Dad's Pies - Italiano Lasagne product reviews

I was really unsure what to expect with this pie as I tried all the other flavours and had varying reviews. I do enjoy a nice lasagne but in a pie was going to be a different story. How do you replicate a lasagne in a pastry case? I wondered if it would just be lasagne ingredients mixed up or whether there would be some traditional layering to it.

Well I need not have worried. The filling in this pie looked just like that of a lasagne, with a bit of mince, a bit of pasta and a whole lot of flavour. Yes it tasted just like a lasagne but in a pie. Not too much mince and not too much tomato flavouring. I found the filling to be rather solid in texture which is great if eating the pie straight form the hands, but I would have liked it to have just a little bit more moisture as by the end of the pie you were looking for water.

This is definitely a pie that I will be purchasing again, especially for the kids. They both loved it and I liked how the pie stayed together while they ate it - there was no oozing filling to mess their hands. What I would like this company to do however is to list the ingredients of the pizza sauce because as a mother of two kids with intolerances I am always checking the ingredients list and pizza sauce does not tell me everything that is in the pie.

I love lasagne so I knew I would have to try Dad's Pies Italiano Lasagne Pie. It exceeded my expectations. It had some of the seasoning sprinkled on top which put the kids off and meant I could eat it all by myself. Thank you Dad's Pies for making it especially for parents. I should have savoured every bite of it but I was afraid if I lingered they would change their minds and find out how delicious it truly was.

If you were thinking as I did that it would be a lasagne topper with pastry you couldn't be more wrong. This pie is quality, yet surprisingly affordable. There was an authentic lasagne flavour just like we would have with the layered pasta dish that is so popular and easy to make. This isn't layered however, instead there are small bits of pasta throughout so you get the meat, seasoning, cheese and pasta in every bite.

The mince and onion were so fine that even the those that are like my kids and refuse to eat something if the see the tiniest bit of onion wouldn't know it was in there. The onion blends in well with all the other seasoning. Of the Dad's Pies I have tried so far this has to be my favourite. I could not fault it. I will be looking out for it in both supermarkets and service stations. I certainly recommend it to everyone (except the vegetarians of course).

When I cut into this pie, I was a little bit surprised by the filling. Years of eating from a pie warmer had left me thinking "lasagne topper" every time I see the word lasagne. So I was expecting a giant wad of finely ground tomato flavoured mince, topped off with a layer of cheese, and breadcrumbs (I know, I know. How? Why? I don't even know...). So my surprise was present, but short-lived when I remembered the "Italiano" part of the title, and I realised it was not a reinvention of the reinvention of the original italian lasagne. It was an alternate reinvention of the italian lasagne.

So putting aside all thoughts of lasagne toppers, I checked out the fillings of my pie. The mince used is actually a lot thicker than I was expecting, and it yielded more flavour. The extra size also meant the meat was fractionally juicier, holding moisture in itself, and not just relying on the "sauce" to provide lubrication. The use of pizza sauce and herbs, gave it a very italian flavour, but the presence of the mince altered the flavour enough that it did not taste like a pizza at all. It ended up with a well balanced tomato flavour with the mince.

The presence of the cheese was understated. I could tell it was in there, but it was well mixed in with the rest of the ingredients, that is was more of a flavour boost than a focal point. Because the focal point was the presence of actual lasagne (I'm referring to the pasta layers itself, "lasagne", not the meal as a whole "lasagna") in the pie. You don't need to be concerned too much about the carb count, as the lasagne is present in small pieces and scattered throughout the filling. Just enough to give you that slightly tougher texture that lasagne gives to it's dishes.

I did find the pie to be rather heavy. It felt full, and when I ate it, I felt heavier afterwards. Not quite what you would call a light, summery meal. Not even a snack. This would make a great winter meal, certain to satisfy your hunger. I very much enjoyed this pie. I was apprehensive with the title that made me think it could be something weird and new that I wouldn't like, but being given the opportunity to try it "risk-free" as a reviewer has opened my eyes to the possibilities. Will definitely be purchasing it again. the satisfaction that I felt after consuming the single pie is more than enough to bring me back.

I have always enjoyed lasagne; it is something I often serve when having friends around - it is a versatile dish and easy to prepare. But just how versatile it can be was something I did not realise until I tried the "Italiano Lasagne" variety of Dad's Pies. Lasagne is just something I would never have thought of including in a pie - I thought it would be far too heavy a filling. But to my surprise, it worked extremely well. The pie crust is so light that it does not interfere with the overall texture, and, in some ways, it reminded me of the natural "crust" that occurs on oven-baked pasta.

