We spent a night at Portofino last night as it was my girlfriend's birthday. We needed a place that was close enough to Los Angeles to get back for work in the morning and Portofino worked perfectly.

From the time of reservation through check out, everything was perfect. The staff was friendly and helpful from valet to restaurant to front desk and room service.

Rooms look recently updated and they are very comfortable. We overlooked the ocean side on the 3rd floor and it's definitely worth booking the ocean side. We had seals outside our window so we got to enjoy them, but never heard them with the balcony door closed.

Baleen restaurant is great also. We had dinner overlooking the harbor and our meal was outstanding (try the snapper!). And room service in the morning was quick, hot, and really tasty (this is something that a lot of hotels don't do well).

Most of all, we enjoyed the holiday feel of our trip as the property is decorated really well for the holidays. It got us in the holiday spirit!

Thanks so much to the whole team at Portofino!

First the pros: great location, good value, and a front desk manager who cares.

Recently I stayed for 4 nights on Priceline/Hotwire bids, and asked for and received early check-in, a room on the 3rd floor, and was able to get an ocean view for a nominal fee.

The location on the harbor was perfect, other reviewers complain about the seals' noise but one is after all by the ocean - personally I found the setting overall very relaxing and convenient.

Value was good given what I paid vs. the rack rates.

I have to give a compliment to Sebastian (front desk manager), who remedied a service issue by comping lunch and offering a free movie. He demonstrated great customer service and is a valuable asset to the hotel and its customers.

On the minus side, rooms with connecting doors have thin walls and one can easily hear conversations in the other room, so I would recommend getting a non-adjoining room.

Also, overall service was very uneven - one morning I did not get the wake-up call that I requested, and was not told about cable TV maintenance that was scheduled, so TV reception was suddenly interrupted for an hour without warning (also accompanied by intermittent thumping on the roof). I was told by a flyer under my door that there would be an interruption in water service one day but when I called the front desk, I was told not to worry about it. So I was told about planned maintenance that didn't happen and was not told about planned maintenance that did happen. Housekeeping knocked on my door a few times even though I had the "Do not disturb" sign on the door. Finally, while my lunch was comped, the food quality was middling (don't order the fries unless you like grease).

In sum - ok, YMMV.

Spacious room and bathroom, sliding door on patio brought in balmy CA air, fireplace in bar for cool fall night, free bikes for morning ride along ocean, close to pier and variety of restaurants. View does include parking lot, but still fun to see all the masts bobbing in the harbor. Connecting rooms for family. Visitors were able to park for free at hotel while meeting for drink. Staff helpful.

stayed in this hotel for 5 nights for a family function. the room was called marina view but was really a car park view, we could have upgraded to ocean view but this really a view of a brickwall and some sea. basically this is a very good quality motel the rooms are spacious enough and the beds are very comfortable and if it sold itself as this it would be fine, it is not a ccountry house style house hotel as the website pretends, yes it has a beautiful lounge area although the bar is only open in the evening . the pool is tiny and this is not a hotel if you wanted to stay on site most of the day, it is agood base for touring the area and is very clean. there is nothing really wrong with the hotel it just isn't quite what it thinks it is. However for the rate in this area it does make decent value. I would say go there and enjoy the local area.