Lightspeed Restaurant Reviews

Pros

The ux is absolutely straightforward and intuitive, you hardly even need the manual from set up to production

Cons

API behind a pay wall. As a software developer who casually wrenches and has set up lightspeed in multiple businesses, I'd have liked to get in deeper on the nerdy side. From a regular user perspective that's not an issue though.

Pros

The software is comprehensive. Many add-ons are available at high costs.

Cons

It can get complicated and takes some effort to train new staff.
Support is good for the software although I have found that are led down the wrong path and wast time. Some of the representatives are not knowledgeable enough.

Pros

I thought this product was going to be a great way to more easily keep my books up to date and get pricing and inventory dialed in as compared to square. It has a lot of functionality compared to a product like shop keep or square.

Cons

Service - Limited concern for the customer's problems. No effort to actually work through and understand a client's business.
Sales Team - Arrogant and dishonest
Billing - Sly and deceitful. Invoices serve as contracts as they contain fine print at the bottom that refers a client to the company's actual contract and product terms that the client must hunt down for themselves.
Management - No concern for clientele.

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

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

Display of the pos is look modern and kounta can create recipen and inventory and back office. Pso system complet with back office.

Cons

Actually they have good features in back office for reporting. But not as good as inventory system by itself. First, POS system not completly all transaction is automaticly show in the report when want to do closing cashier (shift), like we need to do manual calculated some other transaction except cash like card and gofood payment as i used to. Because you have to submit all your type of payment on closing time then you will get report that will show your manual calculted are balance or not, split bill need to do by amount not by item, mostly apps that i was using were by item. Second, we need to buy with additional charge to get more features that we can see more details report (like insight and purchase) and that is expensive. If you dont buy, you will not get clear report as you need for analyzing restaurant performance. Third, menu item that you sell and item only you use for recipe are the same product list. Fourth, service charge and tax calculations are confusing to get the right amount. Every report that you want to dowbload as csv as not that correct way as csv.

Pros

Easy to navigate through love customer service

Cons

Like everything nothing bad love customer service

Pros

EASY TO USE - GOOD VALUE COST - GREAT CUSTOMERS SERVICE

Cons

SOME FUNCTIONAL NEED TO BE IMPROVE AND SOME AREA NEED TO BE ADJUST TO BE MORE FUNCTIONAL

Pros

Lots of different bells and whistles and the developers are willing to work with you to customize a solution.

Cons

Too much work to stand up and too much work to keep running. The system crashed all the time and has to be constantly updated, revitalized, refreshed, and worked on in the back end.

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

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

Cloud based means we can access POS while away from the restaurant. Easy to use and minimal training required for new staff. New features are added on a regular basis. Customer service is reliable and available.

Cons

We are unable to use our Lightspeed without an internet connection. Unable to unfinalize receipts after 7 days.

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

I like how easy it is to use and how it comes with so many features that are useful in our business. It is very organized and you are able to look up records and sales from years passed and compare which allows you to grow your business.

Cons

I don't think there is anything I dont like

Pros

Simplicity of the features and simple pricing structure. We were able to view all the reports remotely.

Cons

Buggy and full of errors especially during a busy restaurant service. Reports were insufficient and support was also unable to resolve the issues we were having.

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