Two weeks before Valentine’s Day, I pulled up 6:30 on the 14th on OpenTable and looked at every place with an “open table”, then gave the choice to my beloved.  Thrive was chosen.  Located on Marietta Street, right at the intersection with Spring, I’ve driven by it many times and never noticed.  I guess it all depends on what you’re looking for…

The decor reminded me so much of a restaurant that you would find in a hotel lobby  (wood, glass, sleek lines and smooth edges) that I looked on the way out to see if I had missed the hotel sign on the building.  Nope – just office space.  I’d say that the menu was broad, but it was much closer to eclectic, with a large selection of sushi.  They also had a special four course prix fixe menu for Valentine’s Day, but we avoided that as two of the courses had no appeal, whatsoever.

We started with Lime in the Coconut – a coconut shrimp sushi roll with spicy yuzu (an East Asian citrus), black tobiko (flying fish roe) and lime, served with wasabi and ginger.It was excellent.  Enough so that, at least twice, on the way home, I heard “that was really good sushi” from the passenger seat.  I started with the braised teriyaki short rib Bibb lettuce wraps which had just the right amount of kick in every bite.  They were absolutely delicious.  The Bibb lettuce was such an improvement over the iceberg lettuce that most wraps come with, I don’t know why everyone doesn’t serve them that way.  I cleaned the plate, even the lettuce. 

The menu did not lend itself to easy choices, so Jo went with a bowl of butternut squash soup and a roasted beet salad.The soup, which was served with an apple-celery relish and mustard seeds, was in a large, deep bowl, and she said that it was excellent.  The salad, on the other hand, was very light on salad parts (three pieces of frisée), but the beets were, supposedly, good.  There were also pickled radishes, candied walnuts and a five year balsamic.  The only “miss” of the evening was my entree,the New Zealand rack of lamb, which was served with a faro risotto, mixed with carrots, peas and asparagus.  The risotto was earthy/nutty and a little gooey for my taste.  The mint gremolata (a chopped herd condiment when I looked it up later), which I had asked about and was told had a “dusting” of nuts, took up a quarter of the bowl and was very nutty.  The lamb was fine, but, overall, the dish was disappointing. 

This would be a good spot for a bite prior to an event at Phillips or the Georgia Dome, but I’d stick to items on the menu above the Entrees.