5 Restaurant Chain Apple Pies To Buy And 3 To Avoid

Any way you slice it, apple pie is an American favorite. Unlike some desserts that don't look as good as they taste, apple pie is Instagram-ready, topped with a fancy lattice crust, or a solid, golden-brown one, with its wavy edges to hold in the glossy apples and cinnamon-speckled filling of the perfect specimen.

Apple pie is the quintessence of a Thanksgiving feast, grandma's family recipe, or a slice of nostalgia shared with a friend. Is there a more natural pairing than apples and cinnamon? Of course, apple pie spice isn't as trendy as pumpkin pie spice, which is a booming industry in the U.S., but there really are only slight differences between the two blends. They both feature warm spices (like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and ginger) and flavors that light up the taste buds, calm the senses, and even promise some health benefits.

If you're craving a slice of homemade apple pie, there's a good chance you can find a close substitute at a nearby restaurant. If it sells pie, the restaurant most likely has the apple variety on the menu, whether it's American, French, Dutch, or an apple cobbler crossover. I tasted eight apple pies from several local restaurants and found five I'd recommend buying — even some worthy a Door Dash delivery fee — and three that I suggest avoiding.

Whether it was because it was hot out of the oven or because Marie Callender's Restaurant and Bakery uses fresh, in-season fruits, this pie had fantastic apple flavor. Somehow the apples tasted closer to the real deal than canned. The apples even kept their shape and remained firm — not crunchy, but not mushy. The apples were coated in a sufficiently gooey, but bright-flavored, gel, which, again, tasted like fresh fruit, with the subtle use of cinnamon and spice allowing the sweet taste to shine through. There was no hint of the taste of any of the common fruit pie thickeners, like cornstarch or flour. If there was anything lacking, it may have been that the crust was tender, bordering on crumbly, and was only mildly flavorful.

I was lucky to be able to get a fresh slice of pie from one of the remaining 23 Marie Callender's locations still baking pies daily, down from the 138 restaurants at its peak. The story behind Marie Callender's pies is a delicious slice of history with American Dream on top. Marie began selling pies out of her home in the 1940s to make ends meet and eventually sold the family car to pay for a used oven and three rolling pins to set up a bakery. Making pies was a lot of hard work and sacrifice but things finally got rolling after a clever promotion offering a free slice of pie to first-time customers grew a dedicated customer base.

I grew up eating Marie Callender's pies — in fact, they're the reason I have always struggled to spell the word "calendar" correctly. One of my favorites is the Double Cream Lemon Pie, which has a layer of sour cream that tames the tartness of the lemon custard and sweetness of the whipped cream. That's why I was surprised that sampling Marie Callender's Sour Cream Apple Pie literally soured my whole taste-testing experience.

This was my first time sampling sour cream in an apple pie, but apparently it's not unheard of to stir in some of this creamy ingredient to upgrade an apple pie. In principle, the tanginess of the sour cream should be a nice complement to tart apples. But, instead of adding a sophisticated zing, the sour cream only dampened the taste of the apples. They tasted less sweet and flavorful than those in the homestyle apple pie.

In the end, what bothered me most was the texture of the pie. The sour cream was spread on top of the apples where it baked into a pasty cream cheese texture that remained clumpy in my mouth. And I wasn't sure what to make of the four tiny pieces of nut huddling in one corner of my slice. It was confusing to take several soft bites and then hit an unexpected crunchy element. To top it all off, or rather, at the bottom of it all, the crust was a bit soggy and overly crumbly.

Denny's Oven Baked Caramel Apple Pie Crisp is technically an apple crisp with "apple pie" in its name. But, what's in a name? That which we call an apple pie, by any other name — cobbler, crisp, or crumble — would taste as sweet. Apple desserts have different characteristics, but the common thread they share is warm spices, primarily cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and sometimes cardamom.

The traditional apple pie spices were pleasantly strong in this apple pie crisp, intensifying the rich, brown-sugar sweetness of the dessert (which was more doughy than crispy) and complementing the tart flavor of the apples (which were more firm than soft.) The enticing combo of apple and cinnamon, sweet and comforting, allowed this "apple crisp" to beat out some of the traditional apple pies on this list. 

In order to be as fair as possible, I ordered this dessert without the scoop of vanilla ice cream, drizzle of caramel topping, and dusting of powdered sugar it is typically served with, and I ate it at room temperature. But, next time I'll get it with all the fixings. You see, I couldn't resist getting the caramel sauce in a to-go cup, and after my initial tasting, I drizzled it onto the last few bites. It was incredibly delicious. The caramel deepened the sweetness, stood up to the cinnamon, and took the indulgent gooeyness to the next-level.

Ever since Village Inn pies were named "The Best Pie in America" for ten consecutive years by the American Pie Council, the restaurant has continued to claim that title in big letters in its marketing materials. That's why, even though I can get a slice of the award-winning pie on Free Pie Wednesdays, I'd willingly pay full price for a slice of the Country Apple Pie. It's simply a classic apple pie, with soft apples, spiced jelly filling, and a thick, flakey crust with sugar crystals baked on top. 

The quality ingredients used in this apple pie are what I'm sure stood out to the pie judges because they certainly caught my attention. Village Inn's recipe uses sweet, crisp Michigan Northern Spy apples, which are a sweet-tart variety that is so commonly used in apple pies, they are often called Northern Pie Apples. And, because not all cinnamon is created equal, Village Inn knows to use Saigon cinnamon which brings a more vibrant flavor and color to the apple pie filling. The final piece of the pie is Village Inn's award-winning pastry crust. Because crust is such an essential element of a good apple pie, it is scored both separately and as an overall component of a pie in an American Pie Council competition. I give the crust a 10/10.

