A Practical Guide to Harbor Nights at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel

We've seen the two and a half hour event take place as many as four different times throughout the year... but sometimes there has only been one per year.  While the format of each event doesn't change much — the food, wine, and music change slightly to match the current season.

• Harbor Nights Romantico takes place around Valentines Day, usually the Friday before or after February 14th.
• Harbor Nights Primavera celebrates the spring and takes place between May and April.
• Harbor Nights La Dolce Vita celebrates the end of summer and helps usher in (slightly) cooler temperatures. The La Dolce Vita event takes place from mid to late October.
• Holiday Harbor Nights helps kick off the holiday season with the lighting of a large outdoor Christmas Tree! The Holiday Harbor Nights event usually takes place on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Somewhere between 45 and 60 days before the start of any given Harbor Nights — a food and wine menu is posted, along with that event's pricing and exact date and time info. We try and post that information as quickly as possible here on the Mealtrip site.

There's three different ticket levels available for the Harbor Nights events... a Standing/Strolling Harbor Ticket, a VIP Ticket, and a Corporate Table for up to 10 people. Since you can't directly purchase the Corporate Tables online, we'll focus on the first two ticket types. The Corporate Table isn't a bad deal though, if you can fill all 10 seats.

The exact ticket price seems to remain pretty stable over the year, but (like most things), does go up from time to time. There is sales tax and a ticket fee attached to this one as well, so the published price, isn't the "actual" price. We always post the event price levels here on the Mealtrip site, when the menus are released for each of the seasonal events.

The Standing/Strolling Harbor Ticket

The Standing/Strolling Harbor Ticket is the lower cost ticket for the event. It does include unlimited food and wine samples over the course of the evening and the live band and opera singers are available to everyone at the event. The only thing that you won't get with a Strolling Ticket — is seating or a dedicated table.

There are some high-boy style standing tables here and there, spead out over the piazza … but there's generally more guests than there are tables. Seats, are very, very, very limited — and only seem to be near some of the street-side shops around the piazza. It's not really clear if those chairs are for shop customers or Harbor Nights event guests… but there are very, very few of them.

VIP Ticket with Seating

The VIP Ticket level is the highest priced ticket for the event... it's generally 45%-50% more than the Standing/Strolling Harbor Ticket. You'll get access to the same unlimited food and wine samples throughout the evening, and have a dedicated table and chair in a secure area (you'll need to wear an event wristband to get into the VIP area).

In addition to the table, chair, and all the Standing/Strolling food that's available on the piazza — there's a special six course menu with (five) exclusive wine pairings — those extra food and wine items are available ONLY to VIP guests. (Technically, it's actually "five exclusive courses and pairings" — we've noticed that the "dessert" line item is just a plated collection of the same desserts that are available to the Standing/Strolling guests.)  The extra VIP food and wine pairing are served by waitstaff, so you won't have to get up and go anywhere to enjoy the VIP experience.

I've always found the VIP waitstaff at Harbor Nights to be top-notch — whisking around, filling wine glasses and taking away plates that you no longer need, etc. While you don't technically have a dedicated "waiter or waitress" — I've found these cast members to be some of the most attentive waitstaff around, and definitely make the VIP ticket level more valuable.

All of the Harbor Nights events are for guests 21 and older... there's really nothing here for children, so it's definitly an "adults night out" kind of event.

There's actually a couple different answers to the "who's it for" question, that seems to be split between the different ticket levels.

The Standing/Strolling Harbor Ticket makes for a great date night, or girls/guys night out type of event. It's fun strolling along while a great live band performs, picking up food and wine samples here and there, chatting as you go — all without having to worry about the cost. Since the event is pre-paid and you'll be identified by wearing a Harbor Nights wristband, you'll be able to pick up as many food and beverage samples as you want over the course of the evening.

There are a couple of high-boy type of standing tables here and there, perfect for putting your wine glass down for a moment or two (especially if one of the food samples requires a fork), but the tables really aren't intended for "holding" all evening.

