All Lightspeed Restaurant Reviews
1-25 of 202 Reviews
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Richard
Verified reviewer
Used daily for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed January 2018
Great Product
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.
CONSSome 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.
Andrea
Hospitality, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed March 2021
User friendly!
Overall, it is a good experience. The customer service is suitable and helpful. The system itself is easy to figure out.
PROSI 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.
CONSThe 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.
Reasons for switching to Lightspeed Restaurant
We wanted the PMS and POS to interface.
Jimmy
Restaurants, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
1
EASE OF USE
1
VALUE FOR MONEY
1
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
3
FUNCTIONALITY
1
Reviewed June 2017
Horrendous POS System.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS!!! MOVE ON TO THE NEXT!
PROSNothing 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.
CONSServer 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!
Herolf
Food & Beverages, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
2
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed December 2023
Indifferent Support
Although I had used Lightspeed pre pandemic it became a nightmare to re-set up post pandemic. First, they didn't even have available the App for the new version in my country's App Store. Then it took days (via email) to figure things out and get it up and running. They have the absolute WORST support when it comes to billing. One time my CC was declined and it took me a WEEK to get the card re-charged with a lot of run-around between chats and unfilled promises by Lightspeed. The link to pay your bill that they eventually send you DOES NOT WORK (nor have they done anything about it after I notified them many months ago. At chat support they send you another link to another system that declines the charge saying "not supporting the currency in your country" Whaat? The U.S. dollar, probably the most used currency in the world! Off chat support again with no promise of how long I'll take to re-try charging my card. There's an indifference there to the customers. I sense that they have become too big for their britches? Oh, and they just turned off my Backoffice access without any warning! oh wait, I've only been a customer for 8 years... hm
PROSIt runs fairly stable and has a lot of features
CONSDifficult set-up and customer service and particularly a billing department that don't care about the customer.
Reason for choosing Lightspeed Restaurant
It seemed like a solid product with support promises that don't exist
Daniel
Restaurants, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed November 2018
The POS We've Been Waiting For
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).
CONSThere 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.
Simon
Restaurants, 201-500 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2019
A easy to use system that my team love
We started using Lightspeed around two years ago. When joining the business I inherited a creaky old POS system that had been chosen for its ability to connect to our hotel PMS rather than for its usability and features. I was surprised that a cloud based system would have the capability to connect to hotel PMS but lightspeed does this really well. We started with 6 month trial in one location and now all locations run there F&B using Lightspeed. I was really happy with the support I received whilst on boarding, getting the system set up how we want it is very easy and the regular system updates only ever make things better. The key quality though has to be the ease at which the team use the system. Training is down to ten minutes rather than several hours supported by a hefty manual with our previous system. We are not about to explore the add ons for our next new opening including Customer Facing Display, Kiosk and Kitchen Display,
PROSSo easy to train the team Simple sensible interface Regular updates and improvements Great Hotel PMS (Opera) Interface
CONSOnly works on Ipad, would be great if Android was an option to open up the hardware market Needs consolidated reporting for chains
Donna
Retail, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2022
Best Supported POS System
Very easy to use, easy to get help specific to your problem
PROSHow 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.
CONSIt'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)
Reason for choosing Lightspeed Restaurant
More options
Reasons for switching to Lightspeed Restaurant
doesn't track inventory across multiple platforms
Miriam
Restaurants, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed December 2019
Easy to use, excellent reporting features.
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.
CONSI 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.
Reason for choosing Lightspeed Restaurant
We chose Lightspeed Restaurant partly because of the availability of Lightspeed Retail, e-commerce, and Quick Books extensions for all of those. We also wanted something that was easy to use and easy to teach. We liked the sleek platform and all the reporting tools. The gift card function is a plus, as well as the fact that you can purchase a barcode scanner that can switch back and forth between Restaurant and Retail. All these features together simply didn't exist in the alternatives we were considering.
Anonymous
11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed February 2020
Not worthed as the expensive price
I know amount that i calculate manual in every type of payment are balance or not because kounta showing it amount minus or over, so we can double check before we accept to close cashier or shift.
PROSDisplay of the pos is look modern and kounta can create recipen and inventory and back office. Pso system complet with back office.
CONSActually 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.
