9 Chain Restaurant Pumpkin Pies Ranked From Worst To Best

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Waiting all year for pumpkin pie season to roll around can be excruciating, especially if you're not much of a home baker. Grocery store pumpkin pies are a great alternative, but what if you only want a slice with a cup of coffee to remind yourself of how autumn is really supposed to taste? Where does a self-respecting pumpkin pie fan go to find a decent piece of spiced custard and tender crust among the restaurants kind enough to serve such a thing?

If you're going to pull up a seat at your favorite eatery for a sugary sliver of holiday happiness, you should know which of the chains are putting their very best efforts on the table. Nothing crushes a festive feast more completely than a pumpkin pie that's less than delicious, even if the turkey and fixings are on point.

To get you in the know about how some of the best-known chain restaurants on the circuit handle their pumpkin pie business, I did a little snooping in the digital realm to find out what those who tried them had to say. Put on your loose pants and settle in for a gutful of reality about the best and worst of an old-school Thanksgiving dessert while it's on the menu.

Would you expect a restaurant that's famous for its pies to miss out on one of the most significant pie seasons of the year? Of course not. So naturally, Marie Callender's takes the opportunity to push its famous pumpkin pie on its customers to give the holidays a signature dessert option. Actually, it's not so much a push as a suggestion that probably doesn't take much persuasion. This pie tends to speak for itself.

Unfortunately, it doesn't have great things to say. You should prepare for the pie to be incredibly sweet, as a particular Yelp reviewer describes. You should also expect potential pitfalls with the preparation. Several one-star ratings contain reviews about how poorly made their pumpkin pie turned out to be, everything from one being burnt and separated from the crust to two others that were uncooked and oozing in the center. Customer service for returning the pie was also less than accommodating in some instances.

The better option for a Marie Callender's pie? Pick one up from the freezer section of the grocer in your area and cook it yourself. You'll be able to control the finish better than the restaurant versions.

Golden Corral knows that no matter what Thanksgiving dishes you pile on your tray, you're just working your way to the dessert station for a slice of that creamy spiced custard cradled in a tender pastry shell. And if the point of the restaurant is to eat all you can, it may take you a while to reach the pie course. Rest assured, there'll be slices waiting for you when you get there, though you may want to go with a brownie sundae instead.

Patrons think the Corral serves some very good pie, enough to share it in their Facebook reels; it even has the scalloped puff of whipped cream on top like the photo promises. Younger guests who've had Mom's pumpkin pie say they've never had *good* pumpkin pie until they tasted a slice here. But not everyone finds this dessert something to rave about. A photo of the whole slice being held upside-down on a fork without losing its shape is followed up with a comment about the pie being served frozen, which might make it the worst pumpkin pie ever for those poor visitors.

Though it's nice of the chain to work pumpkin pie into its carousel of holiday treats, it's definitely not the best Golden Corral dessert you can opt for. But as long as it's thawed when you try it, it may still give you festive feels at the end of your meal. Just be sure it has plenty of whipped cream.

America's favorite country-style restaurant naturally brings pumpkin pie around when autumn holidays show up on the calendar. In fact, Thanksgiving is one of the few times of year when you can get a slice of pie at Cracker Barrel. But whether you should tell your server to bring you one as they clear your dinner plates sounds like a bad idea.

TikToker Turki Foodie sampled a slice as part of an all-pies testing session. Thanks to a baby food texture, a lack of seasoning, and a layer of oil that settled on top, she could only give it a 3.7 out of 10 rating. The trick to enjoying it may be slathering the whole slice in whipped cream like one Facebook user did. But the most telling signs that this isn't a winning bite may be the comments left on Cracker Barrel's announcement that its holiday pie selection was back in stock. It seems as if customers were clamoring for every flavor but pumpkin; apple streusel and chocolate pecan in particular were on the cheers list, with no sign of pumpkin love whatsoever. A few joyous Facebook users did share photos of their whole pie purchases, which appeared a little more appetizing than the rest of the Internet claimed.

If you're stacking up Cracker Barrel's seasonal items worst to best, the pumpkin pie will likely be closer to the worst end of the spectrum.

The rise and fall of Denny's definitely didn't hinge on the inclusion of pumpkin pie in its festive menu selections. The listing calls out the spiced custard filling, which suggests it's more than canned filling lopped into a store-bought crust. Anyone with a Denny's nearby has a chance at scooping up some super sweet pumpkin pie as part of the chain's late-year holiday menu.

A Facebook user who sampled the pie during the 2024 season dubbed it "tasteless & a sad start to the holiday season" — strong words for a pie description, maybe, but pretty helpful to anyone who may be on the verge of ordering their own slice. If the delivery of the pie is a factor in the enjoyment, Denny's staff may need a bit of training; a Reddit commenter received a slice hot enough to melt the whipped cream, a major no-no for a pie that's supposed to be served cold to ensure the custard filling is nice and firm.

If Denny's isn't the only place near you putting pumpkin pie on the counter, you should see what other eateries have to offer instead. It's not worth getting your taste buds all worked up for a good time just to serve them sub-par pie.

Heartland restaurant Bob Evans aims to thrill its clientele come the autumn months with pumpkin pie that complements its down-home lunch and dinner selections. It's a solid plan if the outlet can close the deal, which takes attention to detail and an understanding of what a proper pumpkin pie looks and tastes like. But when a chain this dependable gets a case of holiday dessert amnesia, the results are unpredictable.

Customers who ordered their Bob Evans pumpkin pie to go were shocked to find it was something of a mess when they opened the carton. And it doesn't seem to have been mashed up during transport ... it looks more like it was split in half when being dug out of the pan. The Facebook user who shared the photo to warn other potential customers updated her post to say it was so un-pumpkin pie-like that she spit out the one bite she took.

