Aloha Reviews

Pros
I have worked in restaurant management across the world, and have encountered various ePOS systems that do the job but that's about it. Aloha is not one of those. You could quit literally sit someone down in front of it and in 5 minutes they'll know the basics, 10 minutes they will be able to enter more complex orders and complex checkouts (e.g. split checks, etc.), and in 30 minutes they could be capable of programming your entire business into it from scratch and running any report you could want. A la iPhone. It really is that simple to use.

Cons
Like any computer, terminals can sometimes get glitchy and must be rebooted, but impatient folk servers and managers alike may start thumping on the screen with their pens, fingernails, etc, and after awhile it will take a toll on the touchscreen. But I've experienced this in $10mln/yr volume restaurants when they are under heavy use, not $2mln/yr volume businesses.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
The versatility of the system itself, most of the systems I have worked with in the past seemed archaic compared to Aloha. It was an eye opening experience to have a fully customizable order selection process, you are able to easily remove certain components of transaction. You can customize your buttons and your system freely, allowing you to develop a style that would suit yourself and your workers. System is easily integrated into even older model systems(that can handle it), as well as set-up through newer model systems. This product lets the users control and compile data in a much more efficient manner than most systems. Aloha also allows you to take a large check with multiple payments,as long as the software was used correctly will cut down this process and do most of the legwork for you. For instance, you have a table of ten guests and they have spent about two thousand dollars on a family dinner. Everyone loses track of time and need their checks quickly. NO PROBLEM. As long as you processed the information correctly on your end, you have just a matter of a few clicks and personal receipts for each person will print out. A lot of systems I have used in the past do not have the functionality we need in 2019.

Cons
Customer service was a little unreliable at times, and the general technical knowledge on their customer service end was limited. Waiting for a certified tech to come look at your system, if not done that day, would impact the businesses functions during that downtime.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
I believe that Aloha gives the user more abilities in the front of the house than most POS systems I have used. The ability to highlight multiple items at once and duplicate/delete is a great feature not found in other systems. I also enjoy the overall lay out of the buttons, as far as having space between each button (which makes it easier for touch screen use), and the ability to add as many different sub menus at desired.

Cons
I wish that there was a way to customize the color of the buttons. When this system is implemented in busy restaurants (which is my experience with it) color coding different things such as ingredient/sauces/allergies could make the adjustment period for new servers much quicker, and cut down on the amount of time spent searching for certain things in the menus. I also feel like the strength of Aloha is in its day to day use. When using the master computer to try and revamp, or set up new menu items in the office the process is far from intuitive, and takes a long time to become proficient in. Maybe if there was a 'helpful hints' type feature for new user that would be a great addition.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 7/10

Pros
Easy for waiters to use. Reports are easy to read. The hardware is fairly robust, purpose built.

Cons
Service once was wonderful, but since NCR bought them a couple of years ago it’s a cluster fuck. Initial support is routed to India where you’re on hold for 10 - 20 minutes, to talk to someone whose only solution is to reboot, which of course we’ve already done. Then they can only “escalate” which means it gets routed to another idiot in India who calls you back in a couple of days to tell you to reboot the system. Then it gets escalated again and in a week you get a call from the local office who fixes it in 5 min. And they only in the last few months have developed chip readers, which without it, requires you take a 300 question PCI compliance exam every 6 months, only to fail because you don’t have a chip reader, then you have to apply for an exemption which you always get, but still, hours of work because no chip reader. Loved my local office who sold me the machine, can’t do it again though.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 5/10

Pros
This is the most user-friendly POS we have used in the restaurant The back office is very easy to use for reports, inventory control and POS terminal maintenance Aloha also has a direct affect on our customers. Our staff finds it easy to use and they spend less time learning and more time providing the best customer service experience.

Cons
This was the most expensive POS we have purchased at our restaurant. If our POS terminals go down it tends to take some time for replacement

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
I love how easy it is to set up the POS to completely mirror your menu, making it more user friendly for the staff. I also like that it can be set up with your back office software to pull real time numbers and real time inventory, keeping everything much cleaner and streamlined.

