-bites curated by executive chef Adrian Garcia, in partnership with local San Francisco bakery, Craftsmen & Wolves" — that's according to its Yelp page.
Located at 250 Fourth St. (in the Virgin Hotel between Clementina and Howard streets) in SoMa, Funny Library Coffee Shop is open 6 a.m.–6 p.m. daily.
Family Cafe
Russian Hill's Family Cafe is also making waves. Open since early October at 362 Columbus Ave. (between Vallejo Street and Grant Avenue), the restaurant is a relatively recent addition to Yelp, but has seen a surge of new reviews, while all businesses tagged "Japanese" on Yelp saw an increase of 1.2% for new reviews in the past month.
The eatery offers "Japanese comfort food for an international community," according to its page on Yelp. The menu features katsu sandos and curry dishes. Over the past month, it's maintained a sound 4.5-star rating among Yelpers.
Family Cafe is open from 11 a.m.–8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. (It's closed Sunday and Monday.)
Oji
The Western Addition's Oji is the city's buzziest ramen spot by the numbers.
The eatery, which opened at 1740 Buchanan St. (between Post and Sutter streets) in early October, is still relatively new to Yelp but has seen a surge in reviews. Meanwhile, the median new review count for the Yelp category "Ramen" was up 1.9% over the past month.
Oji's specialties include tonktsu, tori paitan and shio ramen, as well as such small plates as chicken karaage and edamame.
Oji is open from 5:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m. weekdays, 11:30 a.m.–9:30 p.m. Saturday and 11:30 a.m.–9 p.m. 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.
