It’s always entertaining to speculate about the choices that restaurateurs make. At Kion, for instance, a new Peruvian-Japanese restaurant – pardon me, “dining lounge” – most of the opening budget seems to have been sunk into an outlandish lighting scheme. The kitchen makes out all right, but other amenities, like the poorly trained service, seem underfunded.

The design, by Mariano Airaldi and Daniela Leonardi, does give the East Village space a disorienting beauty. Every wall is different; a gaze around the room takes in raw planks, flagstones, backlit marble, water features, and video projections, as well as 10 different colors of vivid light. For all that, the restaurant is a bit too dark, and the layout somewhat awkward: Tables are oddly placed, and there is a sense of elaborately wasted space.

The plates, too, are often covered with squiggles and theatrical presentations. The most dramatic are the shareable smorgasbord of the restaurant’s 10 ceviches ($30), which are served variously in hollowed-out vegetables and fruits and shellfish shells. The ceviches, which can be ordered a la carte as well, include several delightful variations on a theme: Salmon is marinated with its eggs in yuzu and cilantro; with avocado in yuzu and soy; and with tuna in a dressing of lime and capers. Tuna and yellowtail share a delicate bath of coconut and lime; a “ceviche mixto” includes shrimp and squid.

A small arsenal of sushi backs up the ceviches on the “raw” side of the menu. It’s possible, with effort, to have a wholly Japanese meal here, or a wholly Peruvian one, but most of the food is pleasantly crossbred. So, while there’s a smattering of unadorned sushi in familiar flavors, most of the rolls reflect their hybrid origins. A large, attractive rainbow roll ($12) incorporates the crunch of plantain chips and the sweetness of mango. Peru’s distinctive rocoto chili lends its quick-acting fire to a spicy tuna roll ($9); alas, the fine-chopped fish is mushy, and the dose of rocoto is a timid one. That same tuna near puree works better in combination, as in the Crouching Tiger roll ($11), where it’s paired with shrimp and jalapeno. An occasional piece of sushi substitutes potato for rice, in tribute to Peru’s status as the birthplace of that noble root.

Kion’s several tapas offerings can serve equally well as starters, in series or in tandem with something from the raw fish section. A set of skewered meats – beef, chicken, and shrimp, all with a marinade of miso and fruity aji panca chile – stands out. They’re grilled to a sweet turn and served with a small helping of potatoes a la huancaina, a unique Peruvian potato salad made with feta cheese and yellow chilis. On top is a dot of kalamata tapenade. Fans of the savory dish can order a whole plate of it for $7.

Main courses aren’t Kion’s strongest suit, but the kitchen does put together a few good ones. Three large, leanish pieces of savory duck ($17) with crisp skin are served on the bone in a dark, vibrant sauce of yuzu and rocoto, whose tang and heat flatter the moist bird. Chupin ($19) is a tomato-based multifish soup, a Peruvian bouillabaisse that could pass for a Japanese one. Here it’s brimming with shrimp, clams, mussels, and assorted other tasty sea life; the bowl is capped by a big fried filet of fresh black bass that could pass for an entree in itself. The light, spicy, winy broth coddles the fish without drowning their individual personalities. Filet mignon ($25) sounds appealing, accompanied by blue-potato gnocchi and distinctively topped with a fried quail egg, but the meat is okay, not great – the restaurant seems to have blown its steak budget on pretty lights. Glued in place by a herbed cream sauce, the dense gnocchi nuggets are helpless to redeem the dish.

The restaurant’s Web site, Kionlounge.com, claims that design transforms it from “a standard East Village destination into a fantasy world where seemingly anything can happen.” Dinner at Kion more or less lives up to the glamorous, competent expectations set by the dazzling decor; but the dessert and beverage options feel like remnants of that old standard destination. The weighty desserts (all $7 or $10 for a sampler) lack the enjoyable complexity of earlier courses: One chooses among chocolate covered, chocolate-stuffed fried wontons, tempura-fried bananas, or ice cream. Beverages, too: One expects exotic cocktails in bright colors to match the lighting, but the apple martinis and mojitos here offer nothing out of the ordinary. Twenty-five wines in the $25-$45 range are from serviceable, familiar labels: An Argentinian pinot by Alfredo Roca ($10/$40) has an appealing freshness that sets it apart.

Japanese and Peruvian cuisines mesh excellently, one providing a clean, streamlined aesthetic, the other giving it toothsome rough edges. Kion blends the two with skill, but it ought to decide whether it’s a place to lounge or to dine.

Kion Dining Lounge, 509 E. 6th St., between avenues A and B, 212-529-5200.