The Portofino Hotel & Marina Reviews

I will attempt not to write novel. But I married the love of my life at Portofino Hotel & Marina last month and it was incredible. Beautiful venue, Beautiful food, and service but the greatest part was the help and support we got from the Wedding Planners/Guides/Helping Hands whom were Sierra Gaffney & Rain Villanueva. Dream Team is what they are. They took care of me and my wife at every turn and made this process one of ease. Every time we had a question they had an answer. They are epically patient , kind and gracious every single step of the way. We CANNOT THANK THEM ENOUGH. Infinite Stars!!! Thank you Rain & Sierra!! Thank you Portofino.

We recently celebrated our wedding at the Portofino Hotel & Marina in May 2024, and it was nothing short of perfect. The exceptional attention to detail by Rain and Sierra ensured that everything went seamlessly, from the ceremony to the reception. Their dedication and expertise were evident in every aspect, allowing us to enjoy our day without any worries. Additionally, the food was amazing and the views incredible.

Many of our guests remarked that it was the best wedding they had ever attended, a testament to the impeccable service and stunning venue. The staff's warm hospitality and professionalism made everyone feel welcome and well-cared for. The Portofino truly exceeded our expectations, creating an unforgettable experience that we will cherish forever. We highly recommend this venue to anyone looking for a perfect wedding location.

We booked the El Rey Catamaran for an after-party after our wedding to take us around the harbor on a sunset cruise boat ride, and it was so beautiful.

I worked with Lauren who was super responsive and very on top of everything. She even set aside time to greet us when we dropped off decorations the night before. She gave us an impromptu tour of the boat, and she was so understanding when we were running late the day of.

The food on the boat was amazing as well, and the menu options were so diverse. Overall, it was an amazing experience, and I highly recommend booking with Portofino for any event!

Where do I begin?!! The Portofino Hotel & Marina was INCREDIBLE!!!!!! From day one all the way to today, a few days after the wedding, all the staff we encountered has been excellent!! Specifically I want to give a shout out to Sierra, Rain, Luis, Paco, & Mac & Melanie. Sierra was my main hotel wedding coordinator and contact. She was so responsive, attentive, organized, sweet, available, and amazing!! I couldn’t be happier with her and her services. The entire experience was seamless. We planned an entire wedding in under 2 months together as I was eager to marry my man this year. She was so helpful and explained any and all things when I had questions. Starting with booking the venue all the way to the day after the wedding. Everything was so organized, including the deadlines of decisions I needed to make, and payment info, and what to do if it rained. She had everything covered. THANK YOU THANK YOU SIERRA!! Rain was also another venue coordinator & catering sales manager who helped us too and he was amazing as well. He stepped in when/if Sierra was out of the office and he attended our tasting and answered so many questions as well. He was so nice, sweet and great to work with. Very organized and never missed a beat! Thank you Rain!! Luis, the director of Banquets, handled anything food and drink related and everything was perfect. He even placed two of each hors d’oeuvres at our sweetheart table (knowing we probably wouldn’t get a chance to eat them during cocktail hour as we were busy mingling) and he was right!! It was such a sweet, simple gesture that made a big impression on us. Paco was one of the Bartenders from the day of (I never got a chance to meet our other bartender) and he was so fun and cheerful and positive and an overall great spirit. Guests kept telling me how much they loved Paco and me too! Mac worked on the hotel side and we met him when we checked in and he handled ALL our luggage and he also golf carted me around on the actual wedding day so I didn’t have to walk too much. He was super sweet and was so helpful and had a great vibe! Also, my initial point of contact was Melanie who responded to my initial venue request. She was so great and helpful and responsive that right away we were sold and we booked the venue the next day without ever even seeing it in person.
On top of all the AMAZING staff, the venue is just absolutely beautiful!! You can’t find a prettier ocean front venue in the So Cal. Just gorgeous. We chose a type of all-inclusive wedding package that included a sit down 3-course dinner, open bar, ceremony, hotel room, wedding cake, and many more perks such as white linen, candles on each table, arch on the ceremony grass, champagne toast, etc. It was perfect, efficient, organized and made my life so easy. I really didn’t have to do much except invite guests and show up!! many of my guests told me afterward they were so impressed with the staff, venue and the food!!! Seriously, the food was excellent. I know all of this sounds too good to be true but honestly it was. I had zero problems, no horror stories, nothing. It truly was a PERFECT day. I also found out afterward that a coworker of mine got married here too this past summer and she said the same thing. Her day was perfect as well and I am not surprised at all. Thank you to everyone at the Portofino! We cant wait to come back just to enjoy the restaurant, the views and the excellent service 😊

We recently eloped and decided to have a reception/family reunion for friends and family to celebrate our union. I did all the coordination myself and because of the event staff at the Portofino Hotel I always felt like everything was under control. They have amazing tools to help visualize everything, super responsive and caring event managers (big shout out to Rain V. who runs a tight ship and understands how to create the best programs for his hotel and his clients!), and a wonderful banquet staff that executed the night perfectly. The location for the price cannot be beat. Cocktail hour at sunset in the marina was truly magical and the venue itself was spacious and well-appointed. Hightly recommend!

