Toast POS

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Toast POS Review 2023

Toast POS is all-in-one point of sale and payment processor that offers advanced features for quick-serve and full-service restaurants and runs on Android instead of iOS.

    Matt Sherman
  • UPDATED

Advertiser Disclosure: Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity.

Pricing

$0-$165 plus custom plan

Online Ordering

Yes

Equipment Cost

$0-$799

Toast POS At A Glance

  • Restaurant-specific hardware and software for all sizes of business
  • Excellent mobile ordering functionality
  • All-in-one software with processing and eCommerce options

Matt Sherman

Matt Sherman

Expert Analyst & Reviewer at Merchant Maverick
A former sports editor and journalist, Matt Sherman has been writing about and researching small business software since 2015, with a special emphasis on retail and restaurant sales. Matt's expert opinions are cited in various industry publications, including Fox Business. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon.
Matt Sherman
View Matt Sherman's professional experience on LinkedIn.



The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Toast POS


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After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Toast POS for yourself.

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Toast POS


Visit Site

After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Toast POS for yourself.

To learn more about how we score our reviews, see our Point Of Sale (POS) Software Rating Criteria.

128 Comments

Responses are not provided or commissioned by the vendor or bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the vendor or bank advertiser. It is not the vendor or bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

    Alisha

    Organization Name: Happy Days Diner

    Toast has it’s good side and then it has the bad that outweighs the good. When switched from clover it was a hassle. We had to get all the wiring for the system ourselves. They come in and set it up and show you very little on how to use the system so it’s trial and error. Now there are a lot of days especially weekends when it’s the most busiest that the system will crash. It is promised that the system will run credit cards offline so you keep taking payments only to have payment that hadn’t been processed offline and say declined when finally the system is restored at the end of the day. You talk to support, they send in a ticket for a claim and with the promise the money will be in your account and told to just delete the tickets from the screen. The first time I did and never received a dime. The second time, this time with a higher cost of payments not processed offline, I kept the tickets and just moved them on the screen to open up the tables for more orders. I told them I wasn’t deleting them till the payments showed up in my account only for days later they hack my system and erase the tickets without my consent and with no payment. Still haven’t yet to be resolved 2 months later. To purchase this system at the special sales price you just sign a contract and are told it may be canceled at any time only to find out you cannot. Now trying to figure out how to end this nightmare without having any issues in breaking contract and having to pay a cancellation fee. Oh yea and the lady we set it up with is no longer with them, imagine that. But what POS is worth it? If almost rather go back to the old writing it down and using an old register drawer but that takes away from so much that we do now. Open to Any suggestions.

    This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

    Jessica Dinsmore

    Hi Alisha,

    Unfortunately, this has been happening more and more with Toast and we’ve tried to highlight these practices as much as possible. From the experiences of people who have gone through similar issues, their contract is very difficult to get out of. If you can find a way and can afford to negotiate a buy-out that might be the only option. But you may just have to grin and bear it for the remainder of the contract to avoid the hassle. If and when you’re able to get out of the contract, there are still some companies that truly allow you to use their product on a month-to-month basis. In this regard, Square is probably your best bet. Best of luck to you!

    This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

    mary Ellen oleary

    Organization Name: Woofies Hotdogs

    I was a clover user for 5 years, we switched to toast because of a recommendation. It has been nothing but a headache since installation. Couple of examples: 1) I noticed right off i was missing ticket numbers throughout the day, according to toast this will happen if an order is voided or refunded and some other excuse that the end user may be doing. As a business owner I want to see every order and if an order number is missing, I want to know why, toast is very poor in this explanation, to me if an order number is missing, that means the order was deleted. I watched yesterday, we started out with order (1) on the main station, order (2) on the handheld, when the first order was placed on the handheld, the order number was correct, when it was placed on the main station, it was numbered (3), what happen to order number (1)???? I cannot receive an explanation from toast on this issue. Next, at least 3 times a week, the system disconnects from the internet, so an order processed via the main station does not go to the KDS, however, if we process through the handheld, the order is fired to the KDS, this happens during lunch which is our busy time. All I hear from toast is that it could be my wifi, well that does not make sense, if the handheld is on the same wifi, both should be down, not just one. If anyone has any answers or suggestions regarding the above, please feel free to make a recommendation. I have been an IT manager for 25 plus years and I have never seen a system so unpredictable. Comments welcomed.