The live band and opera singers are available to everyone... there's even a small dance area in front of the live cover band that a little easier to get to for the Standing/Strolling Ticket level than it is for the VIP Ticket holders.

The VIP Ticket level has a little more of a "Special Night Out" kind of feel — the VIP Seating area is separated from the main Harbor Piazza by low planters — so you're still in all the action — but having a dedicated place to sit and put your stuff (jacket over the chair, purse on the table, etc) is actually very nice. Since there's a "known" number of guests in the VIP area, it never really feels crowded, and the waitstaff is pretty great. The Standing/Strolling Harbor Ticket guests have different colored wristbands, and are not allowed into the VIP area.

The VIP tables do tend to have more middle aged guests while the general Standing/Strolling Harbor Ticket holders are a little younger — but that's just a vague generalization. I actually quite like the VIP tables and feel like — if you're going to go — do it up right and get a VIP table!

The Portofino Bay Hotel is a Loews Hotel Resort complex near Universal Studios — and has a very Italian / Mediterranean feel. The Harbor Nights event takes place in the Hotel's "Harbor Piazza", which is a really large, outdoor event space that has a lake on one side (the Portofino "Bay") and shops with hotel rooms on the other three sides.



The area takes on a very soft, warm glow as the sun goes down and is well-lit once it gets dark. There is an indoor space that's available as a backup option if there's going to be inclement weather.

Part of the Piazza (or courtyard) is blocked off and dedicated as "VIP" space by some very low planters with shrubs in them. It's actually done very nicely and everyone still feels like they're part of the "al fresco" action.

Bathrooms — are located nearby, but unless you "know" where they are — they seem to be a little difficult to find. If you head off to the north west corner of the Piazza, you'll be heading in the right direction. Fortunately — everyone working the event seems to know the answer, so just ask anyone, and they'll point you in the right direction.

Yes there is! If you've purchased any of the Harbor Nights tickets, there's complimentary self parking in the resort's parking garage or discounted valet parking available just by puling up to the front of the resort. (There's little signs on the driveway leading to the resort, so just follow those to whichever location you want to park in).

I don't know exactly how much the discount is if you decide to go with valet parking. I've never used valet parking at Portofino Bay. The self-parking garage is kind of tight if you have a really large vehicle — but I think it's kind of fun driving around up and down the different levels.

I will say though — self parking is much easier if you arrive say, 45 minutes before the event begins. Quite a few people do show up for a Harbor Nights event — and that's on top of all the other guests staying at the resort. If you're pulling up 5 minutes before the event starts… parking is going to be hard to find in the self-parking area.

If you're already staying at the resort — the free parking or discounted valet parking is not available. I have no idea what that actually means — I've never actually been staying at Portofino Bay when a Harbor Nights event was going on — but it's in the fine print on everything that they publish about Harbor Nights — so I thought I'd pass that info on.

Once you park your car, head over to the main entrance to the Portofino Bay Hotel (if you valet parked, you're pretty much already there). They do seem to like using little letter-sized signs — so be on the lookout for tiny pieces of paper that have "Harbor Nights This Way" printed on them.

Check-in is divided in two groups (usually) — the VIP Tickets in one area and the Standing/Strolling Tickets in another. I've seen the actual locations happen in a couple different locations over the years, but generally speaking... if you're looking for VIP Check-In, it's just past the lobby area of the Portofino Bay Hotel, indoors.

The Standing/Strolling Ticket Check-In is usually outdoors and to the left of the main entrance to the hotel.

The VIP Ticket Check-In is usually inside, just beyond the main lobby area.

Both of the check-in areas really only open about 15 minutes before the event starts, and there will be a line. Eventbrite is generally used as the ticket provider/seller — and your pre-purchased ticket can be printed out, or saved to your phone.

Just present your ticket and name info to the check-in cast member and you will be given a wrist band for that night's event. The Standing Ticket and VIP Ticket wristbands are different, and you'll need a VIP wristband to get into the VIP reserved seating area. That's pretty much it for check-in. All you have to do now is wait for the event to start.