Reason for choosing Lightspeed Restaurant
I want to try how the kounya itd work and if kounta works well, i will implement to other outlet that i have.
Yuri
Information Technology and Services, 2-10 employees
Used monthly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2023
Web based means easy
We're integrating with Lightspeed and my experience is that they've put a great product on the market.
PROSThe product is one of the modern POS systems that it's very easy to set up and very easy to use. It's a breeze for both the users and the admins.
CONSThere is not really much to be mentioned as a con to be honest. May be that if you're experiencing some sort of a lack of internet connectivity you won't be able to mare changes, but not sure if I can qualify this as a con.
MICHELE
Hospitality, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed July 2019
HAPPY WITH LIGHTSPEED
In my restaurant, we have been working with Light Speed from the opening in 2017, so over two years now, and me and my staff are very happy about. I don't like to lie and obviously the POS is not perfect., there are always areas to improve, and be more functional and works better as with any system. I sent few email to suggest the area they can improve and i have a good response, and this is somenthing i really appreciate, for me this is mean that you are working with someone that cares about your business and it's not there just to take your money. However is fair also to say that from the beginning to now they have improve a lots in different aspects. A special mention i want to do is the direct and quick Tech Support during the regular business hours of the day at every time, this aspect put Lightspeed above the competitors.
PROSEASY TO USE - GOOD VALUE COST - GREAT CUSTOMERS SERVICE
CONSSOME FUNCTIONAL NEED TO BE IMPROVE AND SOME AREA NEED TO BE ADJUST TO BE MORE FUNCTIONAL
Emily
Hospitality, 51-200 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
3
EASE OF USE
2
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed June 2021
Too Much Work
Liked the idea of the loyalty program but it was too fiddly to set up and maintain, so that ended up being a massive waste of resources.
PROSLots of different bells and whistles and the developers are willing to work with you to customize a solution.
CONSToo 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.
Lorrie
Hospitality, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
3
EASE OF USE
2
VALUE FOR MONEY
2
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed June 2023
Lightspeed
ok
PROSIt integrates with Resnexus, it has most of the things we need
CONSHard to use, goes down all the time, many issues... lacks some functionalityy
Vendor Response
Hi, We would like to sincerely apologize for your recent experience with Lightspeed. It is our utmost priority to provide products and services that allow our customers to focus on running their businesses with ease. We value all feedback and would like to learn more about your specific experience, to have the opportunity to address your needs and concerns. As we are unable to identify your account within our records, please feel free to contact our Customer Success team should you wish to provide further feedback. You may reach us via email at engage@lightspeedhq.com. Thank you, Lightspeed Commerce
Replied July 2023
peter
Hospitality, 51-200 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
2
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
2
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed July 2019
Back end down for Two days - First line support ultra weak - Advance Reporting is basic
For basic questions they are great. When something goes into chaos you will be down and will just have to deal with it as they are slowwwwwww at resolving issues (could be a full days or a week) that have major affects on your business. Be ready to manually have to do a lot of Reconciliation. And be ready to have High Blood pressure..
PROSFairly simple to use, super basic questions get quick answers.
CONSFirst 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.
Aenoy
Food & Beverages, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed March 2022
Best decision to go with LS
LS has contributed to the growth of our business. With their various integrations, they have made taking online and in-room orders very easy for our staff! LS has definitely helped us go through the pandemic!
PROSIntuitive UI, very good customer service, A1 onboarding team
CONSSplitting bills is very easy to do but I would love to be able to chose fractions of bills.
Reason for choosing Lightspeed Restaurant
The team was very welcoming, professional and showed much more interest in our company then their competitors.