Portofino was a stunning location to get married at! The events team made sure everything was perfect for the big day. The food and speciality cocktails from the banquets team were incredible. The hotel staff were attentive and gave us the VIP treatment. It was all very inclusive and affordable, especially for a prime, Southern California location. We are so glad we chose this venue for our wedding. It was a perfect day!

The Portofino Hotel & Marina was the venue my husband and I chose for our wedding. It was the perfect venue for us. We always dreamed of having a wedding by the beach, and the minute we walked into the beautiful hotel we knew that was the one. The staff was friendly, helpful, and professional. Rain and Sierra answered all of our questions and went above and beyond to make sure the cost stayed within our budget. The valet guys and banquet staff helped us load everything onto carts, so we didn't have to carry everything ourselves. And the front desk helped us with our hotel room and even gave us a discount since I stayed an extra night the day before the wedding. One of the nights we stayed at the hotel, they had live music and it really added to the relaxing, chill ambiance.

When Rain promised us a magical wedding, he was not kidding! We needed a last-minute venue and were particular about how we wanted our seating arrangements and entertainment. Rain made it all happen quickly and gave very valuable advice, guiding us every step of the way. This is a great venue for any occasion and we are so glad we chose to get married here. We still enjoy the periodic staycations to remind us!

We chose the Portofino Hotel & Marina for our daughter’s wedding because we loved the beautiful Seaside Lawn where the ceremony was held and the adjacent Pacific ballroom with views of the Redondo Beach harbor for our 75 guest dinner reception. The Portofino staff were very professional and helpful every step of the way. They made the planning and execution as stress free as possible. I’m so glad everything went well, our guests enjoyed a fun time and we have lots of happy memories to look back on. A huge thank you to Rain Villanueva for his help in making it happen!

We had our reception at the Portifino Hotel and It was such a delight! We are not based in L.A. and I was nervous about planning a wedding (I did not have a planner) from far away, but the Portifino and Rain Villanueva made the process so easy and stress-free! Rain was so responsive from the start before we had even signed a contract and provided us with all the information we needed. He was so flexible and even FaceTimed with us to show us the ballrooms. We visited the hotel in person before deciding where to have the reception, and as soon as we showed up all the staff were so lovely and welcoming. The beautiful views of the Marina from the ballrooms, the gorgeous and serene lobby, and the delicious food at the hotel restaurant were more than enough to convince us to have our reception there and It did not disappoint on the wedding day! The staff were all so sweet and professional and the reception was so much fun, our guests couldn’t stop telling us how much they enjoyed It! Also, a few family members had strict diets and the chef and staff did an amazing job with the food and making sure they also got to enjoy their meals. It was an all-around great experience and I can’t thank the Portofino and Rain enough for all they did for us to make It a dream come true!

This hotel is very nice for a wedding and reception. I highly recommend this place especially for the view if you love the water. Rain was very helpful with this experience and his service was exceptional.

We loved getting married at the Portofino. They made the planning process so easy, Chris and Rain were friendly to work with and responsive.

Our guests stayed at the hotel and it was so easy and beautiful. The lobby was a great gathering space. We loved the getting ready spaces and photo locations available at the hotel.

Our cocktail hour was on the lawn and it was so fun! We got a lot of comments on how great the food was and the highest praise was for how speedy the bartenders were!

We'd choose the Portofino again and again!

We had a small wedding and the Baleen staff at the Portofino was perfect! Rain and staff were responsive and attentive to every detail. Their recommended vendors terrific!

There isn't enough words in the world to express how absolutely amazing our experience was here at the Portofino. Ever since I was young, I always knew I wanted a beautiful oceanfront wedding, and Portofino completely delivered that and MORE.

Everything throughout my wedding planning process was sooo smooth thanks to Rain, aka their most amazing wedding coordinator ever (give that man a raise!!!

