I didn't include my quoted text the above quote...[...]
I think this may be somewhat misleading, because AR$200 could be enough just to cover a taxi fare to and from a club at night. Now if your girls aren't buying a lot of drinks, have rides or whatever, that would make sense... but a night in boliches with covers, including cab fare from place to place can run AR$500 easily, and that's excluding dinner and assuming you stick to beer. [Double that at least if you're single and meeting girls or out with a girlfriend].
That was one reason I separated out the taxi fares from the drinking I did give the price for a pitcher of beer at a pretty popular drinking establishment (not a boliche) and the rough price of a drink in a club - I figured he could figure out how many drinks he might have and add up the price
On taxis - 200 pesos will get you an awfully long ways. "A taxi ride", to me, I usually think of as one way, so when I said 30 to 80 pesos I meant to get there, maybe I should have been more clear. My wife recently took a taxi to and from the border between Villa Soldati and Pompeya (near the far south end of the city) at night and spent about 160 pesos total - 80 pesos one way. That's a pretty good distance from Recoleta where we live. If someone is staying in Palermo or even Recoleta, I don't know anyone who regularly goes that far to find a club to dance or drink at considering there are hundreds of clubs in Recoleta and Palermo. Most people I know who go clubbing take a taxi to one place and end up hoofing it from one place to the next, but it does all depend on how far apart the places you're going are located. One's mileage (or kilometraje) may vary
Also, I should have mentioned that our girls usually take the bus so they don't have to buy a taxi, although often from Palermo they may take a taxi back when they're done. Maybe I'm too used to "club economizing" and left a feeling one could go partying for around 200 pesos total by mentioning our girls, which wasn't my intent.
90Days, most Argentinos and other expats from South America who I know party before they go clubbing because the drinks are expensive. It's called a "previa" (a pre-party). People sit around and mix their own drinks (often Fernet and Coke - yuck!) so they can get their buzz on without having to pay so much for drinks at the clubs.
But I think 20KRoads' estimate for a night out including drinks is reasonable for an expat if just in the drinks in clubs alone.