Cons
Sometimes there are weird little quirks with giftcards, both selling and redeeming. I also wish it was easier to locate a previous transaction by the last 4 digits of a credit card number.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Ease of use, functionality, cross-platform ability makes things simple.

Cons
Managing permissions can be somewhat tricky.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
It was easy to use and setup all of the different variations for the restaurant food items. It was also easy to use from a management perspective, track per person average sales, etc.

Cons
Nothing comes to mind, it was a great software at the restaurant and easy to train employees on.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
This is a very reliable POS system. They've been a mainstay forever. It remains easy to use on the server/bartender side.

Cons
The difficulty of this system is on the manager/owner side. Because this system is not cloud based, there is a big lack of functionality, especially not being able to view the daily restaurant performance while away from the location. In order to change items in the system, the entire system has to be re-booted, which is not ideal during service. Reporting is hard to use and requires a time commitment to get the reports you need. At times, it can be "clunky".

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 6/10

Pros
The software is easy to learn and the interface is simple and straightforward.

Cons
The system seemed to need rebooting quite often in the middle of a shift which would be frustrating for our restaurants team members who needed to ring up items on the Aloha terminal.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 7/10

Pros
Visually appealing and powerful. Aloha makes ordering items easy and it's also the easiest POS, I've worked with, to modify items.

Cons
The ability to transfer checks between staff could be easier. Most places don't do that often, but others do.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
I like that this is a software that you can scale with. It’s durable and can be implemented if you have many locations.

Cons
If you have issues there is an aloha software man that will come out- you can’t troubleshoot yourself. Sometimes leaving you down a few computers.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 3/10

Pros
If you are in the resturant industry you need to use Aloha for your POS. It is easy to use, gives you the lay out of the resturant and is easy to add items or change information in the system. It does a great job keeping track of orders and tables.

Cons
It has shutdown before and caused panic, but if it's not as easy fix, someone is always out to fix the system super quick!

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Aloha is easygoing use. Aloha has above average customer service. The design is intuitive making it simple to figure out on your own.

Cons
The stock background colors were not great, however, they were easy to change and customize. Pricing is high

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Very user friendly, very easy to train new staff. Support is easy and generally quick to fix any problems that arise.

Cons
I really didn’t have any major issues with the software. Nothing to complain about. All problems were fixed quickly.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
Easy to use and to access various categories of drinks and food. This software was also easy to input information and specific discounts into for the bar.

Cons
Sometimes it was difficult to go back on the menu. The order might have had to be restarted if you were looking to return to a different page.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
this was the easiest system i have ever used for ordering foods, payments, reservations, inventory etc

Cons
the customer service was a bit shotty in the beginning often taking hours to respond

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
After being in the food and beverage industry for over a decade Aloha is known as being one of the best ones on the market. As a user it simplifies everything. With innovative features on splitting checks and opening tabs it really helps production time in any restaurant.

Cons
The only problem is with so many other options out there on the market Aloha has failed to lower their prices to be more competitive. Maybe that’s due to them knowing they’re the best. If you can afford it then I would highly recommend the investment.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
Easy to use software, well designed, easily navigating through menu options and modifiers.

Cons
No longer partnered with Radiant Hardware.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
The system can be easily learned and training is a breeze. The software does everything you need a resteraunt software to do and pretty quickly.

Cons
The menu inputting system might be improved upon and easily adapted to how the servers want to use it the quickest.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 5/10

Pros
This is an easy to use and update POS for any restaurant. I have used it in the past and it is easy to separate checks, open tabs, and run reports. Everything is simple and straightforward.

Cons
Some items are a bit out of date and I hope they fix that in newer updates to the system.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 7/10

Pros
Has the features you need, good organization and UI.

Cons
It can take a bit of time to learn your way around it, but that's the case with any new POS.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
Fairly simple operations, things made sense while they were on the different pages.

Cons
So many pages, only one way to get to specific pages.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
I like that the menu items are easy to modify before sending them back to the kitchen. I also like that you can see the exact layout of the tables from the screen rather than just a list of numbers.

Cons
The software freezes or goes down way too frequently.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
Ease of use. Many options available with routing.

Cons
Crashes. Seems to crash often and needs refreshed.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 5/10