The Portofino Hotel & Marina

l to deal with, very responsive to our calls and meet all our needs. The catering staff was spectacular. Our guests are still raving about the food and service. Paco is the best bartender ever! Arturo, the banquet coordinator, was attentive and made sure my groom and I had everything we needed. On the negative side, the Wedding Block coordinator and the Reservations staff were a nightmare to deal with. We did get good rates but nothing went smoothly and we had to repeatedly correct their errors. Our guests were told there were no rooms when we did have rooms available, they were quoted wrong rates, they made errors in room types, it took several times back and forth to get contracts correct, etc., etc. I could go on for days. Aside from that, the rooms were wonderful and everyone did have a good time.

h a great time. The food was incredible. Each person you encounter is very attentive to your needs and will make your experience amazing. The pictures of the venue online do not do it any justice. It is so gorgeous. Our guest loved it. We loved! I would get married here again.

I MISS HER ALREADY....AND WE GAVE HER THE BUDGET...AND WE ENDED UP PRETTY MUCH ON TARGET - WITH THE MOST SCRUMPTIOUS FOOD...AMBIENCE...VIEW - WELL I COULD GO ON AND ON....WE STAYED AT THE HOTEL FOR OUR HONEY,OON AND ENJOYED SO MUCH THAT WE ENDED UP STAYING 5 MORE DAYS......IF YOU WANT CLASS AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICES ...THIS IS THE PLACE...THANKS AGAIN LISA...AND AT THE HOTEL THE GREATEST STAFF-NATHAN-SEBASTIAN-EVERYONE IN RESERVATIONS - AND FRONT DESK...ALEX, JULIA, GITZEL, JEROME, LAURA, STEPHANIE, DANNY AND JACHI...THANKS - WE WILL BE BACK - AND THAT IS A PROMISE :)

a year ago and it was great. Our wedding went off without and we had an absolute blast. Our wedding coordinator Lisa was very nice and quite helpful as well. The food is excellent, although the staff did remove a few plates before the guests were finished. And you can't realty beat the price at any other reputable hotel venue that we checked out in Huntington Beach and San Diego. The wedding took place on the grassy knoll just south of the hotel. It would have been nice to know that they replaced the grass with turf, just two weeks before the wedding. I missed having real grass, but it did look very nice compared to the warn down grass. And thankfully they got a new archway to replace the old beat up one that would have certainly blown over. Now the bad, the hotel itself. DO NOT get block rooms at the hotel. We found cheaper rates online on a regular basis. We had issues booking rooms from day one. Incorrect dates, wrong room types (2 queens instead of 1 king, and vice versa), etc. We got a different answer for multiple questions every time we called. Also, the air conditioning unit is very week, as our room would not drop below 77 as 5 men were trying to get ready in the small room that should have been a large suite. To top it off, my bride was thankfully upgraded to a suite the night before the wedding, as they overbooked the 2 queen room we requested. Her room was great, lovely view, very big. Unfortunately, on our wedding day/night, they moved us to smaller room with a shared balcony with a divider and no bath tub or living room. She demanded to be moved, we ended up a floor lower, in a regular room with ocean view, but with a bath tub. One would think the hotel would go out of its way to provide the wedding couple spending $20K in one evening the best possible room they offer. NOT THE CASE. We received weak and rude explanations for the unsatisfactory room. To top it off, a guest lost a cell phone and received more rude service. My wife also left a backpack, and we were told the lost & found was online and they would not answer questions over the phone. In fact, you just fill out a form and HOPE they get back to you. We drove by later that day and apparently the 2 people who have a key to lost & found were not on the premises. Wonderful. I called again the following day as they had not contacted us, thankfully the lady with the key was there, and we got the backpack back. Overall, the wedding portion of it all was spectacular! I do recommend getting married there. Just have your guests stay at the Crown Plaza just down the road. ;-)

a, and also within the lobby of the hotel as well. The catering manager of the Portofino that we dealt with was Lisa Fleming. She did a marvelous job at helping us plan our event. The communication between Lisa went very well as she helped us with the planning of the event and also helped give us a guideline/general timeline from which we could customize our event as well. Emails and phone calls were always answered back promptly and there was never any gray area of lack of clarity between us. In addition to contacting and coordinating with our other vendors, she helped to make sure that the ceremony and the reception went on time and smoothly. I would give high recommendations for anyone I know to have their wedding there as well, as the whole process from start to finish was as painless and as smooth as could be, and that was in a large part due to the staff of the Portofino and Lisa.

