Buon Appetito: Shelter Italian Bar & Restaurant recently changed hands, and with new management comes an all-new menu. And the great news is, the offerings are now a little bit more wallet-friendly than in the past. Don’t let its mall location fool you — if you like hearty Italian fare with a modern twist, Shelter should be on your list.

Look & Feel: Shelter has a pretty unusual space for a suffocating area like Causeway Bay. Taking up an extensive, alfresco space at Hysan Place, the bar and restaurant affords extensive views of the shopping district. As you step in, you’ll find the dining section, and if you walk farther out to your left, you’ll find the bar area complete with a garden and swinging pods that are great for lovebirds.

On the Menu: The five-course surf and turf menu ($998 for two) is a great way to sample what Shelter has to offer. Start with an avocado and crab meat salad, followed by homemade tagliolini with Spanish red prawns. Save room for the secondi — either a US prime natural beef ribeye tagliata with arugula salad, or a grilled Boston lobster with lemon butter sauce. The meal ends with an extravagant Wonderland dessert: a towering plate of homemade cotton candy, marshmallow, chocolate truffles, meringue and macarons.

Service: Despite the huge space, Shelter staffers are on point — they always seem to show up at just the right moment.

Jeng: Overall we feel like the five-course menu is a great deal. First off, the steak is awesome, full-flavored and tender. The arugula salad served alongside is a good palate cleanser. The lobster soup has a good consistency: not too heavy and thick. We are glad that the lemon butter sauce doesn’t drown out the flavors of the super-fresh lobster — it complements the dish well.

Not So Jeng: The pasta sauce overwhelms our tagliata, not to mention it’s overly seasoned. We would love to see a bit more turf in the menu, too.

Great For: Post-work drinks, mid-shopping revitalization, fresh air, casual dates.

FYI: The restaurant has its own garden, and has adopted a few buds from the LED light rose garden that originally appeared on Valentine’s Day 2016 in Tamar Park.

This writeup was based on a complimentary media tasting. The Loop doesn’t guarantee/sell restaurant review coverage. See our editorial policy here.