Nation’s Giant Hamburgers & Great Pies

Nation's Giant Hamburgers & Great Pies.

I had never heard of this place, but it is a diner chain, with 28 locations, that has been around since the 1950s.  Started as a hot dog stand, expanded from there.  I guess pretty successful.

As you can guess from the name, they serve burgers.  Large burgers.  The burgers are all 3/4 of a pound.  Along with regular hamburgers/cheeseburgers/bacon burgers, they also offer wild salmon, chicken, and meatless alternatives, plus hot dogs and grilled cheese.  Fries.  Shakes.  Pretty standard diner menu, plus all the breakfast classics (french toast, pancakes, eggs, toast, hash browns, etc).

Since the other half of the restaurant name is "& Great Pies", of course, they offer a slew of pies, including fruit pies (apple, berry, cherry, no sugar-added apple), classics (custard, pumpkin, pecan, lemon meringue), and a bunch of cream pies (banana creme, chocolate creme, coconut creme, lemon creme).  And cheesecake (is that a pie?).  Pies are available whole, half, or by the slice, either a "regular" slice, aka a full 1/4 of a pie, or, perhaps more reasonable, a "small" slice that is only 1/6 of a pie.  Yes, finally, a place that understands "Parent family" slices!  It is still inconceivable to me that normal people think a pie can serve more than ~4 people.

Anyway, as a dessert lover, I've only indulged in the pie section of the menu, so I can't comment on the rest of their offerings.

Update Review, May 2024

You would think that after my abysmal review of the fruit pie I tried from Nation's nearly 10 years ago, that I wouldn't be interested in trying more of their pies.  And yet, I did.  

In the 10 years since my last Nation's experience, not much has changed.  They still have exactly the same pie lineup.  You can still order by slice (1/4 of a pie), half, or full size 9" pie.  Prices have gone up nearly double (!), with slices now ranging from $6.50-8.50, half pies $11.60-14.25, and whole pies $16.95-23.25.

Banana Crème (slice). $6.95.

"Fresh hand-cut bananas in crème inside a flaky pie crust with whipped topping."

The pie from Nation's I was most excited for was the banana cream, er, "crème".  It is their most popular, and the one that gets all the rave reviews.  

It looked much like any grocery store calibre banana cream pie, although it had a strange scattering of sliced almonds in the very center (that aren't mentioned on the menu, so, beware if you have nut allergy!).  The crust wasn't really what I'd describe as "flaky", but it was a good blonde style crust, soft, pleasant enough.  The style of crust often used for this kind of pie, and definitely better than a graham crust (which they do use for the cheesecakes), but not as good as a true flaky style like used for most fruit pies.  So, good enough crust of this style.  ***+.

Above that, the bananas.  Sliced bananas, a bit mushy, a bit darker brown indicating that they weren't super fresh, but, I think we all know how quickly bananas turn brown.  Less fresh tasting than most actual bakery banana cream pies, but on par with a grocery store style.  ***.

The "crème" was a thick pudding, well set, and I think it may have had a touch of banana flavor, but it might have just been vanilla.  It was good pudding, and the ratio was done well.  ***+ crème.

And finally, the whipped topping, that was super fluffy, super sweet, and although not rich cream forward whipped cream, it worked well enough.  ***+.

Essentially, all slightly above average components, but ones that did come together to be greater than the sum of their parts.  The balance and ratios were all right, and although no component was high quality on its own, they worked together in a very classic comfort foods way.  One of the better banana cream pies I've had really, particularly for this style that isn't trying to be something more upscale.  Low ****?

And yes, a "slice" is a full 1/4 of a pie, so the $6.95 price that might sound high for a slice, really is more reasonable if you consider it 2 (or even 3) slices.

Coconut Crème (half). $11.60.

"Refreshing coconut cream filling inside a flakey pie crust. Topped with whipped topping."

For the coconut cream, I opted for a half pie.  I think I sorta got a smaller half though, this looked more like 40% of a pie.  The construction was much the same as the banana: blonde crust, thick set crème filling, lots of fluffy white topping, garnish in the center (this one, coconut flakes).

And indeed, it was quite similar in taste too.  The middle layer was slightly coconut flavored, well set, thick pudding.  The topping was sweet but not cloying, super fluffy.  The toasted coconut on top added a bit of texture and additional coconut flavor.

It wasn't the most coconut forward coconut cream pie out there, but, the pudding and the topping really are quite good for their style, so I enjoyed it.  ***+.

Peaches & Crème (slice). $6.95.
May/June Seasonal Pie of the Month.

"Peaches in cream in a flaky pie crust with whipped topping."

Every month Nation's has a pie of the month.  They follow the same schedule, year after year.  The month prior, April had a very tempting looking blueberry cream pie.  I knew that after this, July would bring the cherry pie.  But for May and June, it was peach, which struck me as slightly odd, as it seemed a bit early for fresh local peaches.

And then I got my slice.  And I understood.  It didn't matter when peach season was.  Because, um, these weren't fresh peaches.  If this photo looks like canned peaches, a thick cream filling, and light orange fluffy whipped topping, that is exactly what it was.  The crust was the same as the other cream pies, a decent enough simple pale blonde crust.  The cream layer was nicely set, thick, but pretty flavorless.  The canned peaches were ... um, canned peaches?  Sorta soft, some goo around them, and just not fresh tasting.  The lofty light orange whipped cream was remarkably fluffy, very light, but tasted extremely fake, more akin to "whipped dairy-adjacent topping" than whipped cream, in the direction of Cool Whip that had been extra whipped up.  It had mild peach flavor ... I think?

So overall, this did feel a bit like someone took a pre-baked pie shell, added canned peaches, some pudding from a container, and generic non-dairy sweet topping, and made a pie in <2 minutes flat (ok, maybe a little longer given the piping skills), but it certainly didn't taste fresh baked, homemade, or made with quality ingredients.  If you go into it wanting and expecting that, it is perfectly fine, but I was really hoping for actual fresh peaches.  Low ***, as it wasn't bad exactly, just, not very good.

Original Review, June 2015

I haven't actually visited any Nation's restaurants, but I got to try a pie when a co-worker brought one in.

Boysenberry Pie.  $9.95.

If you've read my posts about blackberries, and in particular, blackberry pie, you might know where this review is going.  I hate seeds.  And boysenberries have seeds.

But there was much more wrong with this pie than just my non-liking of seeds.

The filling reminded me of ... goo.  It sorta seemed like they just took a jar of jam and put it inside a pie.  It was sweet and well, gooey.  And, of course, loaded with seeds since it was boysenberry.  I really did not like the filling.

But the filling is only one component of a pie.  Even if a filling isn't good, I am more than happy to just devour crust, and this was a double crust pie.  As a crust lover, this made me excited.  Twice the goodness!

Except, the crust was really dry.  It wasn't decadently buttery, but rather oily instead.  I normally steal extra crust from others, and in this case, I didn't even want all of my own crust.

So I didn't enjoy a single thing about this pie. *. $9.95 for a whole fresh pie is a good price though.