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

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

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

It runs fairly stable and has a lot of features

Cons

Difficult set-up and customer service and particularly a billing department that don't care about the customer.

Pros

Please note that I have subscribed to Kounta which at the time had good support in Australia. Since it has been taken over by Lightspeed support has gone down the drain.
There is no knowledge and response time is unacceptable.
Forget about using phone as the message clearly states if you don’t get connected to operator within 15minutes call will be disconnected.

Cons

Really bad support. It absolutely frustrating to have to chase my payments which are short. Waiting for answers for like 20minutes. Requesting contact with my account manager repeatedly for last four weeks. As a business owner I don’t have time to chase it. Resolutions should be fast and easy. I dread every tine that I have to contact their support.

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

Reasons for Choosing Lightspeed Restaurant

Reasons for Switching to Lightspeed Restaurant

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

It is easy to use and the back office reports are very useful.

Cons

When it glitches the time on hold on the phone is ridiculous and Lightspeed needs to put techs on the road to help out the restaurants using their product

Pros

Daily monitoring of the sales
History of sales figures
taking the orders at the till although couple of times it started to update in the busy time without asking

Cons

- Updating without asking on busy times in front of customers
- Frequent disruptions
- Very poor integration with XERO, multiple times we had to export the reports manually and recently they changed the whole thing and the reports of three months did not export to XERO and it's very complicated to setup and retrieve the data. Customer service and support was poor as well
- It's very expensive and not value for money

Pros

The POS functions are fairly easy to use and the reporting is simple. Also, customer info and scheduling are also fairly easy to use and navigate.

Cons

It is very difficult to train a new person on the software. Inventory management is very difficult and tedious and most all functions related to inventory management including ordering are a nightmare to manage.

Pros

Easy to use with many features. We have been using this software since the inception. We are happy with software.

Cons

There are few limitations to use it but it's getting fixed one by one. We have only POS system. We are looking complete solutions for the restaurant to track the sales and expenses.

Pros

Back-end setup is pretty simple and user interface for point of sale is easy and forgiving. Our '72 year old non-computer literate' retail associate was able to master it in no time. Customer support is also top notch.

Cons

There are a few small issues - refunds are a multi-step process, and setting up the ecom website didn't feel as intuitive as it could be. (I did talk with customer service about this. They agree the process could be streamlined and are in the process of rolling out a new setup process shortly.)

Pros

The software was extremely customizable and accommodating . There was always an answer and or a work around to getting the setting that you need.

Cons

The price. In my situation I really only need the basics and there isn't a more accommodating price point for the little that I need. Also, they are relatively new to ecom and the add on is way too much for what it is.

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

Can manage from anywhere. Easy to update products on prices on the spot. Great reporting and crm. Love that you only have to use functions that you require.

Cons

I would like to be able to view only POS from device which is not assigned as register. Also, not sure if already available, but we would like to be able to process gift certificates through the till easily.

Pros

The ease of use, and the simplicity of the screens.

Cons

Nothing.

Pros

Production printing and cloud operation

Cons

Needs a cash-out facility

Pros

Most affordable option for POS on the market that is compatible with revenue Quebec and MEV machines.

Cons

Occasionally updates take a few minutes, otherwise we have very few issues in the last 4 years since we started using Lightspeed

Pros

lightspeed has been wonderful to work with. easily update and change menu its at the Chilliwack airport restaurant. customer service is always easy to deal with

Cons

needs to have easier ways to upgrade equipment,

Pros

It's capacity to review a day's sales or last week/ year!

Cons

Stock management
Grouping of goods
No integrated weighing scales!

Pros

Lightspeed has been great for my restaurant (Centrale Bergham West Island).

They've helped me save time and reduce costs with their intuitive system, and every time I have a question or concern they are happy to help me and solve my issues.

You can't find a better POS on the market.