The teppanyaki style of Japanese cooking — teppan meaning “iron plate,” yaki meaning “fried” — has been a mainstay of that Asian culture for centuries.

In Japan, it has traditionally been applied to tabletop preparation of egg and noodle dishes. Only during the years of American occupation following World War II was this cooking method applied to beef and other meats, and then it was far more popular among visitors to Japan than among that nation’s citizens.

The Benihana chain of “Japanese steakhouses,” launched in New York in 1964, introduced this concept to a broad American audience. Soon other restaurants of similar concept sprang up across the United States, all of them featuring personal chefs encouraged to be as much entertainers as cooks. Groups of diners sit around a large central grill, beneath a giant fan, and watch as their chef flashes his samurai knife blades and performs various stunts of culinary dexterity.

In Central Oregon, Shoji’s Japanese Restaurant perpetuates this trend. Established in Eugene in 1981, later adding restaurants in Medford and Bend, Shoji’s follows the tried-and-true teppanyaki tradition. But courtesy, promptness and freshness are hallmarks of any style of Japanese cuisine, and I have been extremely disappointed in my two recent visits to Shoji’s.

Service has been inexcusably slow and inattentive, and the food has been ordinary at best, inedible at worst.

“It was probably just one of those nights when everybody came at the same time,” explained manager Charlie Eaton. In fact, that was not the case, and the restaurant was not especially busy on either occasion. More likely, it was understaffed.

The waiting game

When my party of three arrived for dinner at five minutes after 6 one evening, the 80-seat restaurant was clearly no more than half full.

We were told to “wait five minutes in the bar,” where we took a table near another group of diners and were left totally unattended for the next 10 minutes.

Although the Shoji’s host was busy making sushi behind the small bar, no one offered us (nor the neighboring table) so much as a glass of water.

Finally, at 6:15, the eight of us were seated at one of the 10-seat tables around a grill and provided with glasses of water and a “sunomono” — an appetizer of thinly sliced cucumbers — as our drink orders were taken. Another quarter of an hour passed before our beers appeared and the server requested our food orders.

Miso soup arrived at 6:45. Made from a soy paste, with small bits of tofu and green onion added, it was so-so.

The edamame (steamed soybean pods) that came five minutes later may have been the worst I’ve ever had. They were severely overcooked and much too heavy on the salt. An iceberg salad was presented shortly thereafter. Mixed with bits of carrot, red cabbage, tomato and sunflower seeds, tossed with a Thousand Island-style dressing, it was … boring.

By 7 p.m., my friends and I were craning our necks to find a server who might offer to refill our water glasses and ask if we’d like another beer.

Seats at the grill

At 7:05, one full hour after we walked in the door at Shoji’s, we finally saw our chef. “I guess I shouldn’t have taken such a long break!” he quipped. If that was a joke, it fell on deaf ears.

He set to work preparing dinner for eight, squirting oil on the hot teppan and grilling freshly chopped mushrooms, onions and zucchini. He divided portions among the diners.

Next, he emptied a huge bowl of pre-cooked rice upon the grill. He stir-fried the grain in soy sauce with bits of mushroom, green onion and fresh eggs in a copious amount of butter. Every diner had three times more than he or she needed to eat.

Then came the meats: first, seafood (shrimp and scallops); next, beef (New York steak and filet mignon, each in bite-size pieces); and finally, chicken (in a teriyaki sauce). The chef served the meats one by one to those who ordered them as their main entree dish. They were presented with a mustard sauce and a ginger sauce.

All of the meats were pretty good; I thought the shrimp was a bit chewy, but the scallops were perfect and the filet was particularly tender.

It was disappointing, however, that the service staff made no effort to clear the table of dishes no longer needed. With an empty seat between my party and the group of five, we were able to stack our salad and soup bowls out of the way, along with empty beer bottles, to keep clutter from accumulating. Had there been 10 diners at our table instead of eight, I’m not sure where we would have put them.

Sushi dinner

Because I still had not tried Shoji’s sushi, my friends and I returned a week later. We sat in the same small bar area, opposite the hostess stand, where we had been ignored on our first visit. The host deadpanned a few jokes in the deprecating style of Don Rickles as he brought drinks and took our sushi orders.

We decided to start small: two nigiri (traditional fish on rice), one maki (fish rolls in rice and seaweed) and one cone-shaped hand roll.

The spicy scallop hand roll and the ebi (sweet shrimp) nigiri were OK, but nothing to do back flips over. The hamachi (yellowtail tuna) nigiri was mediocre; the tuna tasted as if it had recently been thawed. We all agreed that the maki, a spider roll with soft-shell crab, had a distinctly un-fresh flavor, and we pushed it aside.

Rather than ordering additional sushi here, we decided to head to another local restaurant to finish our dinner. I doubt that I will return to Shoji’s any time soon.

SMALL BITES

Zydeco Kitchen + Cocktails reopened in its new downtown Bend location Monday. Owners Steven and Cheri Helt, who relocated their entire staff from the popular restaurant on South Third Street, have kept the same Southern-influenced menu. That includes such appetizers as barbecue shrimp with grit cake ($11) and artichoke-and-corn fritters ($8), and entrees like grilled redfish with crab meat ($25) and roasted wild-mushroom pork tenderloin ($25). The new location, home to Volo prior to its closure last December, seats 130. Open 5 p.m. to close Monday through Saturday. 919 N.W. Bond St., Bend; 541-312-2899, www.zydecokitchen.com.

RECENT REVIEWS

McGrath’s Fish House (B): Fish entrees — including seared ahi, halibut supreme and pan-fried Dover sole — are moderately priced and perfectly prepared. Service is inconsistent, however, and is better in the pleasantly decorated dining room than in the lounge. Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. 3118 N. U.S. Highway 97, Bend; 541-388-4555, www.mcgrathsfishhouse.com.

Sully’s Italian Restaurant (B+): A tidy, well-maintained restaurant in downtown Redmond, Sully’s has a track record of 25 years in business. Cannelloni and veal piccata are among the excellent dishes offered at moderate prices. Service is very sociable and hard-working if not always efficient. Open 4 p.m. to close every day. 314 S.W. Fifth St., Redmond; 541-548-5483.

Jackson’s Corner (A-): Infusing new life into the historic Delaware Grocery, this market cafe has quickly become a community center for Bend’s Old Town Historic District. Diners feel the heat of a big brick pizza oven as they order at the counter from an Italian-influenced deli menu, then share tables with new friends in a spacious room. Open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. 845 N.W. Delaware Ave., Bend; 541-647-2198.