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 analyze which restaurants have been most discussed this month.
To find out who made the list, we first looked at Seattle 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 riding a trend, right now.
Cafe Opla
Open since 2017, this popular cafe and breakfast and brunch spot, which offers coffee, tea and more, is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp.
Citywide, breakfast and brunch spots saw a median 1% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Cafe Opla saw a 5.7% increase, maintaining a strong 4.5-star rating throughout. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis Cafe Opla's review count increased by more than 330%.
Located at 2200 Alaskan Way, Suite 120 in Belltown, Cafe Opla offers breakfast sandwiches and opla egg skillets, as well as espresso drinks, Vietnamese iced coffee and kombucha.
Cafe Opla is open from 7 a.m.–2:30 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m.–2 p.m. on weekends.
The Shambles
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Roosevelt's The Shambles, the popular beer bar 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 Shambles bagged a 3.5% increase in new reviews within that time frame, maintaining a superior 4.5-star rating. According to SafeGraph foot traffic data, The Shambles saw visits more than double in the past month.
Open at 7777 15th Ave. NE (between 80th and 77th streets) since January 2018, The Shambles offers charcuterie boards, steak tartare, hot corned beef Reuben sandwiches, barbecue duck sandwiches, house-made jerky and more.
The Shambles is open from noon–9 p.m. on Monday-Thursday, noon–10 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m.–9 p.m. on Sunday. According to SafeGraph, it's usually busiest at 6 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., and people visit The Shambles most on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with a slowdown on Mondays.
Old Stove Brewing
Pike Market's Old Stove Brewing is also making waves. Open since January 2018 at 1901 Western Ave., Suite A (between Pike Place and Virginia Street), the well-established brew pub, which offers seafood, burgers and more, has seen a 3.8% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 0.9% for all businesses tagged "Seafood" on Yelp.
There's more than one hot spot trending in Seattle's seafood category: Staple & Fancy has seen a 0.3% increase in reviews.
Old Stove Brewing offers seafood options like crab and salmon artichoke dip, clam and bacon chowder and fish and chips. Over the past month, it's maintained a sound four-star rating among Yelpers.
Old Stove Brewing is open from 11 a.m.–10 p.m. on Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.–11 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m.–11 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m.–10 p.m. on Sunday.
Menya Musashi Tsukemen & Ramen
Capitol Hill's Menya Musashi Tsukemen & Ramen is the city's buzziest noodle spot by the numbers.
The well-established spot to score ramen and noodles, which opened at 1510 Belmont Ave. (between Pike and Pine streets) in November 2018, increased its new review count by 6.3% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 1.6% for the Yelp category "Noodles." It outperformed the previous month by gaining 1.8 times more reviews than expected based on past performance.
It's not the only trending outlier in the noodle category: Thaiger Room has seen a 0.3% increase in reviews, and Momosan Ramen & Sake has seen a 7.4% bump.
Menya Musashi Tsukemen & Ramen offers a variety of ramen dishes, as well as pork katsu, edamame and veggie gyoza.
Menya Musashi Tsukemen & Ramen is open from 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m. on Monday-Saturday and 11:30 a.m.–9 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.
