Shogun Japanese Express has opened across from Ruby Tuesday on Mildred Street. The teppanyaki and sushi establishment has a bonafide sushi bar, though small, offering the usual raw fish assortment for sashimi or sushi: salmon, eel, sweet shrimp, fatty tuna, squid, crab, snapper, tuna and more.

Rolls come in the California, Philadelphia, avocado, cucumber, spicy tuna, spider and crunch variety. Toasted sesame seeds dot the outside lending a nutty taste. Rolls are eight piece and medium in width.

Teppanyaki is the featured entrée - chicken, shrimp, scallop, salmon, tuna steak (cooked to order) - available solo or in combinations. White onion, mushroom and zucchini make up the vegetable medley cooked alongside choice of meat. A recent dinner visit yielded al dente veggies, about four ounces of steak - a perfect medium rare cut into small bite-size squares - and three scallops with a seared exterior and still soft interior with a mountain of white rice as accompaniment.

Service was speedy and food arrived quickly.

Plus: Comfortable atmosphere, casual dining, plenty of seating, friendly staff.

Minus: Inconvenient parking.

[Shogun Japanese Express, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday, noon to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, 3-9 p.m. Sunday, 2009 Mildred St. W., Tacoma, 253.503.6288]