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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Northstar Restaurant POS

    Score6 out of 10
    N/ACustom Business Solutions (CBS) in Irvine, California offers Northstar, a restaurant dedicated point of sale system supporting all restaurants from quick serve to fine dining, as well as bars, cruises, and amusement parks.N/A

    Square POS

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ASquare POS is a point-of-sale software solution for restaurants, retail, or appointment-based businesses. It features numerous inventory (or menu) management and control features, and options that allow customers to pay in any way they want or can.

    $10

    per each additional reader; first reader free

    Pricing
    Northstar Restaurant POSSquare POS
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Each Transaction
    2.6% + $0.10
    per transaction
    Square Reader for magstripe
    $10
    per each additional reader; first reader free
    Square Stand for contactless and chip
    $16
    per month
    Square Terminal
    $27
    per month
    Square Register
    $39
    per 24 months
    Square Reader for contactless and chip
    $49
    per reader
    Square Point of Sale
    Free
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Northstar Restaurant POSSquare POS
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Northstar Restaurant POSSquare POS
    Considered Both Products
    Custom Business Solutions (CBS)
    No answer on this topic
    Block, Inc (Square)
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    98%
    Would buy again
    39 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    39 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    38 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    32 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    37 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Northstar Restaurant POSSquare POS
    Small Businesses
    Lightspeed Restaurant
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Clover
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Toast Point of Sale
    Score8 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Northstar Restaurant POSSquare POS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (61 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (11 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.7
    (18 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Northstar Restaurant POSSquare POS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Custom Business Solutions (CBS)
    The Northstar Restaurant POS is the POS system specifically designed for Country Clubs. It works well in a Country Club scenario where things need to be customized to member preferences, and there are a large number of menu items. If there is a restaurant where the menu is simpler, without as much customization needed, the Northstar Restaurant POS may be a bit too large and cumbersome. The Northstar Restaurant POS is good for detail but not necessarily speed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    Square POS is by far the easiest POS software to use at events and train additional team members on - even with temporary or first-time employees. It's easy to see how each event is doing in live time. It gives the event manager a real-time view of revenue earned. Its really easy to create/manage/delete users to keep the platform secure.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Custom Business Solutions (CBS)
    • Very Customizable
    • Allows for a large number of items to be added
    • Same system can be used at multiple locations
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • Mobile transactions (not like from a phone, but in terms of the ability to physically relocate rapidly).
    • Simple setup.
    • Generally uncomplicated pricing.
    • Widespread customer familiarity: because it's so regularly in use in our industry (musicians/entertainment professionals), people know and trust it in a way that you might not with a different provider.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Custom Business Solutions (CBS)
    • Once an item is in the system it cannot be removed
    • Can be complicated on the back end if prices need adjusted
    • If you have a large customized menu, the tableside POS does function properly
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • Too much going on for simple users. There are so many different apps and pages now that I get lost almost every time I log onto Square
    • The high percentage of fees taken from sales
    • The difficulty in changing default settings
    • The layout of the “website” you can create is truly a nightmare
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Custom Business Solutions (CBS)
    No answers on this topic
    Block, Inc (Square)
    I don't really foresee anything being able to dislodge Square from our organization—we're not evangelists or anything like that—it's just the best solution we've found for our use case. Being able to quickly handle transactions from customers and then track all of those sales for analysis/bookkeeping later on.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Custom Business Solutions (CBS)
    No answers on this topic
    Block, Inc (Square)
    We find Square POS is very user friendly. Its interface is customizable to our needs and very easy to use. Before we adopted Square POS, we used a combination of solutions from different manufacturer to try and achieve a portion of the functionality that Square POS provides under only 1 login
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Custom Business Solutions (CBS)
    No answers on this topic
    Block, Inc (Square)
    An admission - I have NEVER had to use Square POS support. The system is seamless, it just works! I have never had any queries about how the system worked as everything is so clearly laid out. I have never had any problems with payments. If their support systems are anywhere near as good as their software, I think we'll be in good hands.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Custom Business Solutions (CBS)
    I have not used any other restaurant POS systems. I have heard there are more robust restaurant POS systems available; however, very few of them are so customizable for our needs. Being a Country Club, our focus is on member service. Northstar Restaurant POS allows us to have a large number of menu items available so we can serve our members effectively.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    We only used Square POS while we were getting set up with Authorize.Net. It isn't as flashy or recognized by the general public, but in our industry, that isn't a priority. We do very large transactions so the higher rates and fees from Square add up insanely quickly making the lower rates and fees from Authorize.Net the nail in Square's coffin for us.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Custom Business Solutions (CBS)
    • Northstar Restaurant POS has allowed us to track sales items, remove poor sellers, and add new items to keep our menu fresh.
    • We are able to easily adjust pricing to reflect current market trends.
    • We are able to do a mass price adjustment to our entire menu if necessary.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Block, Inc (Square)
    • The opportunity cost of waiting for payments and manually bringing them to a bank means that we don't have to visit our bank branch. That alone saves us several hours each month.
    • We can use ordinary computers and mobile devices with Square instead of paying for expensive software or terminals.
    • Our clients appreciate not having to process payments to us, and anything that helps our clients and makes them happy carries more import than I can explain in this space.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots