Lightspeed Restaurant Reviews

Pros

Being a Hospitality professional for 20 years I have dealt with numerous POS systems. Kounta is relatively straight forward and has the functionality and flexibility to run your business with ease.

The support offered by Kounta day and night has been at an exceptional standard. The understanding and support during setup, implementation and to now has been a suprise in this all to modern world. This holistic approach will keep Kounta ahead of the pack for quite some time.

Cons

Some of the language with respect to Hospitality is not not necessarily how we refer to how things are done in my experience however it is only a minor issue.

Pros

Lightspeed is sleek, very professional look and feel. Although it does take a number of buttons to run through a transaction, it's definitely an upgrade to what he had prior. The loyalty program integration is amazing, as customers earn points on the spot without any manual entry.

Cons

Although not directly related to POS, their payment processing dose not allow partial refunds which causes us headaches at times.

Alternatives Considered

Toast POS

Reasons for Choosing Lightspeed Restaurant

Spotting connectivity, card reader wouldn't work.

Reasons for Switching to Lightspeed Restaurant

Better reviews and integration with their loyalty program

Pros

Nothing to say here. There is nothing good about this system except for the promptness of my customer service, who usually has bad news. But as I now understand my customer service rep doesn't ACTUALLY work for Kounta, she works for the company that sold it to me. I wish they would have sold me one of their other POS options.

Cons

Server level order control is an upgrade, they don't tell you that when purchasing, even though that is one of the most basic things. Check splitting is the most laborious I have ever experienced, if you have a table that needs multiple splits get them a refill of their coffee because it will take a while. No over all system close out, no way to re-open a check. In lieu of that simple option they have a refund button, but, guess what if you had multiple pay types IE Cash and CC that doesn't work, can only refund whole amount to one pay type, which then screws up the server report(one of the biggest reasons to have a POS system) Integrated credit card system has worst customer service ever. If you need to get someone after 9 good luck. Randomly loses checks! Have no idea how that happens but if you are on a check and the system reloads(which it does a lot) bye bye order!

Pros

I most like the "easiness" it has on the eye. For service, the floor plans, menus, and payment buttons are all easy to see and use. Makes for a faster and more efficient service every night.

The reporting is in-depth and also easy to find/consume. The reports are visual and make it easy to "at-a'glance" understand how the service is performing.

Cons

The difficult components were in the initial set up of the floor plans for us. In order to make our floor plans look professional and aseptically pleasing we had to reach out to an outsourced consultant for aid in designing.

Also, we integrated Lightspeed with our PMS (for our hotel) so that guests could seamlessly add products from the bar to their hotel reservations. This set up process was early in the stages for both companies - it may be more figured out - but the process took many months. Back and forth conversations with both companies. We are successfully using it though as of now - and the systems are interfacing seamlessly.

Pros

I manage a restaurant called Eclipse Chocolate, and I was uncertain that Lightspeed would be able to meet all of our needs. We're a full service dining concept with brunch and dinner daily, a cafe, a bakery, an event space, a confectioner, and a wholesaler; we needed a POS that would be intuitive and adaptable to a very dynamic menu, and usable by professional servers, as well as kitchen and production staff. We got it!

The customer service is outstanding, and offered hands-on support with our setup. We'd had some initial miscommunications and misunderstandings, and we found we needed some additional functionality out of the software. However, the team has always been very helpful and fast to respond; I'm also very pleasantly surprised how much development is being done with the app. This is definitely a well-supported POS that is constantly being improved.

I'm extremely impressed by how well it works for our unique "combo based" menu. Lightspeed has helped close a lot of simple human error loopholes!

We also decided to invest in the "Liteserver," which was an expensive piece of hardware, but a welcome relief during internet outages. Losing WiFi during a busy brunch was disastrous with previous cloud-based POS'es, but now we don't even miss a beat (or a ticket).

Cons

There are some minor missing features I would still like to see, like better development of Labor Reports to help calculate overtime, but I have confidence that they will be added in time. I see an update every couple weeks, so I do believe the dev team is working through a list.

Pros

Easy to use but when compared to competitors like square, extremely over priced.

Cons

I would be very careful signing up, we have been trying to cancel for weeks now but have been given the run around. The sales team is supposed to reach out but we have been waiting. Now our next months payment has just come out. They are extremely difficult to deal with. Other companies have call centers based in the states but it does not seem as though lightspeed does.

Pros

So easy to train the team
Simple sensible interface
Regular updates and improvements
Great Hotel PMS (Opera) Interface

Cons

Only works on Ipad, would be great if Android was an option to open up the hardware market
Needs consolidated reporting for chains

Pros

How easy it is to get support, how knowledgeable the support staff is with the software & shortcuts to use it. Also, it tracks inventory across multiple platforms so you don't sell inventory you don't have.

Cons

It's fairly expensive in comparison to what we were using in the past (quick books POS - doesn't track inventory across multiple platforms but cheaper)

Alternatives Considered

Hike

Reasons for Choosing Lightspeed Restaurant

doesn't track inventory across multiple platforms

Reasons for Switching to Lightspeed Restaurant

More options

Pros

We like the ease with which new staff can learn to use this software. We also like the clarity with which the back end is organized, and the support available to help us learn the various features. It is simpler and easier to follow than Lightspeed Retail's back end. Reporting features are extremely helpful. It is all very customizable.