Can’t tell you how wonderful it was to work with the Chris and Rain in the catering/wedding department. They made our wedding so memorable and seamless! They were all so exceptional to work with -- always going above and beyond to accommodate all of our questions and requests. So many guests came up to me during the wedding to tell me how fantastic the staff was from beginning to end –especially my friend who brought flowers from the church to put in the bathrooms and various tables. I know they were getting ready for us to arrive, but they stopped to help her get the hangers off the pots from the pews at church without hesitation! While we were taking pictures, several of the staff came out passing hors’d oeuvres and drinks for us to make sure we ate! So wonderful! During the evening everyone kept coming to me to tell how amazing the staff was. We are so grateful we are for their kindness and professionalism in making this “one of the most fun weddings they have been too”---and that is a direct quote! Included in the cost of dinner was an open bar, our wedding cake, our wedding night at the Portofino with ocean view and bottle of wine. We felt that the value of the evening, much less the gorgeous view from the Terrace and Pacific Ballroom were extraordinary. It was a magical day.

We’ll be back next June 29!

So grateful -- many heartful thanks.

We had a wedding at the pacific ballroom with just 50 guest! We thought the place might be too big for that size crowd but it worked out perfectly. (we also hired a photo booth that helped fill some of the space)
From day one we had a great experience with Rain, he was absolutely wonderful!
Honestly the full staff helped make our wedding day perfect they all did an amazing job! The steak!! Our guests kept talking about how great it was. Plus the view! come on u have the ocean right there, and sunset! so stunning!

I had a wonderful wedding last month at the Portofino Hotel. Rain was our point of contact and he was very responsive and helpful throughout the whole process so I knew the day would go well. I liked that the ceremony space and banquet hall were in a separate area yet super close to the hotel itself. It gave us lots of privacy but i was still able to crash in the hotel room right after. The venue is in SoCal right next to the beach so of course the venue and food are on the pricier side, but everything was delicious and well-worth it. I can’t wait to get my photos so that I can re-live the day again!

Great food, service, and atmosphere! Highly recommend this venue if you’re getting married in the area. Cute boutique hotel with an amazing honeymoon suite. The wedding planning team is great to work with as well!

We absolutely loved having our wedding at the Portofino. We worked with Rain throughout the planning process and he was so attentive and easy to work with. He made sure that all of our questions were answered and everything went according to plan. The entire wedding day ran so smoothly thanks to the staff at Portofino. Our guests were blown away by the quality of food, wine, and service. Thank you for the perfect wedding!

We had our wedding reception at the Portofino Hotel & Marina on 10/30/21. Rain Villanueva and Chris Schmidt helped us throughout the entire process and they were both very attentive and detail oriented. Rain made the day of go perfectly. The process went smoothly starting from our menu tasting - all the options were so good, but we ended up choosing the filet mignon, sea bass, and tofu vegetarian option. All the guests were raving at how good the food was. We have also never seen such an attentive and efficient bar service too! The night was slightly chilly during our cocktail hour and Rain and his staff were quick to bring out the space heaters, which were amazing. The night was magical and we thank Portofino for all their efforts. Thanks again to Rain for the surprise note and treats waiting for us in our hotel room that evening!

We had a total of 20 rooms for our wedding guests in addition to our bridal suite and complimentary honeymoon suite which was included in our wedding package. The hotel staff was very kind and accommodating. Upon arrival, check-in was easy, and our rooms were clean and spacious. For group activities, our groomsmen enjoyed the pool and complimentary bike rentals.

Thank you to our wedding coordinators, Rain and Sheena, for being there for us every step of the way. They made the process so easy and seamless for us, especially in a time of COVID wedding restrictions. We were very much impressed with the level of service from our wedding coordinators. They were flexible and easily accessible for tours, emails, planning, calls, photos, tastings, and suggestions. Rain even provided a bottle of wine, treats, and a super cute personal note in our honeymoon suite! Thank you to our wedding team and the rest of the hotel staff for making our dream day a reality.

We had such a great wedding at The Portofino. My husband and I keep saying it really couldn't have been any more perfect. Everything was smooth and seamless - and just stress free, which is of course what you want the big day to be. Rain really helped make everything perfect for our big day. The food here is amazing, too! All of our guests loved it - couldn't be happier!

My fiance and I toured the space and received our quote from Shelley within 24 hours! We have been continually impressed with her excellent communication. My fiance and I both loved that the ceremony space is waterside but also more private than most outdoor spaces we saw. We also love that the ballroom doors open up so that guests can wander in and out, but not have be outside the whole night and deal with temperature changes. We have a lot of out-of-town guests, so we are happy that they don't have a rent a car for the weekend. Also, the food and drinks we tried at the tour were great, can't wait for our official tasting. Will update with a full review once our wedding has happened, we are really looking forward to having it at the Portofino!

My wife and I had the pleasure of having our wedding reception along the beautiful Redondo Beach coastline at the Portofino Hotel & Marina. From the very beginning the staff were courteous, respectful, and attentive to our wishes for our dream event. Rain communicated with us throughout the entire process and he was great to work with! The wedding package we selected included a dinner+cake tasting as well as a complimentary guest room overlooking the ocean (with a surprise wine+snack package). Thank you for making our special day all the more memorable