In search of fresh pie, my family recently visited Village Inn, which typically bakes around 40-50 pies on site per day. The idea was to taste and rank every slice of pie they served, which is precisely what we did.

Long story short, we ate a dozen different pies, and the crusts, fillings, and award-winning freshness did not disappoint. The service from Jen (the generous store manager) and Dylan (our waiter) didn’t either.

Better yet, each big slice costs no more than $4.75-5.50. “That’s so much cheaper than the other dessert places my friends and I go to,” my teenage daughter remarked. “We’re coming here next time!”

No wonder the all-day breakfast and pie joint enjoys 4.5 stars from thousands of reviews. These were our favorite pies, ranked from best to “I’d still eat it.”

1. Country Apple

I thought Apple pie was boring until I tried this, Village Inn’s second best-selling pie. The crust was perfect—crispy on the outside, gooey on the inside where the sugary apple slices had moistened the dough. I loved it. The only pie that scored “perfect” from all seven of us.

2. Lemon Supreme

Think of a key lime pie, only with lemon mousse, a lemon topping, and sweet cream over a traditional pie crust. This thing was amazing and only scored one point less than the overall winner.

3. Southern Pecan

Their worst-selling pie (according to the store manager) was our third favorite. Buttery crust. Lots of candied pecans. Gooey, custard center. Heckuva a slice!

4. Key Lime

This pie was just as good as anything you’ll have on Key West, the birthplace of Key Lime Pie… only the graham cracker crust was noticeably thinner than pictured. I like a good thick key lime crust to counter all the softness on top. Still fantastic though.

5. Peanut Butter Cup (tie)

Now we get into what I would call the “sickly sweet” pies—the ones my wife and I wouldn’t write home about but the kids loved. This one tasted just like it sounds. All the right ingredients. Just too sweet; too extra for my taste.

5. French Silk (tie)

This is actually Village Inn’s best selling pie by a factor of 6 to 1, according to the store manager. While I normally adore chocolate mousse pie, this was similar to the Peanut Butter Cup—far too sweet, if not indulgent, and the cream and crust weren’t enough to balance and counter all of the sweetness like the tarty fruit pies do.

7. Carmel Pecan

This tasted like a Snickers Bar in pie form. It was addictive. A little overly sweet and unbalanced for my full love, but a very good slice of pie. Snickers or chocolate turtle fans will love it.

8. Strawberry Rhubarb

This was a beautiful and very good pie, but I missed the extra tartness of a full rhubarb pie. The strawberries just mellowed it out a little too much for me. Still good though.

9. Peach Lattice

This amazing slice of pie actually tied for third with my wife and I, but the kids didn’t enjoy it as much as we did, hence the lower overall score. I thought it was fantastic and think most adults in the room would agree.

10. Tripple Berry

This was another beautiful pie that didn’t taste as good as it looked. It had all the right ingredients and components. But the berries just weren’t as assertive or exciting as even a Marie Calendar’s frozen triple berry that you find at the grocery store. I’d still eat it though, but it did underwhelm.

11. Strawberry Banana

I wanted to try the classic cherry pie (pictured) which was unavailable the day we visited. Instead, we tried a seasonal Strawberry Banana that no one in are party really enjoyed except our second oldest teenage daughter.

12. Banana Cream

I thought this pie was fantastic and gave it my highest score. It was like banana pudding in pie form. But alas I was alone in that belief, hence the lowest overall score of all twelve slices we shared that day.

All told, freshly baked Village Inn pie is amazingly good and an incredible value, especially in a world where $10 desserts are seemingly the norm. I cannot recommend it enough, even if you don’t think you love pie.

FUN FACT: The store manager told us that Americans buy the most pie in autumn (as you might expect during Thanksgiving), followed by warm pie in winter, a spike in spring during Easter, then summer as the least busy pie season (save for another small spike of apple pie sales for Fourth of July).