Unsure where New York City'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 to uncover which eateries have been seeing especially high review volumes this month.
To find out who made the list, we looked at New York City 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 on a hot streak this winter.
Näna Good Eats
First, this Middle Eastern spot, which opened in November 2019, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Middle Eastern" on Yelp.
Citywide, Middle Eastern spots saw a median 1.3% increase in new reviews over the past month. Näna Good Eats only recently appeared on Yelp, but while many new businesses struggle to gain reviews, it has seen strong initial popularity.
Located at 152-67A 10th Ave. in Whitestone, Näna Good Eats serves up platters and pita sandwiches featuring proteins like chicken shawarma and beef kebab, as well as veggie-friendly options like falafel and mushroom-based "shawarma." The fast-casual kosher eatery also offers a wide assortment of salads and dips, which are sold by the half pound.
Chikarashi Isso
Next, the Financial District location of Chikarashi Isso, the local restaurant's third outpost, is also making waves. Open since December at 38 Rector St., the elevated Japanese restaurant is relatively new to Yelp but has seen a surge of new reviews, while all businesses tagged "Japanese" on Yelp saw an increase of 1.6% for new reviews in the past month.
Opened by chef Michael Jong Lim, Chikarashi Isso offers guests a Japanese kappo-style dining experience, emphasizing small plates, shareables and yakitori skewers (an eight-course chef's tasting menu is available for $145 per person). Over the past month, it's seen its Yelp rating improve from 2.5 stars to four stars.
Chikarashi Isso is open from 5–11 p.m. on Monday-Saturday. (It's closed on Sunday.)
Essex Pearl
And finally, the Lower East Side's Essex Pearl is the city's buzziest seafood spot by the numbers.
The seafood market and restaurant, which opened on the first floor of food hall The Market Line at 115 Delancey St. in November, is still relatively new to Yelp but has seen a surge of new reviews. Meanwhile, the median new review count for the Yelp category "Seafood" was up 1.6% over the past month.
It's not the only trending outlier in the seafood category: the East Village location of Boilery has seen an 80% increase in reviews.
In addition to selling fresh seafood at its fishmonger counter, Essex Pearl offers a full menu of small and large plates, as well as a la carte shellfish from its raw bar. Stop by for jerk monkfish skewers, shrimp fritters, mussels, branzino for two and lobster, which is served with a black bean brown butter sauce. Essex Pearl also offers weekend brunch, featuring dishes like Malaysian shrimp and grits, New England clam chowder, and biscuits and crab gravy.
Essex Pearl is open for dinner from 5–10 p.m. on Monday-Saturday and 5–9 p.m. on Sunday, with to-go lunch service from noon–4 p.m on Monday-Saturday and weekend brunch from 11 a.m.–3:30 p.m. Its seafood counter is open from 11 a.m.–7 p.m. on Monday-Saturday and 11 a.m.–6 p.m. on 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.
