The Best Key Lime Pie in Arizona

Have you ever gotten a thought in your head that just gets stuck there? To the point that it becomes a quest, an obsession? Like one time when I visited my friend Marty in Houston, and we heard somebody mention the phrase "Rueben sandwich". It became an obsession for us that we just had to find the best Rueben sandwich in the city. We drove 30 minutes, paid way more than we were willing to pay, and the obsession was quenched. 

It happened more recently to me. About a year ago somebody started talking about key lime pie. Key lime pie has always been one of my favorites, but that conversation began a nearly year-long quest to find the best key lime pie in the state. 

What makes a great key lime pie? It takes a lot. It needs to have a good balance between the key lime custard and the whipped cream. It needs to have a good balance of tartness and sweetness (in my opinion too many key lime pies err on the side of sweetness, which ruins the key lime pie), with the best key lime pies having a tartness that gets you in your jaw. It needs to have a strong lime flavor, and it must have a great graham cracker crust. 

As I tried each key lime pie over the past year, I scored them (from 1 to 10) based on tartness, flavor crust, appearance, and value, with the overall score being an average of those five categories. 

So based on that criteria, I present to you the best key lime pies in the state of Arizona. Please note that this list is not all-inclusive, so if you have any pies that need to be included on this list, please comment below and let me know so I can check it out and score it based on the criteria below. 

Rock Springs Cafe

#1 (tied): Rock Springs Cafe, Black Canyon City, AZ - This was out of the Phoenix area but on our way to the mountains and was a highly recommended stop. The whole pie was $24, and the pie was fantastic. The filling was tart, the cream was balanced, and the crust was perfect. 

Tartness: 9
Flavor: 10
Crust: 10
Appearance: 10
Value: 9
Overall: 9.6

Chase's Dineer

#1 (tied): Chase's Diner, Chandler, AZ - They don't always have key lime pie, but they will make one for you if you order ahead. This was one of the most affordable ($18 for a whole pie). The lime flavor was one of the best on the list. It was tart and yummy. It could have used a little more cream, but it was well balanced and definitely a family favorite. 

Tartness: 9
Flavor: 10
Crust: 10
Appearance: 9
Value: 10
Overall: 9.6

Fate Brewing Company

#3: Fate Brewing Company, Tempe, AZ - This was the pie that started the quest. It had a good flavor, was not overly sweet, and had a good tartness. The crust was weird in my opinion. It was made with walnuts, and the walnuts clashed with the tartness of the pie, throwing it off. But it was definitely worth the calories. $8.50 per slice. 

Tartness: 9
Flavor: 10
Crust: 7.5
Appearance: 9
Value: 8
Overall: 8.7

Chelsea's Kitchen

#4: Chelsea's Kitchen, Phoenix, AZ - Chelsea's Kitchen  has a beautiful patio (this was pre-summer swelter), so I really wanted this one to be higher up on the list. The cream to custard ratio was way off in my opinion. The custard was good, but didn't have the tartness that gets you in the jaw. This was the only key lime pie that I had that came with sorbet (strawberry), which was a nice touch. Definitely good enough to be towards the top though. $9 for a slice makes this an expensive pie, but at least you get some sorbet? 

Tartness: 8.5
Flavor: 8
Crust: 9
Appearance: 9
Value: 7
Overall: 8.3

The Macintosh

#5: The Macintosh, Phoenix, AZ - This was the most unique key lime pie I had in my search. The cream came on the side, and the pie had good tartness, although it kind of tasted like a granny smith apple. It had a good amount of custard. But for value, the slice of pie was $10 which definitely knocked the score down a bit. 

Tartness: 9
Flavor: 8
Crust: 9.5
Appearance: 9
Value: 6
Overall: 8.3

Pie Snob

#6: Pie Snob, Chandler, AZ - With a name like Pie Snob, I expected a lot more. In fact, a few months after my initial taste, I though maybe I either got a not-so-great pie, or that I was being too harsh. I tried it again, without looking at the original score, and it scored exactly the same. The taste was meh. It was not flavorful, it was not tart, it was just okay. I would not complain if somebody brought me this pie, but I also would not go out of my way to find it like I would with the top two contenders. $30 for a whole pie. 

Tartness: 6
Flavor: 6
Crust: 8
Appearance: 7
Value: 7
Overall: 6.8

So there is the list so far. If you are in the Phoenix area and have other Key Lime Pies that are on the "Must Try" list, please leave me a comment or reach out to me to let me know. I will update this as I find more places that have this wonderful dessert. And as a caveat, I must say that the hands down winner is my wife's homemade key lime pie, made with limes from our backyard. But that is a way-too-biased opinion, so I felt it best to keep that one off the list. Plus, whenever she makes one I'm reluctant to share.