Curious where Sacramento'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 dataset of commercial points of interest and their visitor patterns, to uncover which eateries have been getting a notable uptick in attention this month.
To find out who made the list, we first looked at Sacramento 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 have the momentum heading into springtime.
Orchid Thai Restaurant & Bar
Open since 2015, this popular bar and Thai and vegetarian spot is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Bars" on Yelp.
Citywide, bars saw a median 1.1% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Orchid Thai Restaurant & Bar saw a 1.5% increase, maintaining a mixed 3.5-star rating throughout. As for foot traffic, the number of visitors to Orchid Thai Restaurant & Bar more than tripled over the past month, according to SafeGraph data.
It's not the only trending outlier in the bar category: Kodaiko Ramen & Bar has seen a 14.7% increase in reviews, and Zocalo - University Village has seen a 4.1% bump.
Located at 1609 16th St. in Midtown, Orchid Thai Restaurant & Bar offers a variety of noodle and stir fry dishes, as well as curries with chicken, pork, beef, tofu or mixed vegetables. There's also a featured vegetarian menu.
Orchid Thai Restaurant & Bar is open from 11 a.m.–10 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday, 11 a.m.–11 p.m. on Thursday and 11 a.m.–1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. According to SafeGraph, foot traffic is heaviest at 6 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., and on Saturdays and Tuesdays, with a slowdown on Wednesdays.
The Morning Fork
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Midtown's The Morning Fork, the popular diner and breakfast and brunch and New American spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "American (New)" on Yelp saw a median 1.1% increase in new reviews over the past month, The Morning Fork bagged a 12.1% increase in new reviews within that time frame, maintaining a convincing 4.5-star rating.
There's more that's trending on Sacramento's New American scene: Camden Spit & Larder has seen a 6.7% increase in reviews.
Open at 1111 21st St. since June 2019, The Morning Fork offers a slew of breakfast eats, from corned beef hash to orange cranberry pancakes. A variety of sandwiches are also on offer, including the pulled pork banh mi with pickled vegetables, fresh herbs and jalapeno on a toasted baguette.
The Morning Fork is open from 7:30 a.m.–2 p.m. daily.
Fixins Soul Kitchen
North Oak Park's Fixins Soul Kitchen is also making waves. Open since August 2019 at 3428 Third Ave., the popular bar and breakfast and brunch spot, which offers soul food and more, has seen a 13.2% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1.2% for all businesses tagged "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp.
There's more than one hot spot trending in Sacramento's breakfast and brunch category: Woodlake Tavern has seen a 2.3% increase in reviews, and Huckleberry's has seen a 6.2% bump.
Fixins Soul Kitchen offers small bites like fried green tomatoes, pimento cheese dip and catfish nuggets, alongside smothered pork chop, fried chicken and shrimp and grits. There's also an all-day breakfast menu that features a pancake sandwich with two eggs and a choice of meat. Over the past month, it's maintained a strong 4.5-star rating among Yelpers.
Fixins Soul Kitchen is open from 8 a.m.–9 p.m. daily.
Rockin Crawfish
Rockin Crawfish is the city's buzziest seafood spot by the numbers.
The well-established Cajun/Creole spot, which offers seafood and more and opened at 6666 Stockton Blvd. in 2018, increased its new review count by 12.2% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 1.3% for the Yelp category "Seafood." It outperformed the previous month by gaining 2.1 times more reviews than expected based on past performance.
Rockin Crawfish offers a lineup of seafood, including shrimp, crawfish, crab, clams, oysters and more. For dessert, dig into deep-fried Oreos paired with ice cream.
Rockin Crawfish is open from noon–10 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday and noon–10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
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.
