As fans of cronuts and cake pops can attest, food trends come and go. So how can you tell which tastes are trending right now?
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 discover which restaurants 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.
Beyond Burma
Open since 2018, this spot is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Noodles" on Yelp.
Citywide, noodle spots saw a median 0.9% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Beyond Burma saw a 25.5% increase, with a slight downward trend from a 4.5-star rating a month ago to four stars today. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis, Beyond Burma's review count increased by more than 230%.
Located at 700 Post St. (at the corner of Post and Jones streets) in Lower Nob Hill, Beyond Burma serves up authentic Burmese noodle dishes and soups, such as Shan rice noodles with chicken, stir-fried noodles with peanut sauce and Burmese-style ramen with coconut curry broth. Menu items also include a full selection of poultry, beef, pork, seafood and veggie entrees, as well as starters like chicken satay and traditional tea leaf salad.
Beyond Burma is open daily from 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m. for lunch and from 5–10 p.m. for dinner.
One65 Bistro & Grill
Union Square's One65 Bistro & Grill is also making waves.
Located on the third floor of the multi-level One65 dining complex, which opened up at 165 O'Farrell St. last May, this bar and restaurant has seen a 15% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 0.8% for all businesses tagged "Bars" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis, One65 Bistro & Grill's review count increased by more than 240%.
Helmed by James Beard Award-winning chef Claude Le Tohic, One65 Bistro & Grill offers French-inspired small and large plates, in addition to beer, cocktails and wines from France and California. Over the past month, it's maintained a strong 4.5-star rating among Yelpers.
One65 Bistro & Grill is open from 11:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m. daily and from 5:30–9:30 p.m. on Monday-Saturday. (It's closed for dinner on Sunday.)
Sunset Cantina
The Outer Sunset's Sunset Cantina is the city's buzziest Mexican spot by the numbers.
The cantina, which opened at 3414-3416 Judah St. back in September, increased its new review count by 18.9% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 0.9% for the Yelp category "Mexican."
Sunset Cantina offers Mexican comfort food favorites like tacos, elotes and, on the weekends, chilaquiles. Thanks to a new program, Sunset Cantina also has a full liquor license, allowing it to serve tequila, mezcal, margaritas and more.
Sunset Cantina is open from 4 p.m.–midnight on Monday-Thursday, 4 p.m.–1:30 a.m. on Friday, 11 a.m.–1:30 a.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m.–midnight 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.