In days past, the restaurant served a more maximalist version called pumpkin pie supreme, which many guests happily recall and still prefer, though the selection appears to have been stripped from the menu in 2019. One Reddit user describes the prior pie as having a layer of cream cheese in addition to the pumpkin pie base, which does sound pretty darn delicious.

Unless Bob Evans brings back the more deluxe version of its pumpkin pie dessert, you can probably find better iterations of this classic creation elsewhere.

Customers have come to Village Inn specifically for the purpose of buying pies for decades. Not to get all boastful about it, but this Harvest Pumpkin pie is a multiple American Pie Council award-winning creation. Saigon cinnamon used in the mix may be part of the magic formula.

It may be a sweet bite, but some regulars at the restaurant show off Instagram photos of a more premium version called Pumpkin Pie Supreme, sold in years past. That recipe appears to be topped with a layer of caramel and pecans, doubling up the sweetness factor and packing in more holiday joy than a dessert should be allowed. A Facebook promo from Village Inn suggests that some locations may have it this year, too. It looks nothing like the photo on the website menu, which appears to be a humbler creation. Another happy couple appears on an Instagram reel sampling their Village Inn pumpkin pie, topped from end to end with pastry-style whipped cream — and they love it.

The multiplicity brings to mind the question: Which version will you get when you roll into the restaurant hungry for pumpkin pie? If you're okay with playing a little dessert roulette, you could end up with a high roller of a treat on your table.

Perkins restaurants are one of the few remaining American eateries that still have that pie-and-coffee vibe, the personality of an old-fashioned diner where the holiday season brings pumpkin pie back to the pastry case. Even in the modern era, this outlet knows how to honor tradition by adding the timeless treat into the fold along with its other limited edition autumn offerings. With a simple description of actual pumpkin in a flaky pastry shell, pie doesn't get more straightforward — or hold more potential for sheer delight — than it does here.

A TripAdvisor review from Tri City Dude expressed his gratitude for Perkins having a soup and pumpkin pie lunch that made his elderly mother very happy. A Yelp user found the pie a perfect October option. And if you tell your Facebook crowd that Perkins' pumpkin pie is better than Costco, which has a cult following all its own? You've let the digital world know that there is a chain restaurant pumpkin pie worth tracking down waiting out there.

It sounds like you don't need to spin your wheels, hitting restaurant after restaurant in search of a proper pumpkin pie. You can head straight to Perkins instead and know you'll be getting the real deal.

It's a no-brainer that a restaurant based on bakery principles would be eager to spin out a saucy take on the pumpkin pie archetype. Kneaders knows its audience well enough to engage more than just a simple pumpkin pie recipe for its Thanksgiving dessert menu. This is the time to haul out Nana's pumpkin pie, a recipe used by the grandmother of Kneaders' founder, Gary NAME. It's a nostalgic touch that assures customers their tastes are taken into consideration, potentially better than at other chain restaurants.

Does Nana's pumpkin pie measure up as a restaurant recreation? Fans of the restaurant seem to think so, and they say as much on a 2024 Facebook post where Kneaders announced the release of its pumpkin season specialties. An Instagram photo showing the pies decorated with a whipped cream jack-o-lantern face for an October pie promotion prompted Kneaders lovers to comment that it's their favorite pie, and their children's as well.

Pumpkin pie fans wondering if this holiday pie tastes better from a bakery should hit up their nearby Kneaders to see for themselves. If the hype can be trusted, this is one sweet treat to warm up the festive season.

The Golden Arches have been cranking out pumpkin and creme versions of their hand pies for the better part of a decade. Those wondering what makes McDonald's pies delicious will have a fun time figuring it out with this seasonal selection. Is it the crispy crust that holds a chewy center layer, or is it the generous sweet filling stuffed inside? Or maybe it's the fact that they're a lower-cost sweet treat that can be had for between $2 and $3. Truth be told, it's likely a combination of all of those factors.

McD diehards will tell you that the combination is a tasty recreation of traditional pumpkin pie. The Cooking Goth gives a hilariously deadpan video endorsement of the holiday pastry, noting how well the vanilla cream accents the pumpkin flavors. Some TikTok reviewers sampling the goods had a hard time remembering if they'd tried the dessert in prior years, but a single bite revealed the ideal distribution of pumpkin and cream filling, though they did think a bit of spice added to the puree would be nice.

With price, taste, and texture aligning perfectly and availability pretty much everywhere, McDonald's has the perfect chain restaurant pumpkin pie for seasonal satisfaction.

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Nobody ever said social media users were shy about giving their food opinions. Thank goodness they use those powers to describe the pumpkin pies offered by chain restaurants. This made it easy to zero in on the creations that provide pinnacle holiday enjoyment while taking the less-than-ideal offerings to task.

I found plenty of opinions on the more common pumpkin pie outlets, the most surprising of which was McDonald's. Until I started researching, I didn't even realize there was a pumpkin and creme pie from the chain. Learning that it was one of the more popular seasonal selections was a fun discovery. Finding out there were so many varying opinions on Cracker Barrel and other chains that seemed like obvious winners also opened my eyes to the truth. There's no sense in making assumptions about chain restaurant pumpkin pie when the truth is so wide-ranging.

After reading about how the public receives pumpkin pie at some of the best-known restaurants in the country, it was a much easier task to arrange them in a low-to-high sequence by overall popularity. And now I consider myself better schooled in the possibilities of finding suitable slices when dining out.