POCATELLO — A local Asian fusion restaurant and sushi bar is alerting other eateries in town after officials say a lone diner ordered $125 worth of sushi, sake and dessert, most of which he consumed, and then left without paying his bill.

The incident occurred at Sumisu Asian Fusion & Sushi on East Center Street Monday afternoon.

General Manager Daniel Russo said such incidents happened frequently in some of the larger cities where he’s worked, but they’re rare in Pocatello’s tight-knit community.

Russo said they’re not that concerned about the loss, although they did report it to police. Still, he doesn’t want a similar incident to happen at other restaurants in town.

“Some things like this can contribute to local restaurants closing,” he said. “The whole point is to notify other restaurants and look out for our friends and family in Pocatello.”

The restaurant posted an account of what happened on its Facebook page.

They describe the caucasian man with a standard build as being in his late 20s or early 30s with dirty-blond hair, styled up, and scruffy facial hair. He is about 6 feet tall or a few inches taller and was wearing a red sweatshirt and khaki pants.

Restaurant officials say the man ordered a total of 17 items from the menu — a bit at a time — while he was at the restaurant.

“He ate all of the food brought to the table prior to dessert. The diner then informed the server he wanted to step out for a cigarette, however once the server arrived with the dessert the man had left without a trace,” according to the post. “We waited 20-30 minutes past our close time for the man to return and he has yet to do so.”

Although restaurant officials believe this was likely a “dine and dash” incident, they said they would be willing to work things out with the man if he returned.

“If you are the gentleman in question and this was a simple mistake, we are more than happy to have you return, square up the bill and we can move forward from there no questions asked,” the Facebook post states.

Russo said they don’t know anything about the man, including his motivations or circumstances, and they don’t want to embarrass him or blow the situation out of proportion. Still, they want to do what they can to protect their business and others from losing money.

Russo said they may look at some discreet security equipment in the future and review some of their policies to prevent a similar incident from occurring.

But they also don’t want to do anything that might negatively affect their customers’ experience.

He says it’s important for customers to be able to come in, relax and enjoy a good meal without having to feel like they’re being monitored.

“We want them to come in and get treated like a mixture of royalty and family,” he said.