red. They NEVER took accountability for their actions by simply apologizing when they made a mistake or I wasn't happy with something and always had an excuse for why they were not in the wrong. It was excuse after excuse. It took them forever to respond to my questions and sometimes I wouldn't receive a response from them at all. They told me certain things would happen on my wedding day that did not happen. The allowed someone to set up a meeting with me and then when that person didn't show up for the meeting, I was told "he's just an intern and shouldn't be setting up meetings" and then made to feel like I was in the wrong for wanting to meet with someone that day. I don't consider myself much of a bridezilla by any means but I do expect excellent service when I'm paying an arm and a leg to get married at your establishment. Throughout the whole experience, I continued to be amazed that a hotel of this caliber did not have a top of the line wedding coordinator/department. They failed to be upfront about things initially and I would find out about stuff at much later meetings, after I had already paid our deposit. And again, no simple apology but instead I was met with more excuses. I think the hotel just rides on its location so they don't care about their customer service as much. It will be interesting to see what happens to them when Shade opens up just down the street, another boutique hotel. Hopefully this will make them step up their game. There wasn't really one major thing they did but instead a number of smaller issues that alone would not have bothered me so much but as a whole, made the whole experience rather frustrating. I found myself constantly telling friends and family what "went wrong" this time. As I said before, in the end everything was beautiful and I had a perfect wedding day but just be aware of who you are dealing with going into it.

commented on how great the venue was! We had the beautiful ocean view, an elegant ballroom for our reception, experienced and professional staff, and the most amazing honeymoon suite I have ever seen! Strongly recommend this venue to anyone who wants to stay near the ocean and not break the bank for their wedding.

let us pick 3 proteins if we made all the plates have the same starch. Nice trade off if you ask me. The ballroom was set up and ready for us at 9am and my wedding didn’t start until 5pm. They offer changing rooms for the bride and a free night stay for the bride and groom the night of the wedding. The only issue I had was with their billing. They would forget to run the credit card when we asked them too and they ran it twice for the final payment. We got it figured out though. Overall it was a great place, very helpful along the way. We would have another event there in a second.

ests were impressed by the venue and really enjoyed the natural beauty of the location. However, there was a lot of turnover for our wedding coordinator - we had 4 in total and the latest one had just joined 2 weeks earlier. But the venue is a great and beautiful place.

eryone enough for everything they did for us. I dealt with Shelly and Meggie who organize weddings at the hotel and they truly are fantastic. They helped facilitate and make my wedding just as beautiful as ever. On the day of the wedding they were both there making sure all was going well and Meggie stopped by to congratulate us :)! Couldn't have asked for more. For the party we were just as lucky to have the best cook, Buena, and the best staff for running the event. Luis and all the catering staff was attentive, courteous, and hardworking. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful wedding. Thank you to all of the wedding staff (all of you who helped make my wedding just amazing), front desk, and the clean up crew. It truly was perfect! Catering was included in the price and we did not have to deal with vendors, since I am in Florida this helped make my life easier, as well as the cake, which you have three vendors to pick from (Torrance Bakery was AMAZING), and a honeymoon suite for the night of the wedding. The ballroom was absolutley beatiful and it overlooked the water and sea lions :)! If you are staying there I recommend getting an Ocean View Room. Like I say...I love this hotel!!

