Upscale Thai To Eggplant Parm: What's Trending On San Francisco's Food Scene
BY HOODLINE
Citywide
Want the scoop on San Francisco's buzziest local eateries?
We took a data-driven look at the question, using Yelp to discover which eateries have been on the tips of SF diners' tongues this month.
To find out who made the list, we 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.
Read on to see which spots are trending as we transition into the fall.
Great Gold
Open since August, hip Italian eatery Great Gold is trending compared to other San Francisco businesses categorized as "Italian" on Yelp.
Citywide, Italian spots saw a median 0.8% increase in new reviews over the past month, but Great Gold saw a staggering 192.3% increase, with a slight downward trend from a 4.5-star rating a month ago to four stars today.
It's not the only trending outlier in the Italian category: the new Polk Street outpost of Fiorella has seen a 20.3% increase in reviews.
Located at 3161 24th St. (between Shotwell Street and Van Ness Avenue) in the Mission, Great Gold serves up Italian-American comfort food. Check out the chicken and eggplant parm, housemade ravioli and the vegan Impossible meatballs. Beer and wine are also available.
Great Gold is open from 6–10 p.m. Monday–Saturday and 6–9 p.m. on Sunday.
Nari
Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about the Western Addition's Nari, the Thai spot is a hot topic, according to Yelp review data.
While businesses categorized as "Thai" on Yelp saw a median 1.2% increase in new reviews over the past month, Nari bagged a staggering 400% increase in new reviews within that time frame, with a slight downward trend from a 4.5-star rating a month ago to its current four stars.
Open in Japantown's Hotel Kabuki (1625 Post St.) since August, this upscale Thai restaurant comes from the team behind the Tenderloin's Michelin-starred Kin Khao.
At Nari, diners can expect to find refined Thai dishes, like fried veal sweetbreads, oysters with pineapple mignonette, chicken and bamboo shoot curry, lamb and nectarine curry and more. The drink list features nearly 30 signature cocktails, including alcohol-free creations.
Nari is open from 5:30–10 p.m. daily.
80 90 Friendship Restaurant & Bar
The Outer Richmond's 80 90 Friendship Restaurant & Bar is also making waves. Open since July at 2428 Clement St. (between 25th and 26th avenues), the Cantonese-Vietnamese fusion eatery and bar has seen a 78.6% bump in new reviews over the last month, compared to a median review increase of 0.9% for all businesses tagged "Bars" on Yelp.
80 90 Friendship offers guests a casual setting in which to enjoy skewers, spring rolls, curries and more, while sipping on wine, beer, sake and soju cocktails. Over the past month, it's seen its Yelp rating improve from four stars to 4.5 stars.
80 90 is open from 5 p.m.–midnight daily.
Churn Urban Creamery
After getting its start in the Sunset, Churn Urban Creamery recently opened its first brick-and-mortar location in Portola. It's now the city's buzziest ice cream spot, by the numbers.
Open at 2646 San Bruno Ave. (between Burrows and Bacon streets) since July, Churn increased its new review count by 75% over the past month, an outlier when compared to the median new review count of 1.3% for the Yelp category "Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt."
Churn offers organic ice cream, with a focus on non-dairy varieties and fresh ingredients sourced from the owner's backyard farm. Stop in for scoops of flavors like baklava, peach cobbler and praline bacon. Vegan flavors include matcha stracciatella and chai chocolate cardamom.
The new shop is open from noon–7 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday and noon–8 p.m. on Friday–Sunday. (It's closed on Monday and Tuesday.)
