Mio Sushi opening this week at Point Ruston in Tacoma

Mio Sushi will open its 16th location Wednesday at the Point Ruston development on the edge of Tacoma.

The Tacoma restaurant will be the third Puget Sound-area Mio Sushi location, with two already operating in Seattle’s Westlake and Green Lake neighborhoods. A company representative described Mio Sushi as a value-focused restaurant. It was founded in 1995 as a neighborhood sushi destination in northwest Portland and has grown to a two-state franchise with a number of investors.

The 70-seat Point Ruston Mio Sushi includes a sushi bar with room for seven. The restaurant is positioned at the front of the building that holds the Century Point Ruston movie theater, which means Mio lacks a water view.

The menu reads similar to those at Tacoma sushi restaurants Miyabi, Fujiya and Gari of Sushi.

The maki menu lists 60-plus sushi rolls ($2.75-$12.50) and three dozen nigiri, the two-piece plates of sliced fish draped over rice ($2.95-$5.95). The greatest hits of Japanese dining also are represented with bento boxes ($12.95-$16.95), nabeyaki udon ($8.95), four kinds of ramen ($7.95-$8.95), yakisoba ($10.95), miso salmon ($15.95), tonkatsu ($11.95) and donburi ($16.95).

A few menu standouts include a hat tip to vegetarians with a list of 11 rolls that go well beyond the standard cucumber or avocado maki. There’s the green dragon ($8.50) with inari, cucumber, avocado, asparagus and pickled radish; a fried tofu roll ($4.95), and veggie tempura ($5.95) with fried squash, green bean, carrot and asparagus rolled up with a sweet sauce.

For kids, there’s a mix-and-match bento menu from which young diners can pick two of seven choices. Children’s meals come with miso soup, rice and edamame and are definitely composed and priced for kids with larger appetites ($8.95, kids 12 and younger).

There’s also a quirky sounding menu item worth a look. Sushizza ($8.95) is Mio’s trademarked invention, a baked fish-and-rice concoction that is a sushi-pizza hybrid.

The restaurant will serve lunch and dinner daily (with a mid-afternoon hiatus from 2:30-4 p.m.). Happy hour will be from 4-6 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays. The restaurant serves wine, beer and sake.

This is the fourth eatery to open at Point Ruston, a retail-residential development that straddles Ruston and Tacoma. Two Town Pub and Cafe opened in July 2014; Dolce Si, a Sicilian bakery, opened in November 2015, and WildFin American Grill, the surf-and-turf view restaurant, opened in January.

Additional restaurants are planned for Point Ruston. Jewel Box Cafe, a coffee shop and cafe, will open near WildFin. Farrelli’s, the local pizza chain, plans an elaborate two-story restaurant with sweeping views and seating for more than 300.

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 6:34 AM with the headline "Mio Sushi opening this week at Point Ruston in Tacoma."