Cons

I don't like that the the software is not linked directly to Lightspeed Retail, and that when we lose internet connection we lose access to our POS.

Pros

Ease of alteration and basic use for staff

Cons

The back end of product input is a little cumbersome - a simply category/sub-category/sub-sub category system works best. Sometimes this is represented by Department/category/sub-category either way, it is far more flexible for product input, button organisation and more granular for reporting.

Pros

When we started with Lightspeed it was awesome. There was a time I couldn't say enough about how much we liked Lightspeed.

Cons

As they grew and added features and modules the program always had serious deabilitating gliches.
Their customers support went from A+ to F in three years.

Pros

Its hard to offer what is good when things are so bad! This system is designed by computer people who believe all their customers are as computer knowledgeable as they are. When they dont answer their phones its hard to give anything positive!

Cons

The Customer Service is Diabolical! I lost sales due to big glitch in the system! No one answers the phone, even at 6.30pm. They only deal with you through text!! This takes 10 times longer than is required. They are quick to take your money but offer pathetic after sales service!

Pros

Great gooey, product buttons adjustable, and reaction of buttons.

Cons

Customer service sometimes takes an hour to respond. Only level one available to speak. Cash drawers severely limited in features. My credit card processing is not working and Lightspeed knows says it’s a setting. They will look at it “next week”
And they did take Google and Apple Tap payment but recently stopped

Alternatives Considered

Revel Systems

Reasons for Choosing Lightspeed Restaurant

Too many glitches and their expensive monitor became outdated after only 1 year.

Reasons for Switching to Lightspeed Restaurant

Send more modern and better

Pros

Fairly simple to use, super basic questions get quick answers.

Cons

First line support can be done by my 13 year old, Advance Reporting is more along the lines of Basic reporting, Found issues in Reporting where numbers do not add to be the same as Daily Reports (no answers). Support has a hard time following any type of logic instead they get hung up on stuff that has zero relevance.

Pros

its ease of use, customer support is great, reporting is good. They are always coming out with updates and improvements

Cons

it was buggy at first but they have come a long way and are always there to help

Pros

Great easy system to use. Easy to change payment methods and products and downloading and updating on excel also possible. Just starting to sync with Xero so that’s good too. Customer support really has improved massively since we started using it 2 years ago. I would recommend as a good all rounder.

Cons

Reporting in close detail has been a tricky one but with Kounta insights it seems to be improving although I think it’s still work in progress.

Pros

Best POS system on the market. Period ! The customer service and dummy proof system makes everythiong easy, plus accounting is directly linked. Amazing time saver !

Cons

When you set up your floor plan there is not a lot of choices in terms of ''decoration'' to help new memebers of the team visualise the better.... But truly, that's being a little bit over the top...

Pros

Overcomes the issue of staff not being able to read or do any math.
Provides multiple copies of invoices so that service can easily be tracked.
Allows lots of options to modify products which gives each client an individual experience.

Cons

Takes ages to set up if you have hundreds of products and options......but it is worth doing.

Pros

Ideal for hospitality..providing hospitality POS solutions that were once considerably more expensive. Understands the Australian market. Great customer support. Was having a problem at 7:30 am on a Saturday morning and got an immediate response from a real human. Big ticks for that!
Easy to update and maintain.

Cons

a little bit steep for a new business. But overall a great piece of software..the retail capacity is limited but works well for a cafe with a few retail items.

Pros

Stable uses Apple network. Very stable
Price very moderately price with loads of features
Equipment using Apple products cannot get better

Cons

Some ticket layout problems. But fix things monthly
Need a router with a 3G back up Incase the internet goes down

Pros

Ease of set up and Use
Portability
Inventory Management
Interface
Customer Support times/response
Credit Account Management
Individual log-ins for staff for performance tracking
Excellent Reporting

Cons

Receipt Customization would be nice
Receipt do not print Credit Account information as it was at time of sale, but as it is when you reprint, having archived receipts would help with reconciling accounts with customers when questions arise.

Pros

It's ease of use is the most compelling feature. The reports are reasonably comprehensive too. Great for a hospitality start-up.

Cons

There are occassional troubles with printing, where the software somehow loses the fixed IP address of a printer. This is usually temporary, however. It's need to be connected to the Internet is also a con. Whilst it works a little offline, it does become unusable quickly.

Pros

Very stable, Back end for report and input items in
Dark color on ipad is really nice to not distract customer in restaurant

Cons

Does nt print modifier in Red
lots of little feature that should be there for restaurant that are not
hard of spit bill
Report are not that great.
not the most intuitive Pos i used

Pros

Great POS system with a very user friendly app!
Simply made it easy to look after my business :)

Cons

Not sure what to say. All is just good. That is all

Pros

I'm owner of a coffeeshop but also a mom of 2 young kids so the fact that I can manage my business from wherever I need, even on my phone is amazing! Also so much potentiel to help optimize every aspect of the business. Great and efficient customer support also!

Cons

It would be even better if it was independant from WI-FI