Milonga La Nacional — Attraction in Autonomous City of Buenos Aires

DO NOT RECOMMEND for tourists, foreigners, or ex-pats.

I have been there twice. The first time was for a benefit milonga for a dancer that had been attacked outside this venue after a milonga a few weeks ago. I felt it was important to be supportive to a local dancer. I didn’t dance much, but it was ok because I was tired. My friend said that he couldn’t get any locals to dance with him, only foreigners.

The food was pretty good. Better than some places. The floor is nice and bigger than many places and the building has character.

The second time I went was truly awful. My friend arrived before me and they sat him at a particular table. When I arrived the gal told me to go find him with a smile on her face. She was very nice.

Then an older gentleman told me to move. He said that only men could sit on this side of the dance floor and that women had to sit on the other side. While my friend tried to explain that we came together, I looked around the room and was confused because on every side (including ours), there were men and women sitting together. The man shrugged his shoulders and then left.

He came back again and told us that our particular table was only men and that we should go to another table. We explained to him that the woman at the front sat us here. Again, he made a big fuss and then shrugged his shoulders and left.

A third time he came to harass us I asked him if he was the owner, he said yes. So we got up and went to where he told us. He told us to sit all the way at the back against the wall, then he told us to sit at the table. He was moving us around like we were objects, not people. It was very shaming.

I was very upset, but I tried to calm down, but after only a few moments some other woman came and explained I had to move my chair back 3” so that the chair in front wasn’t on the dance floor (it wasn’t). I tried to explain that the owner himself sat me there, but she didn’t care.

During all this time, I watched as the owner sat men and women together all over the room with a smile and kisses and warmth. It was obvious that all his reasons to move us had nothing to do with the truth of the situation. Only to do with the fact that we were not welcome.

After the final harassment of the lady, I was done. I didn’t feel welcome… I felt humiliated, attacked, and bullied. I didn’t expect to get our money back, but the owner allowed it. Of course, he took the opportunity to bully us some more during our exit telling us we should’ve gotten a reservation first.

I have just visited the website and no where does it say you need a reservation.

I cannot believe that a business owner can treat people so poorly. It’s the most horrifying experience I have ever had in my life in any establishment. Ever.

I really try hard to give a balanced review and star rating. But the owners attitude towards us that night (along with other stories I have heard from locals and tourists) made that really hard to do in this situation.

The thing is had he handled it differently, with less disdain and contempt, it would’ve been fine. It seemed like he was just determined to move us and kept giving any reason he could think of to do so. Reasons that didn’t seem to apply to anyone else, but us.

Also, it should be noted that this neighborhood is considered very bad. DO NOT attempt to walk to find a taxi or walk anywhere late at night. Call an Uber and wait inside the doorway for...

We are a family from the United States. Seeing an authentic Tango show was topmost in our list of things to do. During our trip to Buenos Aires in July, we visited La Nacional. And we loved it!! The ambiance, the food and of course the Tango is out of this world!! We were given complimentary tango lessons before the show and it was so much fun ☺️ The show and especially the dancers are world class and they were up close so could enjoy thoroughly! Will definitely recommend our friends from US if they are visiting Buenos Aires!...

Such a lovely traditional Tango venue! Different organizers create different styles along the week. Some days older people and more traditional style, other days, more young dancers or even more tourists. Most of milongas offer a couple performance or a Tango orchestra playing for dancing. La Nacional has a wonderful wooden floor, one of the few big wooden dance floor surviving in Buenos Aires. Good food an drink services, with some variation. And most of the nights excellent Djs. Unmissable if you want to enjoy dancing...