Compact Disco - Monterey, California

Jack J.

Honestly, Compact Disco’s cover charge is a perfect example of what’s wrong with some club scenes today. House and disco were built on the idea of accessibility—bringing people together to vibe out, celebrate, and create a community, especially for marginalized groups. Slapping a steep cover on that? It feels like a slap in the face to the culture.

The music at Compact Disco is mid at best, and meanwhile, venues with legit house and disco credibility don't charge covers at all. Why? Because they care about the community and the music, not squeezing every dollar out of people. House music has always been about pushing back against commercialization, and here you are, making it feel like just another cash grab.

Offering a “local discount” doesn’t fix this—it’s just another cheap marketing gimmick. It divides the community even more and makes the cover charge feel like an arbitrary way to squeeze tourists. It only reinforces the sense that this is more about profit than the music or the vibe. You feel this way in every interaction at Compact Disco: you are a dollar sign. If you’re charging $20 for entry, you're not building a scene—you’re building a barrier.

Prioritize the music, the people, and the experience, or you’ll keep losing business of nearby folks such as myself that would come in all the time. Drop the cover charge and stop pretending that discounts for locals make up for the fact that you’re exploiting the very culture you claim to celebrate.

Henry Qi

This place is set up to be a club. The bar looks nice. There is no drink menu so you just ask for whatever cocktail you desire. My wife and I were looking for a nightcap on a Tuesday night. The drinks were good.

sarah ultan

What a great place to dance! Kenny mixed amazing music tonight! Go early, plenty of room on the dance floor. Nice staff. So lucky to have this place and the people in town!

Bri Platt

Good vibes but a $20 cover charge per person when my friend was celebrating her birthday was incredible for Monterey. I have not paid this much in SF to get into a much larger establishment. For less than average house music. If the bouncer can’t provide a concrete description as to why a $20 cover charge is reasonable, a place like this is not respectable.

Colby Smith

Randomly wandered in on a Wednesday and absolutely loved this place. Cocktails were spot on, music was delightful, and the staff was super welcoming so much so we changed plans to stay longer. Wish we were here for the Friday/Saturday DJ nights

Connor Benedict

$20 ea in Monterey what a bad idea we tried to reason with the bouncer who was very unprofessional, certainly not trying to get people into the place to spend more money. Instead ended up spending appx $500 next door at turn 12 awesome place with way friendlier staff

Mary Beth Hampe

Great house music and dancing. Small space overall. Unfortunately you need cash which a lot of people don’t carry anymore, it was $10 cover. Still would give 5 stars for music and atmosphere which were on point.

Chris Gonzalez

Not much of a disco if the dance floor is 25 sq ft; lots of room to improve. Hopefully the cover charges go towards renovations ! It could use some BIG CHANGES!