An American diner’s first visit to a Japanese restaurant, it seems, is inevitably a daunting experience. New flavors, different textures and perhaps a fear of eating raw fish are mental barriers for many neophytes.

My companion had never set foot in a sushi bar, and by her own admission, it was time.

I took her to lunch at Mio Sushi, in the Cascade Village Shopping Center at the north end of Bend. An hour later, though probably not a convert to the cuisine of the Asian island nation, she had a new appreciation for foods like tempura and teriyaki salmon and, yes, even sushi!

To be fair, the only raw fish to which I subjected my friend was a little bit of ahi tuna with cucumber and avocado in a westernized New York roll. But she was willing to be adventurous, even commenting on the surprising sweetness of the unagi, or freshwater eel, that I ordered to conclude our meal.

Mio Sushi is a good choice for newbies. It makes a special effort to appeal to American tastes even as it maintains the integrity of traditional Japanese cuisine. It has a couple of dozen tables as well as counter space and it is bright and spacious, making it easy to focus on dishes that might be unfamiliar. Yes, it’s a sushi bar, but it offers far more than sushi.

The Bend shop — which opened last July 30 — was the first venture outside of greater Portland for a restaurant group established in 1994 by Sonny and Joon Kim. The Kims now are making plans to add on to their original seven cafes (two in the Beaverton area) with an additional restaurant in Bend and a couple more in Seattle-Bellevue.

The joy of sushi

Unlike my lunch companion, I am a sushi veteran. My first two visits to Mio Sushi were during the dinner hours, and were specifically designed to check out the sushi offerings.

Having sampled sushi at a half-dozen other Japanese-style restaurants in Central Oregon (yes, there are that many), I would place Mio Sushi squarely in the middle of the pack: not as good as some, perhaps, but far better than others.

The joy of eating sushi begins with sitting at the bar, looking through a window at fresh fish of many kinds, interacting with the chefs as they slice and roll fish, rice and seaweed. Often, chefs seem to enjoy the banter even more than customers. But this is not so at Mio.

Beyond the initial “Iraisshai mase! (Welcome!)” shouted when new arrivals walk through the door, these chefs mostly joke among themselves and barely respond when spoken to by diners. Orders are taken and delivered to sushi-bar diners by the same servers who wait on tables. Some struggle with the English language. I missed the repartee I have often found elsewhere.

The true test

But the true test of any restaurant is in the food. Both the soy-based miso soup and the edamame (soybean pods, boiled and salted), common starters for a Japanese meal, were excellent; at dinner, in fact, one of my companions even had a second bowl of soup.

Traditional nigiri sushi — a slice of (usually raw) fish laid upon a bed of rice and wrapped in nori seaweed — may be as good or as bad as the fish is fresh. I found the nigiri here, from ahi (maguro) and yellowtail (hamachi) tuna to mackerel (saba) and salmon (sake), to be uniformly excellent.

On the other hand, the maki sushi, rolled in seaweed and sliced, was very ordinary. In particular, the special rolls with American names — such as the Rainbow and the Sunset, the New York and the Texas (how did a roll with spicy tuna and shrimp, cucumber and sesame seeds get the name “Texas”?) — were distinctly subpar.

One major complaint: The sushi roll menu draws a distinction between “crab” and “imitation or real crab,” leaving diners confused about what they are ordering. Imitation crab, sometimes called surimi or Krab, is artificially textured whitefish. In many of Mio’s sushi rolls, this imitation crab is substituted for the real thing, at a significant loss in flavor from true Dungeness crab.

And in at least one instance, the honest crab was not very good, either: Soft-shell crab, the most important ingredient in the spider roll, was deep-fried to a point of being overcooked. Normally, this combination of crab, cucumber, avocado, sesame seeds and a sweet sauce is one of my favorites. I didn’t like what Mio did with it.

