Hearing about Kyoto Ohsho, the new all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant at Ala Moana Center, I was expecting a serve-yourself buffet along the lines of Todai Waikiki. Instead, I found a concept that falls somewhere between an automat without the little windows, and yakiniku (tabletop hotpot) restaurant — but with extra, added attractions.

Here's how it works: After you're seated, and your beverage order is taken, wander the lengthy, L-shaped buffet lined with dozens of small plates. From oden broth to fruit with kanten, the range is wide: tempura, grilled fish, simmered and grilled meats, little relishes and side dishes, sashimi and sushi and, of course, huge vats of hot rice (and very good quality rice, by the way).

While you're grazing, your server will be setting up the tabletop brazier with an immense communal bowl of soup (at lunch) or shabu shabu (at dinner).

To get the most out of Kyoto Ohsho, a sprawling space on the fourth floor of Ala Moana in Ho'okipa Terrace, you have to:

a) be a big eater, because it's pricey (flat rates of $19.80 for lunch; $39.80 for dinner); you get your money's worth if you really pack it in; and b) be very familiar with Japanese food, because information, unlike food, is in short supply here. The people who know the most — the chefs busily stocking the buffet area — don't interact unless you address them in Japanese, and the servers, mostly locals, are still in learning mode.

At lunch, our server seated us and walked away. We sat waiting for menus that never came (because there aren't any) until finally he came back and we got him to tell us what we were supposed to do. The server at dinner was more informative.

Also at lunch, as the waiter was ladling out the most loaded-up miso soup I've ever seen (filled with chunks of carrots, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, etc. etc.), I asked what the little white spheres in the soup might be. His answer: "I have no idea. They don't tell us much." (My best guess is potato croquettes.)

At dinner, our server had been with the restaurant all of one day and was understandably a bit at sea, neglecting to turn on the flame under our shabu shabu.

With my overactive culinary curiosity, the lack of signage on the buffet was frustrating; there are a few labels but not all dishes are named, much less explained.

I fell in love with a lovely little salad composed of chiffonade of leaf lettuce, tender daikon sprouts, slivered onion and shreds of fish, including, I think, salmon skin. I longed to know specifically what was in it and what the dressing might be, but the server couldn't tell me. (He half-heartedly offered to ask the chef, but it was clear that wasn't really going to happen.)

As with any buffet line, temperature is sometimes an issue. Keep an eagle eye out and if you see the tempura come out, grab it before it goes from hot to warm. The batter here is light and you get several pieces: a couple of shrimp, two or three vegetables such as bell pepper or sweet potato.

You could eat here for days (although a sign says they impose a 90-minute limit). At lunch, there was oden broth, meshi (a sort of rice pilaf), fried chicken, crispy rice cakes with particularly moist salmon fillets, green salad, an excellent crunchy hijiki seaweed salad, a poke-like dish of raw seafood with a citrusy sauce over rice, tempura, gyoza and several desserts (a light layer cake, fruit cocktail with kanten).

Among our favorite dishes was a cold braised beef rib that didn't look like much but was rich with marbling, meaty and not at all stringy or overdone.

At dinner, many of the same dishes appeared, but also nishime, niblets of tender pork that appeared to be the Okinawan specialty rafute and misoyaki butterfish. We loved a dish of such simplicity we wondered why we'd never seen it before: Half a small, ripe avocado topped with bright red tobiko. The combination of cream and crunch was an eye-opener. Also at dinner, you receive the house signature honey nabe broth — which we found rather subtle — with a large tray of vegetables, thin-sliced meats and meatballs to cook at the table. We liked the meatballs best.

The first American outlet of a large Japan chain, Kyoto Ohsho is decorated in contemporary style and it appears they've got plans for a club scene after they get their liquor license; there's a glass sound booth in the center of the restaurant. In keeping with Japanese aesthetic, the tableware is of different colors, shapes and styles — very attractive. And at dinner, you get to keep a colorful print cloth napkin.

The challenge for Kyoto Ohsho is going to be this: The food is good, and a few things were very good, although the dishes seem a bit on the plain and homey side, given the price. But with so many other Japanese restaurants and izakaya here that offer great, creative food made to order, and don't lock customers into a fixed price, they'll have to work hard to compete.

Reach Wanda A. Adams at wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.