Flora H.
Yelp
The tango shows in Buenos Aires are expensive, because it is the "thing to do" for tourists, and they are willing to pay for it. Sure it's pricey, but I think it's worth doing once. Because after all, you ARE a tourist.
We read through the reviews of the various tango shows (there are a lot of them) and settled on La Ventana because it was a smaller, more intimate show (we were seated in the room upstairs, and each table was less than 10 feet from the stage). There are other shows that are more like going to the theater, with people seated near and far from a large stage.
Being foodies, we didn't want to eat at a tango show "just because", since the food is known to be above average but not great, and would cost an additional $55 per person (with unlimited wine though, so not a terrible deal). We opted to eat near our hotel in Palermo instead and get picked up just before the show.
The ticket price includes pick up and drop off from your hotel by shuttle buses. We were (promptly) picked up at 9 pm and there was only one other pair of people on the shuttle (the only other "non-diners"), but when we were dropped off, we were the last of maybe 5 stops (the shuttle went first to Recoleta then to Palermo).
The pricing is a bit odd. I'm not sure if this is true for all tango shows or just La Ventana, but everyone seems to get charged something different. The online price was higher than the price our hotel was able to get for us just by calling. Online it is $115 for just the show / $170 plus dinner or $170/$240 for "VIP". Not really sure what VIP means since the room that we watched the show in wasn't really big enough to have a non-VIP section. All the seats were great. Anyways, our hotel got a rate of $70 per person, without dinner, which we paid in USD cash when we arrived. The other reviewer seems to have gotten dinner included also, for $100. So make sure you don't pay the online price!
The ticket included two drinks (the options offered to us were red wine or white wine) and pick up / drop off. The odd thing is, we were unable to order more drinks from the bar... we were capped at those two glasses. Lost revenue opportunity, if you ask me.
You can't take pictures, and that's likely because the tango dancers come around to each table and offer to take pictures with you for a price (I've heard anywhere from $10 to $20). After the show, they ask if you want to dance.. I'm sure this also has a charge. We didn't want to get hustled, so we said no to it all.
As for the show, it was great! I don't have anything to compare it to, but I really enjoyed it. Lots of outfit changes and different routines. It started at around 10 and lasted about 1.5 hours. They say the Evita song (in Spanish) and there were a couple of non-tango performers. The venue is beautiful.