Greg
Used free trial
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
Reviewed February 2015
Kounta review from a "cloud integrator" perspective
I am a cloud integrator and have implemented a number of Xero + POS add-ons. I select Kounta for my customers purely on its hospitality focus and it's table management add-on. I have been really impressed with how it handles the concept of modifiers and how smooth the integration is with Tyro electronic payments. However, I feel that there is a lot of navigating around the 'back office' to get what you need to get done. The CSV data importers are good, but I still found I had to do many repetitive updates manually via the user interface that the importer didn't support. The user interface is a bit big and boxy for my liking but understandably some see this as a benefit if working off a tablet in a cafe most of the time. The client registration process was a bit tedious (maybe at least for us implementers/advisers) but when up and running my customers love the product. The POS register is really powerful and soon after becoming power users the only niggling complaint I get are small enhancements to customisations which are unfortunately locked down in the product anyway. e.g. layouts on receipts, dockets, shortcuts panel, etc. I have also been really impressed with Kounta's email support and communication on release notes. You can really tell they are working hard in making this product better and better. Personally, I would like to see more flexible pricing plans for store owners that have multiple (small-sized) cafes, which will hopefully encourage the greater use of bump screens for the Kitchen/Brewster and mobile registers where waiting staff can take orders + electronic payments at the table. Maybe I am just over the little pad and pencil. In short, I am a big fan of Kounta POS in food & beverage. Totally recommend.
Andrew
Hospitality, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed June 2017
It is the only cloud based pos for hospitality I think we could use and run our business
It allows us to easily manage customer transaction and to report on total sales and products in a really efficient way. We've grown in our understanding of our business enormously just reusing kounta
PROSThe sales transaction from start to checkout is great. The printing of customer orders in multiple locations plus the kitchen. Modifier are also the best in the market.
CONSScales and scanner integration for use with a retail store. Scales can't be and scanner with Windows is clunky
Leanne
Food & Beverages, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed March 2017
Kounta for Cafe Use
We have found Kounta to be excellent for our cafe. Staff need no maths skills to operate it easily. the addition of photos makes product selection fast and accurate. The only thing to watch is disgruntled staff that have been removed from rosters........they can sabotage the system by changing or deleting things. My advice, once they have been given notice immediately remove their access to Kounta and give them other duties until their time has been completed.
PROSOvercomes 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.
CONSTakes ages to set up if you have hundreds of products and options......but it is worth doing.
Nadine
Restaurants, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed January 2022
Best POS we had in 17 years of operation!
Easy to make change on our menu, easy to change the price, a really helpfull tool in our daily operations.
PROSEasy to learn, easy to use, easy to make changes in the back office, simple.
CONSThe void that are made during a shift dont appear on the reading.
Reason for choosing Lightspeed Restaurant
Price, easier to understand the functionnality, easier to make changes
Reasons for switching to Lightspeed Restaurant
4 years ago
Jun
Restaurants, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
1
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
1
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1
FUNCTIONALITY
1
Reviewed September 2017
Buggy and lack of support
Worst POS system ever. I would give zero stars if I could. Service was dismal and a lot of bugs with the program. It seems like the program was half completed when it was released. While it might perform at a satisfactory level when the business is relatively small and not as busy, this software clearly cannot handle when we have over 100 covers per service as there was no bugs during our quieter service period. Absolute waste of money and time. Only consolation I have is that I can use the reuse the hardware with other POS system as it was just iPads and cash register. Little follow up with the problems we had and when they did contact us, 90% of the time they were unable to resolve the issue. We had double prints of orders resulting in wasting and also missing prints of kitchen orders resulting in angry customers and damage to our reputation. If you are looking to get Kounta because it is cheaper, don't bother. We were happy to get rid of it.
PROSSimplicity of the features and simple pricing structure. We were able to view all the reports remotely.
CONSBuggy 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.
Harkirat
Food & Beverages, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed October 2021
Lightspeed Review
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.
CONSI don't think there is anything I dont like
Glen
Hospitality, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed July 2018
Works well and very simple to use.
Ease of use. Good reporting.
PROSIt's ease of use is the most compelling feature. The reports are reasonably comprehensive too. Great for a hospitality start-up.
CONSThere 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.
Emma
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed February 2018
Great product
Easy to use Easy layout to navigate Colour coafing Can add photos of products Lots of addon options
CONSCost for multiple registers No learning platform for new staff Addons can be costly Account customer function could be better
Ronald
Maritime, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed June 2022
Lightspeed POS very helpful
I am very happy with this product
PROSBeing able to search a part, and track the sales of a part, is very helpful
CONSCustom pricebooks need to be in correct format to load
Magdi
Restaurants, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed March 2022
User Friendly
Great POS system with a very user friendly app! Simply made it easy to look after my business :)
CONSNot sure what to say. All is just good. That is all