    2

    This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

    Jessica Dinsmore

    Hi Mary Ellen,

    That sounds incredibly frustrating! Software glitches and network issues are, unfortunately, pretty common with cloud-based software although these issues do sound a bit extreme. Toast has definitely had more connection issues than usual lately and they often follow software updates but some users have felt they have become slightly less frequent recently. As for the missing tickets, it’s difficult to know exactly what’s happening with a specific error like that. From a couple of troubleshooting articles we found, voids or comped checks appear to be the most likely culprits.

    This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

    Tyler Hayes

    Organization Name: Flying Bridge RestUrant

    You are better off with a pad of paper and a pencil. If you buy this don’t say you weren’t warned

    1

    This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

    Bob Sambol

    Organization Name: Bob’s Steak & Chop House

    The worst customer service. After installation it’s impossible to talk to a human. Chargebacks are a joke. Do not buy this POS for your restaurant.

    1

    This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

    jim

    Organization Name: Cucina

    From a feature/function perspective Toast checks all the boxes – too many, in fact. The company should spend more time working on hardening their systems, ensuring better reliability and providing better support. They have pushed out new software releases that have caused major issues, hardware (handhelds/printers) breaks and getting support is a huge hassle. The level of technical support expertise varies greatly, so once you’re able to get a rep on the phone, your experience can vary greatly. Toast has no operational or Support SLA (Service Level Agreement) with restaurants. So they have no penalty for a severity 1 issues that last 5 hours during your dinner rush or keeping you on hold for an hour to get technical support. They have you trapped in a contract and they know switching costs (direct and indirect) are a deterrent to leaving.As for swipe fees, Toast’s fee model is not transparent. They want you to tell them what you currently pay and they’ll beat it. Do some research on AMEX/Visa/MasterCard fees and negotiate from there. Not sure who Toast’s back end card processor is but I’m sure Toast is getting some hefty discounts for the volume.Net/Net – Toast was designed by tech people who wanted to deliver a cloud solution to restaurants. It was not designed by tech savvy restaurateurs. The difference is nuanced, but young technology companies are measured by customer acquisition rates and delivering new features and functions to get revenue from adjacent services – payroll etc. Restaurant operators value consistent and reliable systems and fast knowledgeable support especially on a Friday night with a fully reservation book.When it works, Toast is really good. But there are issues – support calls 3-4 times a month. Work that into your calculations when making the decision. Your time, frustration and anxiety on when the next problem arises may not make Toast worth it.BTW – I work in tech and my wife owns the restaurant.

    2

    This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

    Jerry De Souza

    Organization Name: Jimmy & Joe's Pizzeria

    Stay away as far as you can from this company. Not worth the aggravation. Very disorganized, poorly trained employees, clearly don’t understand in what business they are in. I’ve had my share of dealing with crazy awful POS systems and Toast is definitely up there.I have been with Toast for about 8 months and nothing but issues.

    1

    This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

    Ray

    Organization Name: Lickety Split Southern Kitchen & Bar

    Toast has been terrible. Whether you are a new business starting out or are an established. Too many issues. Not sure where to start. Possibly corrupt.

    1

    This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

    james powell

    Organization Name: Chuckwagon

    Big mistake, after being overcharged by a 3rd party loan company, Toast held deposits without notice until it was settled with the company…..then held the deposits after the dispute was settled, will not even reply to emails as why they are still withholding deposits. Our bank said this happens quite often, the reason banks will suggest you use them instead of companies like toast. They can swipe you’re money at any time.

    1

    This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

    Fawzy Mohamed

    Organization Name: Kosharei

    very appointed , very bad customer service , you must have the whole day to solve or even ask question . I must go to a different company ,

    1

    This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

    Cats Pajamas Corporation

    Organization Name: Cat's Pajamas Corporation

    Article was very in-depth I wish there was a solution or work around the pitfalls but that’s something you can’t really do but I did find your article is very informative thank you

    4

    This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

    Tim Ratcliff

    Organization Name: Shin Hollywood

    I’m going to be very honest with you guys toast POS system has some decent qualities the problem with toast is their customer service, lack of knowledge with their technical support team on tier 1, their bona fide phone answering people, and what makes me even more upset is I have tried in the last month to have my rep review my credit card rates and I have been flat denied that they will not review or change any rates and they are extremely expensive they’re only willing to match rates that you’re given so it’s time to go get a quote and probably switch.

    Do not do business with toast unless you can get an annual review of your credit card fees included they creep up overtime without letting you know and they blame it on rising costs which is baloney.

    This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.

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