El Viejo Almacén

Occasion: The dinner part of a tango show package
Location: El Viejo Almacén on the corner of Balcarce and Independencia in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires (viejo-almacen.com.ar)
Edibles: I had the empanadas, followed by a fish dish and cake for dessert; Elizabeth had salad, ravioli and fruit salad

Musings: A COLOSSAL waste of time and money. I'm actually still angry that this is where we spent our last night in Buenos Aires. Grrrr. Hate.

If you find yourself in B.A. and feel that you simply must see a tango show*, please do NOT get the dinner package. You will be tempted to do so because of the awkward scheduling: the show starts at 10:00, around the same time Argentineans eat dinner. (Restaurants are generally still prepping for the start of service at 8:00.) But trust me, you will be able to find something better than the in-house prix fixe.

In quality and preparation, the food was about the level of airplane food, listless and perfunctory. Elizabeth succinctly described it as "disgusting." She picked at her salad, which featured an inexplicable selection of canned vegetables, and only ate three out of her five ravioli. My empanadas were mass-produced, microwaved travesties. Just criminal, consider the fantastic and reasonably-priced food otherwise available in the city.

The piss-poor wine that they served (included in the prix fixe) was so cheap that they were willing to open two bottles for us, white for me, red for Elizabeth. At $50 a head, you'd think they could spring for some decent local wine - for example, on our wine tour we tasted an excellent sauvignon blanc that we were told retailed for under $4 a bottle.

Bottom line: Blechh.

[*Note: The tango show itself - another $50 per person - was amateurish and cheesy. The dancers barely had space to move around on the tiny stage and the show contained about a 3:1 ratio of filler to actual dancing. What a racket.]