SEASIDE – Opening a new restaurant has got to be a frightening experience.

So many considerations. Is the name catchy? The interior inviting? The menu appetizing? Can the kitchen personnel come through in the clutch? Are the servers savvy? And most important, will enough customers come through the doors, and then return?

When a new restaurant plans to specialize in unusual cuisine, the situation gets dicier, because the potential clientele shrinks if the food is perceived as esoteric. Consider a sushi restaurant, for example. Realistically, how many people will find such a place appealing?

In the case of Tora Sushi Lounge, the newest Seaside eatery, the answer apparently is lots of folks, if three recent visits are any indication. There have been a few attempts, but a sushi-themed restaurant has never thrived in these parts, and perhaps Tora has struck a chord. Who knows; maybe there are bunches of closet sushi aficionados just waiting to bust out and experience the real deal.

Open six weeks, Tora is centrally located on the corner of Broadway and Holladay Drive in the heart of Seaside’s renovated Gilbert District and housed in a building last occupied by the short-lived Terrible Tilly’s, and before that, Kalypso (and before that, a drug store). Curious tourists are finding their way inside, attracted by chance, by curiosity or by the restaurant’s voluminous interior (more than 20 tables), decked out with hanging paper balls, elongated paper lamps, patterned paper partitions, wall hangings and artwork inspired by the other side of the Pacific Rim. Frankly, the decor doesn’t mesh all that well with the structure’s massive wooden beams and industrial-chic exposed ductwork.

Word has spread to local sushi fans. The few I spoke with were mostly favorable concerning the food, but dismayed by the service, which might best be described as reticent. Servers aren’t forthcoming about explaining the menu even in general terms, much less deciphering the differences between, say, nabiyaki and tempura udon, or a Pink Lady roll and a Rose roll, although, in all fairness, the menu provides a few clues.

Imagine how much more enticing that Rose roll might be if accompanied by an explanation of what one was about to eat. By perusing the menu, you’d know the dish contained shrimp, crab, cucumber and avocado. But what’s this concoction look like, and how hot is the spicy tuna on top? As it turns out, not very, but the Rose roll is a lovely presentation, pre-sliced into slightly bigger than bite-sized chunks and ready for a shaving of ginger and a dab of wasabi. A dipping sauce might be nice, also, but oh well, your taste buds will nonetheless be transported on a magical mystery tour.

Which might be the best way to approach a potential meal at Tora Sushi – with abandon. Full speed ahead and forget about any server-imparted info, either before ordering or after the food arrives. Begin with a calming bowl of miso soup, but forego the uninspired tempura. Know that a cut roll is lots easier to eat than a hand roll. The latter is almost impossible to slice with a butter knife, the only piece of edged cutlery available tableside. May as well just scoop out all the fixings inside, which is what we did with the snatches of asparagus, cucumber and supposedly spicy sprouts (they weren’t) inside our vegetable roll.

And forget about eating udon (Japanese noodles) with any modicum of grace or order. Downing a bowl of these soft fat noodles is slurp city. Disregard the oversized plastic spoon and follow the Japanese example: Hold the bowl of udon close to your chin with one hand, and shovel the noodles and other goodies into your mouth with your other, using a pair of chopsticks. Beforehand, prepare your chopsticks by breaking them apart and rubbing them together to remove any small splinters. OK, we tried all of the above, yet the big pieces of tempura in the nabiyaki udon were a challenge.

Deciding among the array of sushi and sashimi offerings presents another conundrum. The former refers to boiled and flavored rice usually rolled with any manner of edible tidbits, while sashimi is sliced raw fish served with condiments such as wasabi and pickled ginger. The hamachi (yellowtail tuna) sashimi is fabulous – the cream-colored flesh blends to a brown red, and the fish (not at all fishy) tastes of butter and mushrooms. Sake (salmon) is splendid, also; however, our server had not a clue where it originated. Tora’s selection runs the gamut from albacore to scallops and smelt eggs, most available either as sushi or sashimi. The varied sushi-sashimi platter affords a worthwhile introduction.

So what does a sushi diner drink with his or her food? Water is always a good option, of course. Beyond H2O and soda is a long list of cocktails (sake martinis, anyone?) and beer – the Kirin on tap, though a rarity around here, won’t make anyone forget Northwest craft beers. None of the four wine choices pair particularly well with the food. Adventuresome imbibers might sample the sake, available by the bottle (of varying sizes). Just be careful: Most sakes range from 12 to 20 percent alcohol.

Like the wine offerings, the food at Tora is spare, even austere. No surprise there; Japanese cuisine is known for its simplicity of flavors and minimal use of sauces (dipping sauces are common, not sauces coating an entree). Mixing and matching is the way to go, but what’s the secret for those of us uninformed about the nuances of Japanese preparations? My dining partner proposed a possible answer between bites of hamachi and salmon sashimi, and nibbles of shrimp tempura. As she put it: “The seafood’s good when you eat it all together.”

Contact the Mouth at The Daily Astorian, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103, phone (503) 325-3211 or e-mail mouth@dailyastorian.com