Homero Manzi tango show: tickets

What you are booking

What you book is a place at a tango show at Esquina Homero Manzi, on the corner of Avenida San Juan and Avenida Boedo in Buenos Aires. The ticket is sold by Providence Viajes, a tour provider, not by the venue itself. It covers the show, an optional three-course dinner with drinks, and a pickup choice, and it gives about three hours in all. The show has fifteen performers and is built around the music of Homero Manzi and Carlos Gardel. Check the calendar: each date carries its own start. Because pickup and dinner are sold inside the same ticket, the booking page, not the venue’s own site, is where you choose among them.

The venue behind the ticket

Esquina Homero Manzi is a café and restaurant that stages tango shows. The venue says its bar was built on the corner in 1927; Buenos Aires city tourism adds that some locals remember a bar here as early as 1914. A plaque on the façade declares the corner a National Historic Site, the city says. The room itself is large, with an upper gallery of boxes and a long bar, as the photograph above shows. The corner takes its name from the lyricist who wrote the words of Sur, and the guide to the corner tells that story in full. It is also the working address of the show you are booking, so the history is not a separate attraction: it is the room you sit in.

Read next: Esquina Homero Manzi and Sur

Show only, or with dinner

The first choice is dinner. Show only means the performance and nothing to eat at the venue. The dinner option adds a three-course meal before the show, and the drinks belong to it: alcoholic and non-alcoholic ones, including a bottle of house wine for every two guests. If you book show only, plan your dinner elsewhere, before or after, and note that the drinks are part of the dinner option rather than the show alone. The page where you choose a date shows what each option costs, so compare the two there. Whichever you choose, the show itself is the same. A French guest called the dinner very good for this kind of show.

Standard menu or VIP menu

Within the dinner option, the booking page sets out two menus, a standard one and a VIP one, each with its own starters, main courses and desserts. This guide does not list dishes, because menus change; the booking page is the place to read them. Both menus come with the same kind of drinks, and the same dietary arrangements apply. If you have dietary needs, menus for coeliacs, diabetics, vegetarians and vegans are available, but you must give advance notice, so tell the provider when you book and not at the table.

Read next: Dinner and drinks at the show

Pickup or meeting point

Pickup from your hotel is part of the ticket, and the details appear on the booking page for your date. If your pickup address is not a hotel, the operator arranges it at the nearest hotel. If you are staying outside the pickup area, choose the meeting-point option when you book and make your own way; your confirmation then carries the details you need for a smooth start. Guests who used the shuttle mention several stops to collect everyone, so a pickup evening is longer than the show alone. The pickup guide goes through both options.

Read next: Pickup or meeting point

What the show is like

The show presents tango as a staged programme, with dancers and live music, in a hall set up for dinner. The venue describes a programme built around the compositions of Homero Manzi, with tributes to Carlos Gardel, set in what it calls tango’s golden age. Wikipedia dates that golden age from about 1935 to 1952, so the 1940s fall in the middle of it. Programmes change, so this guide describes the show as the booking page presents it today and never promises a piece. Guests praise the dancers and the costumes; one wished for fewer people and a more intimate room, which is worth knowing before you book.

Reading the reviews

The ticket is rated 4.5 out of 5 from 87 reviews. Guests praise the dancers and their costumes, the service and the food for what it is, and the pickup and drop-off. They also mention a late start, a long shuttle ride with several stops, and, in one case, a room with more people than they expected. One guest who skipped dinner wished they had chosen it after seeing other tables. None of this changes the choice, but it shapes what to expect on the night.

Which one to book

Choose the dinner option for a complete night in a single venue: you arrive, eat, watch the show and go home, with drinks included. Choose show only if you have a dinner booking elsewhere or you would rather keep the night short, for instance after a long day of sightseeing. Choose the standard menu unless the VIP menu looks better on the booking page; there is no need to overthink it, since the show is the same either way and the drinks are of the same kind. Pick pickup if you want a door-to-door evening, and the meeting point if you are staying outside the pickup area or prefer to arrive on your own.

Planning the day, and arriving

Reviewers describe a late start, so the day before the show can stay open: a walk along Avenida Boedo, with its historic cafés and bars, makes a natural prelude. On arrival the evening follows the option you chose, with dinner guests seated for the meal and the show after it. If a group wants to sit together, say so to the provider at booking rather than at the door. Bring the confirmation and your passport or ID card, as the ticket asks.

Read next: Boedo: the barrio of Manzi

Booking and changing

Start from the booking calendar, pick a date, then choose the number of guests, the dinner option if you want it, and pickup or meeting point. The fare appears in your own currency. You can pay now, or reserve and pay later, and you can cancel up to 24 hours before the start for a full refund. Keep the confirmation, because it shows the pickup and show times. The 4.5 rating comes from guests who booked this ticket, so it reflects the whole evening, pickup included, not only the show. The ticket is wheelchair accessible.

Who this isn’t for

It is a dinner show, not a milonga, so you will not be dancing, and it is not a tango lesson. Reviewers mention a late start, which does not suit early sleepers or very young children. The room is large, so anyone who wants a small, quiet hall may prefer a different evening. Nor is it a quiet recital: the hall is set up as a restaurant, with tables and a bar. Manzi wrote in Spanish, so a visitor who wants the words should read a translation first. Anyone who just wants a look at the corner can read the plaques and signs from the pavement.