They are reeeeealy serious about the start and end times too. While you can mull around the area ahead of time — none of the culinary or beverage stations will start serving anything until the exact start minute of the event. The VIP Seating really doesn't begin more than five minutes before the start of the event either, so there's no "early bird specials" in the VIP section.

Honestly though… as long as you're on time… there shouldn't be any need to hurry. The culinary and beverage station lines can be quite long in the standing/strolling ticket area — at first. After the first hour though, you can walk-up to most of the culinary and beverage stations with no waiting. I have seen them run out of a particular wine or two — but I'd say, right up until the last half hour of the event, all of the savory and dessert food stations stay fully staffed and have food.

The tapas-style food at Harbor Nights is provided by a special event culinary team from the Portofino Bay resort. There's usually a couple of stations that are serving items that I'd classify as "starters", a couple of "sides" and a couple of "mains" — all the food is great and the menu for each evening is fairly well thought out.

There are event tables with one or two cooking stations set up in various locations throughout the piazza. If there's a particualar cooking station on the left side of the piazza, there will probably be one on the right side as well. Both of those  cooking stations will be serving the same items... they just offer two stations to keep the lines from getting too long.

As long as you have a Standing/Strolling wristband or a VIP wristband on, you pretty much just walk up to a cooking station and they'll hand you a sample of what they are making for that night's event. Ifyou want to ask questions about the food, you can — for example, if you have a nut allergy or something, it's always best to talk directly with the person making the food!

In between the cooking stations, there's wine stations... those usually have between two and four different wines available. To me, it doesn't seem like the wine stations are duplicated quite as much as the food stations are — what I mean is, you might not find the same wine on the left side of the pizza, as you'll find on the right side.

Here again, as long as you have the Harbor Nights wristband on, they'll hand you a sample of whatever they're pouring at that station... and you're free to go back as many times as you want.



There are usually five or six savory items at each of the Harbor Nights events, so that means there will be around 10 cooking stations and probably 6-8 beverage stations set up all around the pizza —  the whole idea is, you can stroll around and pick up food and wine samples as you go.

In the VIP area, the night's special multi-course food items and wines are avilable ONLY to guests located inside the VIP area, and it's all served table-side by waitstaff ... so there's not as much walking around — if you don't want to walk around. But if you do want to — you are free to roam the main piazza as well — and sample all the Standing/Strolling food as well. VIP Guests can come and go from the VIP area to the piazza area with very little hastle (as long as you're wearing your VIP wristband).



As I mentioned before, the events are seasonally themed, so you might find a little more seafood and some fresh garden veggies being used in the spring events — where the autumn and winter events might feature more root veggies and beef — but that's just a rough generalization. There's almost always a flatbread or two, a beef or pork item, a chicken item, a seafood item and a couple of dessert and gelatos.


The menu is not extensive — it generally only contains five or six savory items, two mini desserts and two gelatos. The portion sizes are also what I would call tapas or sample sized — but you can go back and get as many as you want.

I've found that I can try one of everything and go back and get a couple more of my favorites before moving on to the mini dessert and gelato... and leave feeling full and happy.

The extra VIP food is served "course style"... so those food and beverage pairings that are exclusive to the VIP area are a one-shot deal — they're not "all you care to enjoy". VIP guests do also have access to all the Standing/Strolling food and wine on the piazza though — which is all you care to enjoy.



There's a little gelato shop at the Portofino Bay Hotel and Resort called the Gelateria which usually has around 14 flavors of gelato on any given day. I suspect (becuase gelato requires a special machine) the gelato samples that are available at Harbor Nights are made by the Gelateria. Two seasonal flavors are featured at each of the Harbor Nights events. No matter what flavors show up — they both pair really well with sparkling wine!

There's also two or three dessert items that are made by the Portofino Bay pastry and catering teams. They are served in cute little cups and are as pretty as they are tasty.

