Wondering where San Francisco'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 most discussed 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 worth exploring this spring.
Matcha Cafe Maiko
Open since December, this Chinatown outpost of the ice cream chain is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Desserts" on Yelp.
Citywide, dessert spots saw a median 0.8% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Matcha Cafe Maiko, which specializes in Japanese-inspired treats and desserts, saw a 73.1% increase, maintaining a convincing 4.5-star rating throughout.
Interested to know more? "Matcha Cafe Maiko serves premium Uji matcha from Kyoto's Harima Garden. Our homemade menu offers a variety of floats, frappes, lattes, parfaits and our award-winning soft serve ice cream served in our freshly made waffle cones. Besides matcha products, we also serve certain items with different flavors such as vanilla, kokuto (brown sugar) and hojicha (roasted green tea)" — that's according to its Yelp page.
Located at 754 Grant Ave. (at the corner of Clay Street), this is the third SF location of the Hawaii-based franchise (its other locations can be found in Japantown and Stonestown Galleria).
Chinatown's Matcha Cafe Maiko is open from 11 a.m.–7 p.m. on Sunday-Thursday and 11 a.m.–9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Beit Rima
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Cole Valley's Beit Rima, the "Arabic comfort food" spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Mediterranean" on Yelp saw a median 1.1% increase in new reviews over the past month, Beit Rima bagged a 52.6% increase in new reviews within that time frame, maintaining a solid four-star rating.
There's more that's trending on San Francisco's Mediterranean scene: Yasmin has seen a 24.4% increase in reviews.
Open since November in an old Burgermeister space at 86 Carl St. (near Cole Street), Beit Rima serves up mezze (dips and hors d'oeuvres with pita) and platters of falafel, beef kebab, braised lamb shank and more.
The new restaurant, the second in the Beit Rima family, comes from Samir Mogannam, son of Burgermeister's founder, who acquired the burger chain's storefronts from his father and has been converting them into counter-service Mediterranean eateries. The first Beit Rima opened in the old Duboce Triangle Burgermeister space in early 2019 and was named among the best new San Francisco restaurants of 2019 by Eater SF and other outlets.
Beit Rima is open for lunch and dinner every day except Tuesday.
Gentilly
Mission Terrace's Gentilly is also making waves. Open since November at 4826 Mission St. (near Onondaga Avenue), the New Orleans-style bar and restaurant has seen a 21.3% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1% for all businesses tagged "American (New)" on Yelp.
What does this business focus on? "Gentilly is the gastro-lovechild of San Francisco and New Orleans, with expertly crafted vintage and original cocktails, authentic Cajun cuisine and a luxurious yet laid-back atmosphere" — that's courtesy of its Yelp page.
Gentilly offers a full menu of elevated Southern fare, such as crab fritters with remoulade, po' boys, gumbo with Cajun shrimp, maple-glazed fried chicken and brunch eats like veggie-friendly biscuits and gravy. Over the past month, it's maintained a healthy 4.5-star rating among Yelpers.
Gentilly is open from 4 p.m.–midnight on weekdays and 11 a.m.–midnight on weekends.
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.
