Curious where Seattle'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 discover which local businesses have been on the tips of diners' tongues 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 extra cool this spring.
Rondo
Open since January, this sushi bar and izakaya is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "Sushi Bars" on Yelp.
Citywide, sushi bars saw a median 1% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Rondo saw a 78.8% increase, maintaining a superior four-star rating throughout.
It's not the only trending outlier in the sushi bar category: Bamboo Sushi has seen a 17.8% increase in reviews, and Taneda Sushi in Kaiseki and Ten Sushi have seen 8.1 and 1% increases, respectively.
Located at 224 Broadway East (between Olive Way and Thomas Street) in Capitol Hill, Rondo offers a variety of ramen, miso and donburi, as well as matcha and yuzu ice cream.
Rondo is open from 11:30 a.m.–9:30 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. (It's closed on Tuesday.)
Radiator Whiskey
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about Pike Market's Radiator Whiskey, the well-established cocktail bar and New American spot has seen a major increase in foot traffic recently.
While Radiator Whiskey stayed on par with the median 1.1% increase in new reviews businesses categorized as "American (New)" on Yelp over the past month, maintaining a solid 4.5-star rating, the number of visitors to Radiator Whiskey more than tripled over the same time frame, according to SafeGraph's foot traffic data.
There's more that's trending on Seattle's New American scene: The Shambles has seen a 3.5% increase in reviews.
Open at 94 Pike St., Suite 30 (between Post Alley and First Avenue) since 2013, Radiator Whiskey offers hushpuppies, country fried oysters, smoked pork belly, braised beef brisket, andouille sausage mac and cheese and more on the menu.
Radiator Whiskey is open from 4 p.m.–midnight on Monday-Saturday. (It's closed on Sunday.) According to SafeGraph, if you’re planning your visit, you may want to try its slower periods on Mondays.
Patagon
Central Business District's Patagon is also making waves. Open since August 2018 at 1610 Second Ave. (between Stewart and Pine streets), the Argentine and breakfast and brunch spot, which offers desserts and more, has seen a 12.9% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 1% for all businesses tagged "Breakfast & Brunch" on Yelp. Moreover, on a month-to-month basis Patagon's review count increased by more than 160%.
Patagon offers an assortment of breakfast items, including salmon Benedict, French toast, three-egg omelets, avocado toast, smoked lamb hash and more. Over the past month, it's seen its Yelp rating tick down from four stars to 3.5 stars.
Patagon is open from 6:30 a.m.–10 p.m. daily.
CÔBA
Queen Anne's well-established CÔBA is currently on the upswing in the seafood category on Yelp.
While businesses categorized as "Seafood" on Yelp saw a median 0.9% increase in new reviews over the past month, this bar and Vietnamese spot, which offers seafood and more, increased its new reviews by 4.9% — and kept its rating consistent at four stars. Review counts increased by more than 220% on a month-to-month basis.
There's more abuzz in the world of Seattle seafood: Rider has seen a 4% increase in reviews, and Old Stove Brewing and Staple & Fancy have seen 3.8 and 0.3% increases, respectively.
Open for business at 530 First Ave. North (between Republican and Mercer streets) since 2017, CÔBA offers spicy kimchi calamari, Dungeness crab rangoon, papaya prawn salad, seafood pho and more.
CÔBA is open from 11 a.m.–10 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday and 11 a.m.–11 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.