Even though Black Bear Diner's menu calls this an Apple Cobbler, I felt justified in including it in my apple pie tasting because it has all the elements of a classic apple pie — apples, cinnamon, and a pie crust (well, at least a top crust.) Black Bear Diner was also the only restaurant to serve a mini pie instead of just a slice of pie, so it even looked the part of a traditional apple pie. 

However, beneath the beautiful lattice crust, the perfect apple pie image began to crumble. Instead of being buttery and flakey, the crust was dense and bland. Once I hacked my way through the thick top, I discovered that, once again, it wasn't all that it seemed; it smelled much better than it tasted. The apples were grainy and mushy, the apple spices were underwhelming, and the lemon juice, which brightened the flavor in other pies, just left a faintly sour aftertaste in this one.

Like all the pies I tested, I ate this at room temperature. This may be a disadvantage because to truly unleash cinnamon's flavor compounds (and its power to boost moods, stimulate hunger, and trigger memories), it should be served warm. And, just so you're aware, room temperature is still preferable to cold which I found out when I ate the leftovers (Black Bear Diner has notoriously huge serving sizes) straight out of the fridge, and let me tell you, serving it cold did not do it any favors.

Marie Callender's Bakery makes all its apple pies with Granny Smith apples, but each pie has it's own unique flavorings which affect the taste of the fruit. For instance, the apples in the French Apple Pie taste much sweeter than those in the Homestyle Apple Pie. That's because of the copious amount of brown sugar in both the dense filling and the generous crumble on top. This pie is not for those with delicate blood sugar levels — it is a sugar bomb. Rich brown sugar is the dominant flavor although there is a strong cinnamon presence. And, just so the apple flavor doesn't get lost in the sweetness, there's a touch of bright acid from what I'm guessing is a splash of lemon juice, which works wonders in apple pie.

In contrast to other apple pies with thick, firm slices of fruit, this pie has fewer large pieces of apple so the texture is less toothsome chunks and more tender applesauce which melts in your mouth companionably with all that sugar. Because of the amount of cinnamon and deep brown sugar flavors, this one might taste better warm. You'll just have to be careful to use one of the apple pie warming methods that doesn't make the crust, which is already pretty soft and crumbly, soggy.

The best tasting, most apple-flavored pie I tasted was the Homestyle Apple Pie at Perkins Cafe and Bakery. It simply tasted like apples with the perfect amount of cinnamon flavor. Baked in a shiny-topped, flaky, melt-in-your-mouth crust, the apples lounged happily in a flavorful, sweet, jelly filling.

The apples were the perfect harmony of sweet and tart, and the perfect balance between firm and soft. I wish I knew what kind of fruit Perkins uses in its pie, but the restaurant's social media simply calls them "sweet apples", which could be any of a number of varieties which are good for baking because they keep their shape and flavor when cooked. Within the list of apple options for making a pie from scratch is a range of flavors, and the best one is a matter of individual preference. Tart Granny Smith apples are a favorite among many bakers, but others reach for extra-sweet Fujis to make their pies. The tart-sweet, best-of-both-worlds Pink Ladies are Alton Brown's choice for the perfect apple pie. 

I'd be proud to bring this Homestyle Apple Pie to a family dinner or a neighborhood potluck. I'd eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dessert. However, there is only one Perkins Cafe and Bakery where I live, and it is 16 miles away. I've decided to see that as a good thing because I'm not sure how much willpower I could muster if it were located any closer.

Kneaders promises an Apple Cobbler Pie with "a perfect balance of sweet and spice," however, the odd flavors were actually what tipped the balance and landed it at the bottom of the list as the worst apple pie. With cobbler in the name, I expected intense brown sugar and cinnamon flavors. However, I was disappointed to discover the clumps on top of the pie were not a rich, sugar and butter crumble, but tasteless pieces of flour and oats. The apple filling was cloyingly sweet with a prominent, but confusing, floral flavor. 

Of course, the recipe for the pie, like most restaurants, is proprietary, so I was left on my own to guess what I was tasting. At first I thought it might be vanilla, but now I suspect it is corn syrup or imitation honey, that grocery store sweetener with the deceptively misleading label that makes you think you're buying the real deal, but it's really only a hint of ultra-filtered honey mixed with cheap sweeteners. In the end, the flavor was just way too sweet and unnatural.

Another way this Apple Cobbler Pie threw me off balance was the texture. The apples were oddly crunchy while the topping was disappointingly soft. The apples slices, which were bigger than those in any of the other pies, were tender on the outside but crunchy — nearly raw — on the inside. My plastic fork was no match for them, but I was done eating anyway.

At the American Pie Council National Pie Championships, pies are rated on their appearance, aroma, taste, balance of flavors, mouthfeel, consistency, aftertaste, and overall appeal. Those are pretty much the same criteria I used when I ate my way through eight slices of pie to determine the best and worst specimens at local restaurants. Of course, I'm not a professional judge, but I'm guessing neither is anyone reading this. My credentials are that I know what looks good and tastes good and as long as someone is willing to publish my opinions about pies, I'm going to give them.

I purchased all the apple pies as an individual slice, except for Denny's apple pie crisp, which was just a scoop on a plate, and Black Bear Diner's apple cobbler, which was served in a mini pie tin. I ordered the slices to-go and ate them at room temperature and then again just out of the refrigerator. I have to say, apple pie tastes better at room temperature than cold 100% of the time. If I'd had more than a slice to work with, I would have tried to heat them up, but no restaurant is serving hot pie so that really wasn't necessary.