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Full-service restaurants have a specific set of demands that quick-service concepts don’t: table management, coursed ordering, server-side check splitting, kitchen coordination, and the kind of guest experience tools that keep covers coming back. The POS platforms below all surface at least some of those capabilities in their captured feature sets — where the data is thin, we say so plainly rather than filling in gaps from memory.
One honest note upfront: we don’t have third-party review data for any of the tools in this guide, so you’ll find no star ratings or user-sentiment verdicts here. Take the feature and pricing comparisons below at face value, then kick the tires with demos and trials before committing.
Pricing at a Glance
| Tool | Starting Price | Top Published Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toast | $0/month (billed monthly) | $69/month (billed monthly) | Two published plans; custom quotes available |
| SpotOn | $0/month per station (billed monthly) | $55/month per station (billed monthly) | Per-station pricing |
| Square | $0/month (billed monthly) | $149/month (billed monthly) | Location-based plan pricing; add-ons priced separately |
| Lightspeed | $69/month (billed monthly) | $399/month (billed monthly) | Enterprise tier is quote-only |
| UpMenu | $49/month (billed monthly) | $169/month (billed monthly) | Online/marketing-forward platform; POS listed as “coming soon” |
| OpenTable | — | — | We weren’t able to capture OpenTable’s current pricing — their site blocks our automated research, so check it directly on their site |
The Tools, Grounded
Toast
Toast positions itself as a combined hardware, software, and payment-processing platform built specifically for restaurants. Its captured features explicitly name full service, fine dining, casual dining, hotel restaurants, and catering and events as supported restaurant types — as strong a full-service signal as any tool in this guide.
On the feature side, Toast’s captured items include point of sale, kitchen display system, handheld POS, Toast Tables™ (table management), Toast Mobile Order & Pay®, online ordering, inventory management, guest CRM, tips management, payment processing, gift cards, email marketing, multilocation management, Toast Delivery Services®, xtraCHEF cost analytics, Toast IQ assistant, Toast Now management app, branded mobile app, self-ordering kiosk, capital loans, and instant deposit. There are also captured payroll, team management, and supplier/accounting suite categories.
Pricing: $0/month (Starter Kit, billed monthly) or $69/month (Point of Sale, billed monthly). Custom quotes are also available.
SpotOn
SpotOn explicitly positions its POS as built for “full service restaurants, bars, and counter service concepts.” The captured features call out fine dining and casual dining by name alongside bars, breweries, and other formats.
Captured feature items include table layouts, advanced modifiers, check management, online ordering, ordering app, mobile pay & review, tip management, tip access, gift cards, AI menu assistant, dynamic reporting, marketing campaigns, remote management, employee tools, employee app, profitability analysis software, payment processing, virtual terminal, payroll integration, and capital loans. SpotOn also highlights an advanced offline mode — specifically noting it switches on automatically when internet goes down, keeps all stations and kitchen connections live, and syncs offline payments once connectivity returns.
Pricing: $0/month per station (All-In Plan, billed monthly) or $55/month per station (POS Essentials, billed monthly).
Lightspeed
Lightspeed describes itself as “a flexible, customizable restaurant point of sale, payments and restaurant management platform with industry-leading insights.” Its captured feature set explicitly names full service, fine dining, and quick service as supported formats, with bar, brewery, cafe, and hotel also referenced in the captured data.
Captured features include point of sale, tableside ordering (via Lightspeed Tableside), QR code ordering, online ordering, kitchen display system, inventory management, workforce management & payroll, advanced marketing, Lightspeed Insights, Lightspeed AI, Lightspeed Pulse, reservations, benchmarks & trends, payment processing, accounting, delivery, customer-facing display, and order anywhere. The platform spans from a $69/month entry point up to a $399/month Premium plan, with an Enterprise tier that requires contacting their sales team.
Pricing: $69/month (Starter, billed monthly) · $189/month (Essential, billed monthly) · $399/month (Premium, billed monthly) · Enterprise: contact sales.
Square
Square’s restaurant POS captures a “Refine the full-service dining experience” category explicitly, alongside full service as a named restaurant type. Its broader feature framing includes take payments, manage orders from one place, keep customers coming back, scale your business, schedule and pay your team, manage your cash flow, improve operations, track inventory, add revenue streams, and track performance.
