TouchBistro

Pros

Can't beat the price. user friendly. menu management is a breeze.

Cons

For larger organizations integration with other software needs to be easier. reports could be better. seperating reports by time periods is a problem

Pros

We love TouchBistro to manage room charges and the mass amount of listed items that we sell from our fine dining restaurant to our gift shop.

Cons

One of the biggest challenges we've found with TouchBistro is the technology issues whenever updates are needed. It's often something that can't be fixed in house and that's down time we can't afford to lose.

Pros

The low cost is NOT worth the headaches. Talk about "buyers remorse". We are counting the days for our contract to end so we can go to a competent company.

Cons

Where to begin? We literally have pages of complaints about this system.

Pros

Good working restaurant system and in the beginning was a well run customer focused company

Cons

Absolutely the WORST customer service department in the history of business. I would not recommend this company if they gave you the equipment for free. To be honest, I have been trying to resolve an issue for 3 months, after numerous calls, emails, and on hold…nothing has been resolved.

Pros

My employees transitioned over to TouchBistro really well. It's really easy to use.

Cons

We have "portable" card readers. They're not very "portable". Very glitchy.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing TouchBistro

Reasons for Switching to TouchBistro

Pros

The functionality of the POS with our iPad minis for order taking is great, and saves our staff time that was traditionally reserved for having to go directly to a work station.

Cons

Reporting is horrific. Daily reports do not provide all information needed (comps, promos, takeout vs. dine in totals,etc.) and also does not subtract cash payouts from total cash on report. When creating EOM reports, we have to look at 5-7 separate reports to get all the data needed.Labor reports do not consolidate tip reporting with labor, nor does it populate total earned for each employee with different job types/rates of pay. I had to create my own spreadsheet so our accountant can actually navigate our payroll.When trying to drill down numbers for a certain menu item and create an Excel report, it will not let you isolate. Onboarding is horrendous. The training materials provided are cursory at best, and support is minimal. We had to figure out how to use the system through trial and error, and I had to write a user's manual for our staff myself. What was promised as functionality/support by the sales team turned out to be patently false.Since the second to last TouchBistro software update, we have had a total breakdown on payment processing with our iPad Minis and V400m. I have called to work this out I think 6 times now? It is still an issue and no one has any answers. The V400m freezes, does not connect to the iPad, cancels payment, takes double payments, and a whole myriad of other issues. Nightmare is putting it gently. All systems are updated and WiFi connectivity is perfect. DO NOT USE WE PAY OR CHASE AT ANY COST!There's so much more that is awful.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing TouchBistro

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to TouchBistro

Pros

I have nothing positive to say, their product is substandard, but their customer service is the absolute worst I have ever experienced!

Cons

shady business practices from the start!
Aggressive sales pitch, we brought in the system on a trial basis, told we could cancel at any time. Wanted to test it out first with our staff, do some training, see if it was right for us; wouldn't let us do anything without being fully on board.
Tried the system for a bit, quite underwhelming, decided to go back to our former POS, asked to cancel. Was told that someone would be in touch with me, and then they have ignored all attempts to communicate, and have billed me for 2 months after the cancellation! I am currently waiting on my Credit Card company fraud department to hopefully resolve it, or I will have to cancel that card so that these scammers can not continue to steal from me!!!

Pros

Nothing they scam people to bind you in contract if you want to walk out they want you to pay full amount of services. They never provide any equipment and charging you for services.

Cons

Customer service and everything. Even their software not friendly for restaurant.

Pros

Easy to use. Like the fact that it runs off an iPad.

Cons

To try and reach someone from tech support was difficult to say the least. Took a few days to have someone call back and help set up. I moved to Clover which has great customer service and better reporting. I am still trying to get my account cancelled. Even with a confirmation code, no one has reached out to billing despite repeated calls. They have kept billing my account after cancellation and I have to put a block on my credit card. Stay away!

Pros

The customer service people are friendly, despite never being able to resolve your issue.

