Fred Livingston has owned and operated more than half a dozen Island restaurants, including several that were long-running local favorites — the Tahitian Lanai with its signature eggs Benedict, Crouching Lion with its Slavonic steak and Davey Jones Ribs. He has closed or sold all of these except for Don Ho's Island Grill, and now, its sister restaurant at Aloha Tower Marketplace, Tower Grill.

This new spot occupies the coveted second-floor corner location formerly housing Big Island Steak House, but Livingston has transformed it into a bit of old plantation Hawai'i with period touches such as mullioned windows, ceiling fans, rattan furniture, pastel colors, white paint and plank floors in the bar.

He's also smartly revived some popular classic dishes, including Tahitian Lanai eggs Benedict and a Monte Cristo sandwich at brunch (how long has it been since you've seen one of those deep-fried babies?), those Davey Jones ribs and the chicken Gorgonzola salad that was a lunch standard at Sunset Grill in its heyday.

The restaurant has an in-house bakery doing breads and desserts. Diners are greeted with a complimentary loaf of hot, crusty ciabbata bread and whipped butter; at dinner, there's a pot of tomato relish (a thick marinara), as well.

In a pair of visits, I found the food and service at Tower Grill average, but the location is definitely above-average, especially if the weather allows you to sit on the wrap-around lanai. "The thing that sells me on this place is the atmosphere; it's a great place to take someone that's not from Hawai'i, you really get a sense of the waterfront," my husband said, peering over the railing of the lanai.

My husband praised his seafood cioppino ($24), which was packed with seafood (clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, shrimp, calamari and chunks of fish — so much he didn't finish it all) in a garlicky tomato broth with a wedge of housemade garlic bread on top. Its only drawback: It was warm, not hot.

This may have been because on this quiet weeknight, there were but three servers handling the entire room, which was perhaps one-third full. Though he was hustling, our waiter couldn't keep up, resulting in long waits between courses and some food arriving in less-than-peak condition.

This was the case with our daughter's land and sea ($29), a filet of beef tenderloin in Hamakua mushroom sauce with half a dozen skewered, grilled shrimp. Though she appreciated the deeply flavored, piquant brown sauce, both steak and shrimp were not quite hot and a bit dry.

My meaty fire-roasted rib pork chop ($19) was not overly juicy either but was more than rescued by the leek and tomato ragout that topped it. This silky braise of shaved leeks and crushed tomatoes bathed the chop in welcome flavors — garlic and basil.

On the other hand, our daughter's fiance praised his New York steak with braised peppered onions ($21); the steak was cooked just as he asked, and the onions were crisp and full of flavor. Both he and our daughter chose potatoes au gratin, a specialty of Tower Grill. Homey and rich, these potatoes could benefit from a) being nice and hot when they arrive, and b) better incorporating the cheese throughout the dish.

Where Tower Grill does best is in the simple, direct dishes, such as the New York steak. We ordered an appetizer of Hamakua mushrooms sauteed in garlic herb butter ($11) and ate every morsel, dipping chunks of bread in the juice. The Tower's pupu sampler ($15, including a stack of ribs, fried calamari, a Maryland crab cake and a mound of salad) was OK; the ribs tender but a bit too sweet, the calamari crisp and the crab cake unremarkable with a remoulade that seemed more mayonnaise than anything else.

At lunch one day, I ordered the Tower wrap ($9.50) — an immense stuffed sandwich of succulent chunks of chicken and tender vegetables (cucumber, mesclun greens, tomato) in a spinach tortilla with a side salad. I really enjoyed the generously dressed filling and made three meals of the sandwich. My lunch companion chose the catch of the day ($20), which was kajiki (swordfish), which can be prepared sauteed or grilled. He chose the saute; it arrived in a full-flavored buerre blanc with capers, with the fish still tender and flaky, and au gratin potatoes and a medley of well-prepared vegetables on the side. Delicious and well-executed.

As you'd expect from a restaurant in a pricey shopping center, Tower Grill isn't inexpensive, but the portions are ample. So it was that we greeted the dessert tray with a little hesitation but forced ourselves to do our duty. My advice: Go for the Lava Flow ($7), a dense, moist, not overly sweet chocolate cake; tell 'em to keep the strawberries but skip the overly sweetened whipped cream. The other desserts we tried — tiramisu ($7) and Oreo cheesecake ($7) didn't get finished, but of the Lava Flow, there was not a crumb as we rose to leave.

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