Aoki is the name of a classy new Theatre District Japanese restaurant. Additionally, Aoki is a restaurant that looks more expensive than it is, and a sophisticated spot that will appeal to people who like Japanese food, and those who don’t.

Water slowly — almost imperceptibly — trickles down one wall at Aoki; candles in cut-out boxes are mounted on another; overhead is a high, modern beamed ceiling; and massive wood columns are at the center of the 70-seat dining room.

There’s a handsome up-front bar with a gleaming wood ceiling and an equally attractive sushi bar in the rear manned by appropriately garbed chefs. Strong, solid wood tables, shiny bare wood floors, and padded banquettes along one wall complete the picture.

Despite its upscale good looks, five of the eight kitchen entrées at Aoki are in the $15-$19 category, and not one exceeds $22. Hot appetizers, salads, sushi and American rolls, and desserts are all in the $5 bracket, cold starters begin at $9, soups at $2.50, and pieces of sushi and sashimi go for as little as $2. Also appreciated was a complimentary crabmeat salad sprinkled with tiny bits of cracker atop a lettuce leaf.

Whether you kick off the meal with one of the menu’s six teas, beer, sake, wine, or a cocktail, be sure to accompany it with an order of warm, salty-skinned soy beans or edamame. Follow that up with five pieces of wasabi shumai: tender, green-hued stuffed dumplings with some snap to them. A lightly breaded shrimp-and-vegetable tempura appetizer didn’t disappoint, and while the seaweed salad was standard stuff, a sashimi naruto maki (lobster, marinated with wasabi within rings of cucumbers) was noteworthy.

One or more sushi entrées are a must at Aoki. The creative Aoki sushi platter is a good bet: Its California roll and eight husky sushi morsels (tuna, salmon, eel, sea urchin, fluke, spicy tuna, scallop, etc.), each with a different topping, make it especially impressive.

Wok-seared tuna (order it rare) with a subtle lemongrass sauce is recommended, as is a Western-style main course: sliced sirloin steak with a spicy — but not too spicy — wasabi teriyaki accompanied by potato croquettes. Aoki also serves what might be the lightest, airiest onion rings in town.

Desserts aren’t made on the premises but are worth a try. The exotic plum-wine sorbet and the lychee sorbet dotted with pieces of the fruit were sweets I’d order again.

234 W. 48th St., 212-956-2356.