Cons

From day 1, system crashed several times a day. Called over and over for months now and nobody can seem to fix it. Gift cards never worked. Same thing, tech support couldn't figure it out so issued a refund (still waiting for months later)
No accountability or anyone to help. Have to call support everyday and explain over and over.

Pros

The iPads were ok, and it wasn't too hard to hook up

Cons

Losing orders, connectivity problems, card reader not working, printers printing to different locations randomly, Not very customizable

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to TouchBistro

Pros

The ease of switching over from our old system to the TB system

Cons

Nothing . Everything works exactly they way we wanted .

Pros

I love how easy it is to change pricing of specials, add or remove items from menu.

Cons

Sometimes wifi connection is a bit of an issue. However can usually be fixed by resetting the modem.

Pros

The main terminal works well. The reports are clear and in depth. WHEN it works it is an okay system

Cons

The mobile units do not communicate with the main POS, so we have to had write orders and then type them in. There is NO customer support. We have been waiting one month and there has been NO help or communication. [sensitive content hidden] is our salesman and he has done nothing to assist. Even with this issue, which is 2/3's of our system not working, they still take out their ACH payment each month.

Lied about what equipment was needed and how it would work.

We lose money each and every day we are open, due to this system.

Pros

Customer service for original setup for very knowledgeable

Cons

Take a little work for setup then its good

Pros

The most impactful feature is the ability to use an IPAD to service guest at their tables. TouchBistro is easy to use with the ability to send orders to our Kitchen staff eliminating paper orders.

Cons

There are no Cons using TouchBistro, integrated easily with our business processes.

Pros

online access from remote allows me to stay on top of my business when not in town

Cons

there are some reporting details I would like to see more details on

Pros

The program was very easy to set up and get established in our restaurant. Employees found it very easy to learn. We used the program with iPad at the table and created a great guest experience. Great for real time reporting and inventory control.

Cons

Like all POS and inventory systems, there is a bit of data entry and the beginning of setting up the program.

Pros

Nothing , too small font size letters cheap hardware

Cons

Promise that they never delivered, too small of I Pad

Pros

The idea behind it it's great, if it were to actually work as it should.

Cons

Our team is hating that we changed the POS because this one is so slow and gives them connectivity issues daily. We were sold a product that does not actually operates as they tell you it would.
- You can not restrict servers from opening someone else's table unless you assigned sections. Seriously?
- You can not use the main iPad to try to input a reservation because the second iPad won't work unless the main iPad is on the TouchBistro app? lol are you serious?
- The integration of TouchBistro POS with TouchBistro reservations system that I was told was gonna make everything so smooth is a complete joke. As I said, you can not try to take a reso or waitlist with the main iPad. You basically need an iPad that's gonna sit there and look pretty but not be used for anything beside clocking in/out, otherwise it will compromise the entire operation.
- The payment integration is ridiculously slow (when it actually works) but it has only worked a couple of times and the rest of the time gives an "error connection". It's a brilliant idea, if it were to actually function.

Pros

Table side ordering. Menu flexibility. Expandability.

Cons

The more they add features, the worse it gets. I highly doubt that the development people have any restaurant experience. Refunding a cc that has been wrung in is ridiculously difficult. To top it off, they have just recently started to move EVERYTHING to the cloud. Including the server end-of-day reports which makes it extremely hard to check credit cards, voids, comps, etc. It's ridiculous at best. No thought whatsoever on user friendliness.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing TouchBistro

Reasons for Switching to TouchBistro

Pros

The features available are great and the POS is easy to use

Cons

There are glitches that arise once in awhile

Pros

The first year went well! I actually liked it.
Then according to their own tech support.. the company took on way too many customers than programmers or tech support could keep up with creating a domino effect of pure frustration and no support.

Cons

Many issues.
Tech support is hit or miss sometimes can take up to an hour get someone. Often they can not fix problem. They "escalate it" which means you will never hear back from them. Remote report app for phone rarely works and full of problems. If its a hardware issue no phone tech support. Have to email and wait for email which takes days.
Would not recomend.

