The halibut steak entrée is coated with crushed tortilla chips and cornmeal and finished with a sauce of peach chipotle with orange aioli.

Summer at the shore is generally a time for casual dining, along the lines of lobster-in-the-rough, or fried clams, or hot dogs and hamburgers from a place right on the beach. But once in a while, even in summer, you want to shower off the sand, put on some nice clothes and go to a special place, one where you don’t wait for your number to be called over a loudspeaker.

Along the Westerly shore, that place is the Shelter Harbor Inn. Located right off Route 1 in the otherwise residential hamlet of Shelter Harbor, the nearly 100-year-old inn manages to combine a feeling of garden-party formality with what is still basically casual dining. No rule says a man must wear a jacket to dinner here, but if he did, he would be dressed more appropriately than a man wearing a T-shirt and shorts. With the nearby Weekapaug Inn closed this year for renovations, Shelter Harbor’s is the only dining room of its type in the area.

Unless you are staying in one of the inn’s 24 guest rooms, this is a destination restaurant, one where you might want to make reservations during the summer. (The inn and dining room are open year-round, and things quiet down considerably after Labor Day.) Because of the peculiar geography of the South County coast, the inn doesn’t have views of nearby Quonochontaug Pond or the ocean. A short drive down Wagner Road brings you to the Shelter Harbor dock on the huge salt pond, and from the far side of the pond you can hear the surf on the barrier beach.

But what the inn lacks in water views, it makes up for in summer-colony elegance. Lush gardens blooming with orange day lilies, blue hydrangeas and pink roses line the old stone walls that surround the property, and a few steps down a short slope brings you to a croquet court set up on a neatly clipped lawn. A patio with views of the gardens and the lawn is an inviting spot to dine in fine weather, and it will give you an idea of the vintage character of the inn that the tables and chairs are white-painted iron, not those flimsy plastic ones. The indoor dining options are just as special: There’s a sun porch where children were seated for a party when we dined there, and a large main dining room with two levels looking out at the gardens. But as the weather was perfect when we arrived for lunch, we asked to be seated on the patio.

It was the first of several meals we would have at Shelter Harbor over the next few days, each one of them a happy combination of good food, excellent service, and pleasantly vintage ambiance.

The servers exude quiet competence and unobtrusive attentiveness. Our questions about the menu and the wine list were answered knowledgably — which is particularly welcome after too many recent experiences of the “whatever” attitude typical of “I’m on summer break” wait staffs. Our waitresses clearly had been working at the inn for several years: they knew the traditions of the place as well as they knew what the chef was offering for specials that day.

The chef, Edward Gencarelli, has been at the inn for 15 years, taking over as chef in 1997. When I spoke with him by phone after our visits, he explained that the challenge of a place like Shelter Harbor is keeping the menu fresh while honoring the inn’s traditional character. “I try to stay with the Colonial American tavern flavor, but also to make it a little more upscale and contemporary. Shelter Harbor is an American Country Inn, not a bistro, and we have guests who come back year after year and want to see their favorites still on the menu.”

Among those favorites are Finnan Haddie ($21), a British favorite of smoked haddock poached in cream; calf’s liver ($20), sautéed with onion and bacon and served with mashed potatoes; and Hazelnut Chicken ($20).

One evening I had the chicken, which is a boneless breast coated thickly with a crunchy mixture of chopped hazelnuts and sautéed in a sweet sauce flavored with orange, thyme and Frangelico. Served over a wild rice pilaf, with sautéed summer squash and green beans, it was a satisfying meal.

On another evening, we tried a seafood special that demonstrated Gencarelli’s more contemporary talents: a fresh halibut steak served with a crisp coating of crumbled tortilla chips and cornmeal ($22). The firm white fish was delicious, perfectly cooked and well served by a sauce described as “peach chipotle with an orange aioli.”

A grilled Angus sirloin steak is among the more expensive items on the dinner menu at $33. It was prepared with a demi-glace sauce flavored with green peppercorns and shallots and was very good, served with mashed potatoes and a medley of sautéed summer vegetables.

Among the appetizers we liked was an expertly prepared softshell crab ($11), the whole crab coated with a tempura-style fried breading and served with a delicate Thai-inspired sweet chili glaze. A plate of littleneck clams served on the half shell on ice with cocktail sauce ($8) was as fresh as the ocean nearby, and the inn’s version of Rhode Island clam chowder (in clear broth, $6) was one of the best I’ve had, nicely enhanced with smoky bacon.

The wine list is entirely domestic, a purposeful choice made by longtime innkeeper Jim Dey, who writes in his introduction to the list that after being impressed by the high quality of American wines on a visit to the West Coast in 1976, he determined that he would feature them exclusively at the inn.

We had no trouble finding glasses to complement our menu choices, including a crisp Hanna Sauvignon blanc from Russian River ($8.50 by the glass) and a mellow Cabernet Sauvignon “Seven Oaks” from J. Lohr ($8). Most of the bottles on the well-chosen list are very modestly priced in the $22 to $45 range, and glasses are $5 to $9.

Desserts carry through the overall theme that Gencarelli describes as “New England traditional, but with flair.” A scoop of Indian pudding ($4.75) was a classic version of this cornmeal-and-milk pudding flavored with molasses and spices, but other choices include Espresso Crème Brûlée ($5.95) and dark chocolate semi-freddo ($5.75).

Altogether, the experience of dining at Shelter Harbor seems a throwback to an era when a visit to the seacoast meant relaxation combined with a certain elegance — a rarity today, when “shore dining” too often comes down to popping a few beers on a waterfront deck and ordering a burger or nachos to go with them.

kimbrie@projo.com