Trend Alert: What's Heating Up Sacramento's Food Scene This Month

Want the scoop on Sacramento's most happening local hotspots this summer?

We took a data-driven look at the question, using Yelp to uncover which restaurants have been getting a noteworthy uptick in attention this month.

To find out who made the list, we looked at Sacramento 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.

Read on to see which spots are riding a wave of attention right now.

Burgerim

Just open in June, the North Natomas location of fast-food chain Burgerim is trending compared to other businesses categorized as "traditional American" on Yelp. It is part of a rapid expansion in the United States by the Israel-based chain this year.

Located at 2731 Del Paso Road, Suite 110, Burgerim offers customizable slider-sized burgers served in ones, twos, threes or boxes of sixteen.

Citywide, similar burger-and-fries spots saw review counts increase by a median of 2.2 percent over the past month, but Burgerim saw a 51.2 percent increase, maintaining a mixed 3.5-star rating throughout.

It's not the only trending outlier in the traditional American category, however: Orange Oven, a local burger and milkshake stand that recently opened in the former space of Orange Freeze, has seen a 25 percent increase in reviews.

Echo & Rig

Whether or not you've been hearing buzz about the upscale new Downtown steakhouse Echo & Rig, the bar and brunch spot is a hot topic according to Yelp review data, even rating coverage from the Sacramento Bee on July 20.

While businesses categorized as "breakfast and brunch" on Yelp increased their review count by a median of 2.6 percent over the past month, Echo & Rig bagged a 29.1 percent increase in reviews within that timeframe, maintaining a positive four-star rating.

Open at 500 NW J St. inside the Kimpton Sawyer hotel since early April, Echo & Rig's brunch fare includes bottomless mimosas and lemon ricotta blueberry pancakes.

There's more than one brunch-serving bar trending on Sacramento's weekend scene, though: University Village Mexican destination Zocalo has seen a 15.4 percent increase in reviews.

Rockin' Crawfish

Recently, Stockton Blvd.'s Rockin' Crawfish is the city's most-reviewed seafood spot by the numbers.

Due to a dispute with another local business, the Cajun-Asian spot, which has offered seafood and more since opening in April, saw its review count increase by 36.4 percent over the past month. A majority of the new reviews were either one-star reviews critical of the business or five-star reviews from its supporters.

Yelp is now monitoring the Rockin' Crawfish page for reviews motivated by news events and has removed many of the offending reviews. Rockin' Crawfish offers crawfish and other seafood by the pound, boiled and tossed with sauce, as well as sides like garlic noodles and fried calamari.

Mas Taco Bar

The R Street Corridor's well-established Asian-Mexican fusion restaurant Mas Taco Bar is currently on the upswing in the bar category on Yelp.

While businesses categorized as "bars" on Yelp increased review counts by an average of 3 percent over the past month, Mas Taco, which offers tacos, cocktails, a special weekend brunch menu and more, increased its reviews by 17.2 percent — and kept its rating consistent at four stars.

Open for business at 1800 15th St., Suite D since March, the taco bar offers an extensive selection of fusion tacos like Korean barbecue and shrimp banh mi, to accompany cocktails like the watermelon basil margarita.