Pros

One of the only restaurant POS systems that has a search function for servers. 5 stars for the ability to hold credit card information for tabs. Backend menu and employee management is the simplest I have ever used. Very user friendly and intuitive. New features and products are being rolled out often and TouchBistro was very supportive of their restaurant partners through Covid.

Cons

Creating and managing the floor plan is incredibly difficult and could be improved. Reporting and analytics are somewhat lacking and something I would like to see improved to be more in-depth and easier to access more information.

Pros

Ease of use. A lot of systems are complicated to manage the backend. Entering items, costs, etc

Cons

Cannot re-open bills to change tenders, etc

Pros

Sales team works fast to get you signed up

Cons

Sales team lies about the abilities of the software to get you to sign a contract. They will do anything to keep you locked in even if you didn’t use the service or service up.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing TouchBistro

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to TouchBistro

Pros

Their sales staff was very effective, unfortunately.

Cons

The self install may have been the worst day of my life. They are constantly updating and changing how reports are accessed rendering some reports completely inaccessible one day to another. When I decided the close the restaurant due to losses and the interest rates they harassed me for payment, would not negotiate a reasonable cancellation fee. They were aggressive showing no care for the small family loosing their life savings. Terrible product. The worst service. Zero ethics or morals. There is a reason they are loosing market share at an alarming rate.

Pros

I wish there is something I would’ve liked

Cons

Nothing. Lack of support and inconvenience

Pros

Ease of use. Cloud based. Apple products

Cons

No dedicated person overseeing account. No follow through from support. Support lacks knowledge and reads from troubleshooting script.

Alternatives Considered

Switched From

Pros

Speed, ease of use. Ability to use KDS, streamline online ordering.

Cons

customer service very poor. Long wait times.

Pros

Nothing, reps are liars that upsell products you don't need

Cons

Not easy to use like they tell you. Representative lies and does aggressive sales tactics

Pros

The promise of what it "could potentially do"

Cons

Frequent Outages & Forced Updates: Even on Friday nights and busy holidays such as Cinco de MayoCustomer Service & Support: Rarely helpful and requires customers to provide lengthy email summaries of past service calls (that they SHOULD have a record of in their CRM)Weird "hallucinations" appearing on customer facing online ordering platform: Root Beer appearing as a bread option/'As Weapon' & 'Ass Bacon' appearing as modifiersThere's not enough room in this field's character limit to continue

Alternatives Considered

Pros

I love that it is so easy to navigate through my menu. Payment options are made simple and easy for the employees and customers. You don’t need to be tech savvy to understand how the program works so it’s great for all age employees.

Cons

Sometimes it takes a while to reach support

Pros

It is super easy to fill your menu in and start using. There is high possibility your crew is familiar with it and if anything goes wrong just call the support and they gonna help you.

Cons

Some features needs extra clicks and attention, like updating menu, photos and prices etc. it is not a daily task, but would be nice to make edits on better ui.

Pros

TB used to have great customer service. Not anymore.

Cons

TB has been charging me $15/month for over two years for a service I haven’t ever used. I’ve been directed to multiple people who say they will refund my money and stop the charges only for that person to disappear and have to start all over with someone new. They are now trying to charge me $125 a month for a non processing fee while I wait on them to set up the processing…. It’s insane.

Pros

Ease of use for FOH, timekeeping for staff, reporting for administration

Cons

Lack of integrated payment options. Only Chase and Moneris are the only options in Canada.

