This Grocery Store's Key Lime Pie Is Hands Down The Worst

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Creamy, zingy, and crisp, a classic Key lime pie is perfect for foodies who like their desserts to have a refreshing tartness. Making the custard-like filling is a simple job; mix egg yolks, condensed milk, sugar, and plenty of lime juice before pouring it into a crust and baking. The only problem is waiting overnight for it to chill before you can slice into its silky belly. For the impatient among us, a quality store-bought option is the solution. However, there's one we can't recommend because it failed on all fronts in our taste test: Walmart's Marketside key lime pie.

The lowest rated in our ranking of store-bought key lime pies, every layer of this confection was problematic. First, the crust fell apart as soon as it was sliced into, turning into a crumbly mess (while a touch of crumbliness is to be expected with a traditional graham cracker crust, it needs to be solid enough to contain the filling and produce a presentable wedge when portioned). Second, the filling itself had an artificial character and an unusual aftertaste even though there aren't any artificial flavorings mentioned in the ingredients list. Finally, as the pie didn't have a whipped cream or chantilly topping to provide textural balance and visual appeal, there was no contrasting flavor to cut through the tartness of the filling. It also looked plain and perhaps a bit too basic, unlike some of the other options we tried that had considered piped edges and pretty fluting.

The findings of our review tallied with many customer comments on the Walmart website. For instance, one shopper said, "This has to be the worst 'key lime' pie I've ever eaten, the texture is like pudding and the crust is crumbly. It's sour and not true key lime at all. Very disappointed." Meanwhile, another echoed the sentiment, saying, "My family loves Key Lime Pies. We usually buy frozen ones.  This pie was horrible. Even my teenagers refused to eat it. This is the first time in my life that I have thrown away an entire pie."

Having said that, there were other customers who gave the pie a five-star rating. One reviewer said "This is a really good pie. I wish this was kept in stock all year [round]. It's just that good. It taste[s] the same as if I made this at home," while another described it as "godly". Perhaps these reviewers hadn't sampled any of the quality key lime pies on offer at other supermarkets, such as Trader Joe's key lime pie, which we found to be velvety, tangy, and dense in a good way. However, the ultimate winner in our taste test was Private Selection's key lime creme pie. Prepared with mostly whole ingredients, this confection had a wonderfully crunchy crust, bright filling, and a crown of elevated whipped cream.