I know we are a "rate and review" directory here at Mealtrip ... but it's a little hard to generally "rate" all the Harbor Nights events because the food and environment at each one is different. Harbor Nights has also gone through at least one tansformation since we've been going to them. We do have several reviews with lots of photos available from past "Harbor Nights Previous Format" events…

• Harbor Nights Primavera (Previous Format) Review Page
• Holiday Harbor Nights (Previous Format) Review Page

… but really, it just depends on the menu — and if there's a number of items on the menu that sound good to you. Honestly, I've usually found that two or three of the six Standing/Strolling items are really good "standout" items of the night, while the others are just "okay". The VIP food items are all usually really good and the wine pairings are well thought out.

Harbor Nights is not just about the food though — it's a combination of the food and wine, the dining outdoor with live music, special night experience — and I feel like they've found a great balance of all those things, for the price being charged.

There's a decent selection of Italian and Mediterranean wines available, including Sparkling, Rose, White, and Red Wines. This isn't one of those events where you're going to find 100 different wines you've never heard of before — but the 12-15 different selections have been carefully made and pretty much cover all the bases.

The wines are what I would call "dinner wines" — most all of them are commonly available — but they are one step above "day wines" and those "box wines" at the big box stores (aka, there's no two buck chuck being served to masses here).  Because the Portofino Bay Hotel is an Italian themed hotel — they have a decent quality of Italian dinner wines on-hand from the various restaurants to choose from.

Because we're talking about beverages — most of the wine stations also have bottled and/or filtered water available, and some may even have a soda or two, if you're not a wine drinker. Coffee stations are usually located in the middle of the piazza (courtyard area). Here's a helpful tip though — if you want a coffee — make sure you get one before the event's official end time. The coffee station seems to be one of the first things they take away at the end of the event.

How much wine do you get in each glass? Well, it's small samples at first — but the samples are unlimited, so you can really go back and get as much as you want. I've found that as the night progresses, they'll fill your glass a little more if you ask them to. The theory being, that by mid-event, you've probably found the wine you'd like to drink the rest of the night.

There's usually two performance groups that provide entertainment over the course of the evening. There's a really great live band that does two sets — and then opera singers perform from one of the piazza's balconies in-between the main live band's performances.

The evening starts off with the main live band performing what I would call Classical Pop, Swing, and Light Jazz from the 50's — Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Rosemary Clooney — real classy stuff that's perfect for kicking off the evening. At the more seasonal events (like Holiday Harbor Nights), this set might include quite a few holiday favorites.

After the main band's first break, usually a duo or trio of opera singers perform some classics from a balcony that's close to the main entrance of the event space (two levels of stairs that lead to the front lobby area of the resort).



The main band's second set really kicks things into high gear with more modern pop, easy listening, and even rock songs. This seems to be when the dance floor gets used the most!

Finally, the opera singers perform one final set for the evening. Make sure to grab your last dessert, wine, or coffee from the coffee station (located in the middle of the piazza) before the opera singer's second set is over — the staff will start breaking down some of the service areas as soon as the "event end time" hits, right about when the opera singers perform their last song.

As I mentioned before, the Harbor Nights event isn't really about one thing. I've seen many online blogs call it a "wine tasting" event — and I totally disagree with that notion.

It's a fun, special night out — dining al fresco under the stars, with good food, some good wines, and plenty of live music. It's really hard to separate any one of those things out from the other.



I think all of the elements together actually add up to a pretty great value… no matter which ticket level you go with. I pretty much always go for the "VIP Table" ticket — mostly because I don't like standing and eating. I find having a dedicated chair, the extra food and wine pairings — to be worth the extra 45% over the "strolling" ticket.

While it will never match the scope or grandeur of something like Epcot's Party for the Senses (which we will probably never see again) — Harbor Nights has never really left me wishing there was more food or wine or entertainment. It's a well paced, well balanced evening — that's just plain fun.