Pros

Fairly user friendly, price is ok, and the cloud is nice to have

Cons

It is not a secure POS. Any staff can see information as you need admin code and the staff need it for when there is no manager on shift. You can not lock so they can not delete bills after a bill reopened and then deleted a lot of cash is taken this way and no record once a bill is deleted

Pros

Ease of use with menu items, modifiers, etc

Cons

When an update about 2 years ago made every IPAD in the building unusable, and there was no way to undo the update. Made my restaurant not have a POS for 4 days while i waited to find 8 new IPADS, a new Mac Mini, and 8 new IPAD stands. There were emails sent about the update but they went into the clutter/junk folders\...WHERE WAS THE PHONE CALL??????????????????????????????????????????????? ANd then the sad "here is 3 months of free touchbistro". This cost us thousands of dollars in new equipment, lost sales/transaction, and man hours. It also meant that for 4 days every employee had their worst days ever in the building, hand writing orders, hand delivering order to the kitchen, hand writing CC orders, tax, reciepts, etc (many payments didn't end up going through either)

Pros

Ease of use and the cost is pretty resonable

Cons

Support can be very frustrating and challenging

Pros

Touchscreen kitchen ticket management, server order input.

Cons

Reports are horrible and missing information. Customer support is time consuming, does not follow up, and frequently does not resolve in any way. Does not integrate with OpenTable.

Pros

Absolutely nothing. It took almost 4 months to onboard, nothing but problems ever since.

Cons

Constant glitches, several redundant aspects of table service, no signature line on credit card receipts, they made several unauthorized charges to my credit card for services I wasnt even able to use then I had to fight them for refunds, sales man lied to me about what the POS could and couldnt do to get me to sign on then another lengthy battle to get out of the contract. They claimed they cannot give refunds, which they can and did, and they claimed they never cancel contracts, which they can and did. Not IM just stuck in my main locations contract.

Pros

I liked the price....until I found out that you get what you pay for.

Cons

Random charges, no follow-through, lead person went on vacation during onboarding without leaving anyone else to help. STILL haven't received any equipment (that was supposed to be here 2 weeks ago)....but yet they're already charging me for additional months of service.

Pros

Easy to setup, easy to navigate. Within 2 days, new staff can easily operate.

Cons

Tips by servers need to be added. I only see gratuity by servers.

Pros

The system seems like it should be great. The loyalty options seem great. They problem is they lie about features and the onboarding support is basically zero. To quote the onboarding rep, "As soon as you process your first transaction, my job is done". It doesn't matter that over 80% of the features aren't working and we don't have any online menu working, once one transaction is processed, you are on your own.

Cons

At this point, I have personally spent over 200 hours of my time to get this system running and I have 50% of the system running at one store and 25% at another. The system has zero support for multi-units and everything has to be repeated numerous times to make any changes. For example, for two stores, every change has to be done 4 times: 1 for instore, 1 for online and then the exact same changes again for any other location, every with the exact same menu. This is a terrible system for multi-units.

Pros

I have been using touch bistro since we open on 2015 and still using it. The POS is easy to navigate and easy to use. I would not try any other .

Cons

When they download new info or upgrade, sometimes it takes so long for the other support to figured it out themselves.

Pros

Nothing really. Currently exploring alternatives.

Cons

Not a fan of apple operating system. Constant updating during busy times.

Pros

Touchbistro is capable for sure as it has all the features, but is a bit awkward to use. We have to integrate several apps to get what we need and of course each one cost more money.

Cons

Support is not great. There are way way too many touches involved in a purchase or we have it set up all wrong! We suggested that to support, but no action. The different menu pages, items, etc are not intuitively set up. It honestly does not make sense in so many ways.

Pros

We are a 1 day a week seated restaurant and it is a great tool to control this. Support has been excellent, every call has been handled quickly and efficiently.

Cons

The time stamp for togo orders does not print on all the receipts and would be helpful.

Pros

Easy to set up on your own or with Assistance.Easy to navigate and train on.

Cons

Would like to have a better design layout to set up.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to TouchBistro

Pros

I have no pros because after they took my payment for the system, I have yet to have any other interaction except to connect to tablets my internet in a whole month. No one replies to emails. [sensitive content hidden] the person that should be helping me is MIA.

Cons

I have no pros because after they took my payment for the system, I have yet to have any other interaction except to connect to tablets my internet in a whole month. No one replies to emails. [sensitive content hidden] the person that should be helping me is MIA.