ould not get things right. pay close attention to your original contract and invoice. make sure you keep them because when you get the final invoice, it will be different from what you had originally signed for. these venues are supposed to make things easier for you, but there was a lot of unnecessary stress when it came to planning. a BIG thank you to our florist/wedding coordinator LINDA VUONG from LV FLORAL EVENTS in making our night memorable. especially being that we were not allowed to set up the reception room until 3 hours before the event due to last minute booking by the hotel, SMH. bottom line, we had the greatest wedding ever, but it really was a challenge. our personal planning and our wedding coordinator made this day happen. 2 stars is my overall rating, but if i were to rate the food separately it would have been a 5/5. FYI, if you want extra food because guests did not show, ask them for it. they SUPPOSEDLY threw away the extra meals due to "public health requirements." I don't know who would throw away steak and lobster but whatever, it is what it is. I've heard both sides, but I've also been to weddings where they pack the meals for guests that did not show.

ignature drink, though--they got the timing wrong on that one. But other than that, we felt we got what we paid for. Everyone raved about the food--we had the filet and the salmon and the hors d'oeuvres were delicious! They also recommend great vendors!!!

to care for our business. The hotel itself is beautiful with a fantastic lobby and unique guest rooms. However, the staff has a few things to learn about the service industry. I understand that they were extremely busy the weekend of our wedding, but that was no reason to be rude to paying guests and to fail hand out our welcome bags when they were charging us to do so.

er. We had so many compliments on our food too (rib eye steak & sesame crusted ahi tuna). The location is beautiful and we could not have asked for anything more.

their wedding garden along the peninsula (small boats do go by, and cute sea lions on the rocks). Our cocktail hour was held in the same area. The hotel staff moved chairs out and put in cocktail tables; all done pretty seamlessly. It turned out to be a really pretty location for cocktail hour. Note, there's a terrace that is along the water (south side of the building) you might be able to use only if there isn't another wedding reception going on in the Pacific Ballroom. Our reception was held in the Bayside Ballroom - amazing views of the water, Redondo pier and the PV Peninsula. On wedding day, the hotel provided the Harbor Room, with room keys for my bridesmaids and I to use (9a to-7p). It was wonderful! They set up a large round table and had high tables set up with high chairs for hair and makeup. And they provided garment racks for us to hang the wedding dress and bridesmaids dresses. The room also has a lot of natural light which helps the hair/makeup team and has a restroom (no shower) so a very functional space. We did most of the bridal party pictures in hidden garden areas along the hotel. Family wedding photos were taken in the "Living Room" through the lobby. It's very elegant and takes great photos. The only thing was we had to wait to use it. There was another couple getting married that day (they married off-site and had their reception in the Pacific Ballroom) and they were using the room after they were back from their ceremony. We knew there would be another couple getting married that day, but we were assured the "Brides" would not see each other. At the end of the day, it was not an issue. Funny thing, there was actually a 3rd bride who was at the hotel waiting for the area for photos (she didn’t get married there; they were at a venue nearby). From what the hotel told us, the hotel is popular for brides to stay, prep, and take photos. So don't be surprised if you run into more than 1 other bride there. It will still be your special day no matter how many other brides you run into. For the food, we tasted the selections before making them at a showcase the hotel offered. The hotel invites couples getting married there to come and taste the different dishes and meet vendors. Great resources so definitely sign up and go! Everyone at our wedding loved the food, we received a ton of compliments. During dinner and with the speeches our guests in the back couldn’t hear very well because of the music in the other ballroom. The hotel did make a point to tell us it would not be a problem with sound, but turns out it was, but only during the speeches. So make sure your DJ or sound people do an extra check on that. Not a huge issue for us; by the time dancing came around, the sound was fine and everyone was dancing and having a great time. Our wedding was incredible and The Portofino really did a great job in having it come out perfectly for us. I’m sure it also depends on who you have working with you. We were lucky in that all our vendors were great, including our day of coordinator who was also on top of everything for us. The Portofino’s definitely a place worth checking out if you’re in search of an amazing venue.

autiful wedding