Arjons — Restaurant in San Antonio

This establishment failed to advertise properly regarding their salsa lessons on Sunday (8:00-9:30pm), that if you do not show up at the start of the class, the instructor will NOT help you. Irregardless of this fact, they take your money anyway, and do not disclose this detail upon entry. I met my wife here over 17 years ago, and yes, we did know how to dance then. We married and life got in the way. Now our children are older, and we are able to spend more time together. We decided to go back to the beginning where we met. We were both excited and nervous to go, it has been a while…

We arrived at 8:35pm (2 Feb) and watched for a bit before deciding to join in. We remembered the basic steps, but the turns were a bit complicated, and they were instructing too fast. We tried repeatedly until the end of the class but unfortunately could not learn the routine. We approached the instructor and asked if he could take a few minutes to teach us. He said, “no, that is why we teach the basics at the beginning of the class, and we showed up too late”. I was taken aback by his attitude. As an instructor myself, I would never turn a struggling student away, and would spend more time with them, if necessary until they understood the material. I walked away and my wife wanted to depart immediately. As we were about to cross the entrance, I saw the man at the counter. I told him that if they were not going to teach people who did not come at the beginning of the class, then they should put that on their website. The older man started laughing at me. I told him curtly do not laugh at me I am serious. He then started yelling at me repeatedly and pointing to “go talk to his brother, the owner”. At that time, we just left.

We have been to other lessons for other styles of dancing and seen when couples have shown up later in the class and the instructor STILL provided instruction without ostracizing them for their tardiness. I am certain this instructor has been late for something before in his life and still expected services… We have always spoken highly of Arjons to our friends and family, and of how we met there, despite our lack of attendance. This time, they were rude, and I am appalled at their behavior. Had the instructor taken 10-15 with us, I am confident we would have learned the steps, eventually remembered more, and had nothing but praise to say about him and the club. However, they did not; they were discourteous and disrespectful, so I am going to do the opposite and let everyone I know how poorly they...

I can't speak to the quality of the booze offerings, because I came here to dance. While the live band had good energy, the music was mostly Latin club music rather than salsa, bachata, cumbia, or meringue, making it difficult to do partner dances. If that's your jam, then awesome, but you are still going to have a tough time dancing because the dance floor is pathetically tiny, so it's virtually impossible to do turns, or even the basic salsa step, because it's incredibly crowded.

The cover charge is $10, and they are very proud of their place. They claimed to be in the top 10 salsa clubs in the country when one of my colleagues inquired about the comparatively high cover charge. I find that a difficult claim to swallow considering the tiny overcrowded dance floor and the fact that they only played one salsa song in the hour we were there. Maybe they play more earlier in the evening, or perhaps it's because of the booze. I didn't buy any drinks but they had plenty of empty tables, and the proportion of tables to dance floor makes it very clear that selling drinks is more important to them than actually being a salsa club.

If you can't dance well, you can also expect to be judged. Some of my friends who don't have much salsa experience were told rather pointedly that they do lessons earlier in the night and that they should show up to those next time. That seemed rather rude, especially because they were having fun and if they don't mind not knowing the steps and aren't bothering customers, why harass them? It's better than some salsa clubs I've been to, but not most of them. Doubling or tripling the dance floor size and cutting the attitude would go a long ways towards making this a pleasant venue for...

Arjon's is a local institution and has been operating for at least 20 years that I know of, but quite possiblly longer. It's technically a bar/club, but the clientele is so diverse that it really feels more like a nightly neighborhood social event. It is quite eclectic! On any given night, there is a mixture of college student, older married couples, singles, men who can't dance salsa but are on the prowl (ha!), people celebrating birthdays, large work/office groups, professional and amateur dancers, students of dance schools... it's definitely a diverse crowd!

If you prefer more Salsa, as opposed to alot of reggaeton and bachata, Sundays are the best nights to go. You will find a higher percentage of seasoned dancers on Sunday. night as well. And there is a dance class you can attend on Sundays before the club opens so you can get the basics down if you are a newbie!

Entry is $10

Pros: Live Band DJ Centrally Located (near SA airport) Dance Classes Food Truck in Parking Lot Lots of Seating Valet Parking Security (Usually a SAPD officer walkin g the crowd and at the door)

Cons: Smallish Dance Floor Bar understaffed (I don't drink but the bar is literally always backed up, causing crowding near the dance floor) People often standing on dance floor and not dancing Female bathroom only has 3 stalls

Hope this helps! I've been going here for many years and always have fun! It isn't a chi-chi or elegant establishment, but it's fun to have a laid back place to just dance!

I'll take photos the next time I go and will ad them to...