Square’s plan pricing is structured around locations: $0/month (Free, billed monthly), $49/month (Plus, billed monthly), and $149/month (Premium, billed monthly). Add-ons captured separately include a Square KDS app ($30/month on Plus, $20/month on Premium), a Square Kiosk app ($50/month on Plus, $30/month on Premium), and Square Restaurant Inventory by MarketMan ($99/month on either Plus or Premium). Physical and eGift cards, payment processing rates, and other items are listed but without published dollar figures in the captured data.
Pricing: $0/month · $49/month · $149/month (all per location, billed monthly). Add-ons priced separately.
UpMenu
UpMenu positions itself as a platform for restaurants to succeed online, with features spanning online ordering, marketing, menu management, and chains/franchises. Its captured feature list includes online ordering, restaurant POS (noted as “coming soon”), mobile app (branded iOS and Android), website builder, QR code menu, delivery management, order aggregation, loyalty program, restaurant CRM, email marketing, SMS marketing, gift cards, analytics & reporting, feedback system, restaurant menu management, pay at the table, and restaurant franchise management software.
The important caveat for full-service buyers: UpMenu’s POS is captured as “Coming soon” in the feature data. If a full-featured tableside POS is your primary need right now, UpMenu’s current strengths sit more squarely in the online/digital ordering and marketing space — the POS piece isn’t available yet based on what we captured.
Pricing: $49/month (BASIC, billed monthly) · $89/month (STANDARD, billed monthly) · $169/month (PREMIUM, billed monthly).
OpenTable
OpenTable is a recognized name in restaurant reservations and guest management. However, we weren’t able to capture OpenTable’s current pricing or features this round — their site blocks our automated research. We won’t guess at numbers or capabilities. If reservations and front-of-house guest management are a priority alongside your POS search, OpenTable is worth evaluating directly on their site.
Best For: Key Sub-Needs
Best for restaurants that want a $0 starting point with full-service features
Both Toast (Starter Kit at $0/month, billed monthly) and SpotOn (All-In Plan at $0/month per station, billed monthly) publish a $0 entry price. Toast’s captured features include explicit full-service, fine-dining, and casual-dining support alongside Toast Tables™, handheld POS, and guest CRM. SpotOn similarly names fine dining and casual dining and captures table layouts, advanced modifiers, and check management. Either is worth a closer look if cost at entry is the deciding factor — the tradeoff details will come down to hardware costs and processing rates, which aren’t fully published in the captured data.
Best for restaurants that need tableside ordering and insights
Lightspeed captures both Lightspeed Tableside and a dedicated kitchen display system, alongside Lightspeed Insights, Lightspeed AI, Lightspeed Pulse, benchmarks & trends, and reservations — a denser set of insight and table-coordination features in the captured data than any other tool here. Its plan range ($69/month to $399/month, billed monthly) reflects that breadth. It’s a natural fit for ambitious full-service operators who want analytics depth alongside front-of-house tools.
Best for restaurants with an offline reliability concern
SpotOn is the only tool in this guide that explicitly describes its offline behavior in captured detail: it switches on automatically when internet drops, keeps all stations and kitchen devices connected and firing orders, and syncs payments once connectivity returns. If your dining room has patchy connectivity, that’s a captured, specific differentiator worth weighing.
Best for multi-location or catering-focused full-service operators
Toast explicitly captures multilocation management, catering & events, hotel restaurant, and xtraCHEF cost analytics as named features. If you’re running more than one location or have a catering arm alongside your dining room, those captured items are directly relevant signals.
Best for online-first or hybrid full-service restaurants (with a caveat)
UpMenu has the richest captured set of digital/online features — online ordering, order aggregation, branded mobile app, delivery management, loyalty program, restaurant CRM, SMS marketing, and email marketing — at a starting price of $49/month (billed monthly). The honest caveat: its POS is captured as “coming soon,” so it’s not yet a full tableside replacement. It’s worth watching if your operation leans heavily on digital orders and marketing, but pair it with a separate POS solution for now.
How to Choose
The tools here cover a real range of emphasis: Toast and SpotOn both lead with full-service restaurant positioning and publish a $0 entry price; Lightspeed goes deeper on insights and tableside features with a higher price ceiling; Square offers a transparent three-tier location-based structure with modular add-ons; UpMenu is digital-ordering-forward with a POS still in the pipeline; and OpenTable requires a direct visit to evaluate. None of them is universally “best” — the right fit depends on whether your priority is cost at entry, offline resilience, insight depth, table management, or online/digital ordering. Use the captured features above as your checklist, then push each shortlisted vendor on the specifics that matter most to your service style.
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