Skip This Store-Bought Cherry Pie Unless You Prefer Dry And Chewy Slices

At its best, cherry pie should feature a flaky, crisp crust around a sweet-tart filling of cherries that burst with juicy flavor. It might be unrealistic to expect a premade pie to reach this ideal, but in our taste test and ranking of store-bought cherry pies, we found some products that are nearly as good. Unfortunately, one item that absolutely did not make the grade was the Giant Eagle Market District Cherry Pie, which landed in last place due to its off-putting texture.

Giant Eagle is a grocery chain with locations across Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, and Indiana, and its specialty baked goods are well-liked by many customers. However, we thought its Market District-brand cherry pie seriously fell short of expectations. The 9-inch dessert wins gold in the looks department, but there's too much crust packed into every bite, and the dough itself has a chewy, almost stale consistency. The edge of the crust was slightly crispy and browned, but not good enough to save the rest. Meanwhile, the cherry filling was a bit too tangy and quite dry, without that saucy quality you expect from a good fruit pie.

The worst part is that Giant Eagle's pie was the most expensive one we tasted, making its poor performance extra disappointing. It could maybe be passable with the help of a moist topping like ice cream, whipped cream, custard sauce, or extra cherries, but as-is, it's a baked good bust. Other Giant Eagle customers aren't huge fans, either.

Our taste tester thought the Market District Cherry Pie's freshness didn't live up to the price tag, and other shoppers agree that it's a poor value. One Reddit user claimed that Giant Eagle's 9-inch cherry pie sells for $14.99 at full price and $7.99 on markdown, yet "Walmart's normal price is $6.99 to $7.99 and those pies tend to be fresher." Another commenter wrote, "We were just at Costco yesterday seeing pies from $7 to $13 that were probably 2.5 times the size of a Giant Eagle buy."

Other shoppers complain about the prices of the store's pies in general. A Reddit post showing a Market District apple pie priced at $17.99 prompted one user to ask, "Is gold baked into it?" A commenter on a Facebook post even claims to have seen a pumpkin pie selling for $19 at the chain. Another Reddit user complained about the pies' quality, writing, "If you're going to say that Giant Eagle has acceptable pie, then you can just buy a [Marie Callender's] pie and call it a day."

Incidentally, we thought the best store-bought cherry pie in our ranking was better than Marie Callender's. Kroger's triple cherry pie won our taste test for its luxurious fruity flavor and buttery crust. But if Giant Eagle is always your go-to grocer, look for the best store-bought cherry pie fillings and pair them with a frozen crust — the result will be better than the store's premade pie.