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About as basic as a neighborhood restaurant gets, Iron Sushi offers competent takes on Japanese staples, with a few surprises. Minimal décor – blonde wood furniture, vinyl banquettes, nature-themed screen prints – suggests the focus is on the plate, not the room. In the case of bland, too-cold sushi and sashimi, that’s not a good thing. But cooked appetizers like the “plum kiss” of scallop wrapped in salmon or the delicate miso eggplant entice. The real find here are elaborate, eight-piece special rolls. They’re clever combinations of generous fillings balanced with just enough rice, like the “Iron Roll” of spicy tuna, avocado, and eel, or a “Golden Sand” combo of peppered salmon, asparagus, and mango. T-shirted servers get easily distracted, and requests – water, napkins, check – take a while to process. — Michael Kaminer

Plum kiss, $6; Iron Roll, $14; Golden Sand roll, $14