Pie Bar - Phinney — Restaurant in Seattle

I didn’t even get the chance to go inside, and I had hands down the worst interaction with a business I’ve ever had in my entire life. I have never been treated to badly for merely just existing.. it was one of the wierdest experiences. I work in Ballard at a small business in the neighborhood, and looked online and it said Ballard was open at 4:00pm, so I went after work to Ballard first to get a piece of pie for my boyfriends birthday that day, had been asking what he wanted and was excited to grab it for him. I saw tacked on the wall that they are closed and to go to Phinney- a man came out asked me if I was here for an interview and I said no, I said I see it says go to Phinney? And he said yep! So I plug into my GPS and head on over to the Phinney location.

I get there, am looking at the door reading the info/hours, realize they are closed until 5pm- as I’m about to turn to start walking to my car a woman comes out and very rudely asks me if she can help me with something. I was just kind of confused because I just assumed it would have the same hours as Ballard and was sent there - and just was trying to think if I could wait another hour until they opened. She just stared at me and was was shaking her head back and forth while staring super mean at me like I was completely stupid, while rolling her eyes at me… then she says were open at 4 — it’s on the website! I was even more confused then, and glanced back at the door and said it says 5..? And she says yeah 5!! And I said okay… geeze thanks you’re super nice and she just glared at me again and said yeah and stomped off. It was REALLY mean. I was standing there in my scrubs after work after a really long day of helping people, looking super meekly and she just stared at me like how dare I even come near the place…

Its totally up to you how you want to treat others, as it’s your business, you can turn people away like that- but I highly doubt the owner would be stoked on this. I’ll never go there ever again. I couldn’t believe it. We used to go to the Ballard location a lot for work happy hours, and I told everyone about this and they are just as baffled as I am. Especially small business to small business, and for being touted all over the website as women owned, I’ve never been treated so badly by another woman — even my worst enemy… I left feeling really upset and also empty handed for his dessert, I apologized to my boyfriend and tried my best to shake it off and get ready for his birthday evening, without causing a fight because she put me in such a bad mood.. which I didn’t want to happen but she was that mean! I read some of the reviews and it looks like this same lady has done this before.. I always give people grace, maybe they’re having a bad day, but she’s beyond that. That was really bad. Whoever that is really needs a sit down talk with the boss, or she’s going to tank that place. In my opinion you shouldn’t be working with other people and be that unkind. That was the total attitude of ‘I hate my job, I hate the people that come here, how dare you even come here, and if I have to help you I’m going to make you feel like you’re a piece of scum for just being alive. It really hurt my feelings. And it made me sad. I could never treat someone that way at my place of work and get away...

My husband and I recently had an extremely unpleasant experience at Pie Bar on Phinney Ridge that left us feeling frustrated and disappointed. We went in with high hopes for a casual date night, eager to enjoy a slice of pie together, but were met with some of the rudest and most condescending customer service we’ve ever encountered. While I understand that everyone can have an off day or be dealing with personal challenges, there comes a point where a bad attitude crosses the line, especially when you’re charging $11 for a single slice of pie—before tip!

The issue started when we asked the woman at the counter if they had a cherry pie flavor available. Her response? A snappy, “I don’t know, is it on the menu?” followed by an exaggerated eye roll. The level of disrespect in her tone was truly shocking to us when asking a simple question. It felt like we were an inconvenience to her, how dare we show up to buy pie at the Pie Bar!! Even though we were simply trying to make a choice about our dessert. If she was having a bad day or dealing with a medical condition, I could have found it in myself to extend some compassion, but her complete disregard for basic manners was too much to overlook and made our first experience at their establishment a horrible one.

To add insult to injury, the pie itself was just okay—nothing special. For $11 a slice, we expected something truly delicious, but what we got was mediocre at best. It wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t worth the price tag. Considering how bad the service was, it felt like we had wasted both our time and money. It’s hard to enjoy even the best dessert when the experience around it is tainted by rudeness. To be honest, when you’re paying premium prices for a slice of pie, the least you expect is decent customer service. It was clear she had no intention of being friendly or helpful, and that kind of behavior is just unacceptable in her industry.

The whole ordeal left us with a sour taste, both literally and figuratively. A date night that should have been relaxing and enjoyable turned into a frustrating experience. When you’re running a business—especially one as niche as a pie bar—treating your customers with respect should be a given. Unfortunately, that was not the case here.

In the end, we regretted giving this place our business. There are plenty of other spots in Seattle to grab a slice of pie where the staff actually values your presence and treats you with respect. My advice? Save your money and go somewhere else. Pie Bar on Phinney Ridge doesn’t deserve your time, your money, or your support if this is how they treat...

Confusing with so many doors so close to one another, and a schload of signage, but... you walk around the corner and enter from 74th St.. Tight little spaces, never saw a display case, as both Ballard and Cap Hill offered. Limited selection of pie, IMHO, same for house cocktails. With the exception of two Savory Pot Pies, it seemed like a sugar contest. Banana cream pie might've been a no-bake cream pie w/ banana liqueur for all I know. The pre-bake crust added some salt content and a bit of chewy texture. My guess is that one pre-bake crust gets crumbled to garnish the 'Pie-Tini' slate of surgary cocktails. Wifey's Key Lime Pie-Tini was a tad sharp but believable. Both were crafted by another pleasant staff member on her 2nd day... My Pumpkin Pie-Tini ended up as a perfect Egg-Nog jobber. I am a pie officionado, and like all 3 in particular. They all needed work except mine, which was either a total bust or EggNog by mistake. FWIW, I like Egg Nog, had a no doubt rum spirit flavor. I was just expecting pumpkin. Worth noting, as an EggNog-Tini, it was perfection!!

I might give them another chance, I might not. In part due to attempting to park nearby on a Friday Night. It gets crowded as anywhere I've been. Huge party vibe, loads of younger folk hanging about. I prefer the Cap Hill outlet...