An Ichi roll (first introduced in Seattle, where it was named for baseball star Ichiro Suzuki) had “real crab” and cucumber inside, cooked shrimp on the outside of the seaweed wrapper, and was dressed with a sweet mustard sauce. I found it to be mediocre. Ditto the scallop roll, with tobiko (flying-fish roe) and a sweet cream; it was hard to detect any scallops. And the spicy tuna roll was just not very spicy.

The cooked dish known as “Dynamite” was much too heavy in sliced onions for me to truly appreciate its flavor. A scallop, clam and slice of octopus were blended with mushrooms, white and green onions in two sauces: one sweet, one creamy.

Lunch choices

Lunch gave me an opportunity to try some non-sushi items. My friend and I ordered gyoza (pot stickers), tempura, teriyaki salmon and a couple of bites of sushi. Our meals came in divided bento platters with a flavorless iceberg-lettuce salad, including bites of carrot and broccoli. This was clearly not Japanese.

The gyoza was stuffed with vegetables but no pork, as I might normally expect. It was surprisingly dry, not oily, which I appreciated.

But I found the tempura batter a little too thick and greasier than I thought necessary. Our selection was three prawns, two large green beans, and slices of onion and potato. I think sweet potato makes better tempura than white potato, but that’s a personal preference.

A filet of salmon was perfectly grilled, just a touch undercooked but still flaking to the touch of a fork. The teriyaki sauce in which it was coated, unfortunately, was too thick and rich for me to be able to enjoy the fish to the full extent.

All in all, however, it wasn’t a bad meal. And it certainly satisfied my first-timer friend.

SMALL BITE

Sunriver Resort will join with Chateau Ste. Michelle of Woodinville, Wash., to offer a winemaker’s dinner on Saturday, July 11, in The Meadows at the Lodge restaurant. Sunriver executive chef Fabrice Beaudoin will prepare a five-course meal, with each course paired with a different wine. Cost is $100. An overnight package, priced at $295 per couple, includes the dinner, wine and lodging. 17600 Center Drive, Sunriver; 541-593-3740, www.sunriver-resort.com/dining.php.

Taco Salsa has opened on Bend’s west side in the location of the former Rigoberto’s, with new owners. Billing its fare as “real Mexican food,” the sit-down restaurant has a drive-through window open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Combination plates, including main dish, rice and beans, are priced from $7.25 to $10; burritos range from $4.50 to $7. 1365 N.W. Galveston Ave., Bend; 541-318-6243.

RECENT REVIEWS

Izzy’s (B-): These buffet-style restaurants, two of a regional group of 20, have excellent salad bars. Entrée meats, however, are not high quality and the main-course selection is heavily carbohydrate oriented. The establishments are clean and well-maintained. Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. 2940 N. Business Highway 97, Bend (541-382-2135); 810 S.W. 11th St., Redmond (541-504-1678); www.izzysonline.com.

Bend Burger Company (B+): Come for flame-broiled hamburgers (a dozen varieties, priced $8 to $10) and fries, and enjoy them in downtown Bend’s only dedicated burger shop. This breezy, order-at-the-counter establishment has bright décor, big picture windows, and a local theme in decorating. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Thursday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday. 718 N.W. Franklin Ave., Bend; 541-306-6166, www.bendburgercompany.com.

Avery’s Wine Bar and Bistro (B-): A handsome, low-lit cottage with rich wood décor plus deck and patio seating, Avery’s is a classy little spot two blocks from downtown Redmond. The wine selection is good but a menu of small plates is inconsistent: Best of a dozen choices are pan-seared diver sea scallops and the Avery’s salad. Open 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday. 427 S.W. Eighth St., Redmond; 541-504-7111, www.averyswinebar.com (Web site under construction).

Flatbread Community Oven (B+): The restaurant’s authentic thin-crust Neapolitan pizzas are tasty, but they are overly oily and toppings are not evenly allocated. Still, the room is warm and spacious, service is prompt and friendly and prices are moderate. Open 11 a.m. to close every day. 375 S.W. Powerhouse Drive, Suite 130 (The Old Mill District), Bend; 541-728-0600, www.flatbreadpizza.com.