The taste was superb - lots of tomato and cheese (both regular and Parmesan) to create a full-bodied and authentic Italian taste. The herbs have been selected to complement the flavour, with basil, thyme and rosemary all featuring high on the list. In short, it was a delicious if unexpected surprise! The mince meat component of the filling is generous and well blended with the sauce. Unlike with other Dad's Pies I have tried, the filling was runnier and did ooze out when the pie was cut in half. This did not affect the flavour at all, but it would mean that possibly this pie is best eaten with a knife and fork rather than being served as finger food.

The verdict? Flavoursome, filling, and definitely a pie I would like to try again. Thank you once again, Dad's Pies, for introducing me to a new way of serving a favourite food!

Lasagna is one of those dishes that brings back fond memories, especially ones that my dad made, and whilst we also enjoyed pies quite often (perfect for a long day at work and he didn't have the energy to cook) but I don't think that either of us ever considered combining the two... Curiosity got the best of me and I looked forward to biting into the Italiano Lasagne Pie, but given that I've never had much luck with pies in the microwave (they either come out too tough, too dry or too soggy) so I forced myself to wait the thirty minutes I gave the pie to cook.

One thing that's good about these pies is that they all look a little different on the top, so should you be cooking more than one pie at a time and not want to eat a particular one, there's no worry about getting them mixed up. Cutting into this I could see nice small slivers of pasta, lots of mince and lots of sauce. The cheese wasn't as strong in this pie as it has been in previous pies but it suited this pie well and the bits of pasta were wonderfully soft so they didn't stand out badly (as I was worried they might).

I really enjoyed this, such a filling pie and I would happily eat this again.

I love Lasagne and was wondering what a Lasagne flavours pie would taste like. The packet is simple but has enough information about what the ingredients are and how best go heat it , I don't often follow the instructions as I microwave the pie and I find that the instructions are usually really far off as to time to heat it. I find the guidelines give me an idea of how long to heat it for and slowly add a minute to the heating time and take out and test, putting back to heat for another minute if needed.

I put it in the microwave with the bag unopened. It smelled good so I thought I would be lucky and get a good tasty pie but found the pastry was tough but not inedible . Not sure why but I was expecting layers of Mince with cheese and a good sauce but was sadly disappointed. There was hardly any pasta (a few small pieces sort of scattered throughout the pie) and if there was any cheese it was very well hidden but the tomato sauce was rather tasty. I found that the pie would be better off being labelled as a Mince pie and not a Lasagne pie.

I am glad I did try it so now I know not to waste money on the pie but I would never buy this pie.

I'm the lasagna eater in our house. The rest of the family don't generally like tomato cooked or pasta sauces that are vegetable based. So I usually end up having lasagna at cafes. Looking at the packet for this pie I could see that there was a sauce, onion, cheese and some herbs that I expected would add to the flavour of the mince and pasta. Initially I was a bit worried about there being pasta in the pie, as too much could make the pie really carb-heavy.

I cooked the pie in an oven so the pastry would come out crisp and crunchy. That's exactly how it came out. It made it deliciously light and buttery. I cut the pie in half and shared this with my husband. He was okay with trying half the pie despite the cooked tomato that was promised within.

The flavour of the mince and pasta sauce was a little bland. My husband felt that it was okay and quite a family friendly flavour. I suspect that this was the aim. Good pastry, good ingredients, but keeping the flavour dialed back a little so that it is enjoyable for anyone.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the pasta level was low. That meant that my worries about the carb count was unfounded. I just think if it was me I would have had a kick up on the herbs and spices and maybe a tastier flavoured cheese. My husband liked it just fine and felt that it just needed a touch more cheese.

I'm not sure that we would buy this pie if we saw it at the shops. The price vs the enjoyment of the filling makes it less likely compared to other Dad's Pies available. However, I would be likely to suggest this pie to people if I thought it would fit their tastes and needs.

I seriously couldn't believe that there was a lasagne pie on the market. Without having seen it before, I was wondering if it would be stodgy and too heavily loaded with carbs to eat. Nevertheless, I was totally intrigued.

This was the first of Dad's Pies pies that we have prepared and I read the instructions to find that we could put the pie in the bag into the oven. I was a bit surprised by this and contacted some other friends who were reviewing the pies as well. When I found that others had followed this instruction with great success, I did so too. In most cases, we expect to take a pie out of a packet prior to putting in an oven but these bags are obviously designed for the oven. There are lots of tiny holes in the bag and this allows the pie to breath as it is heating.

I thawed the frozen pie and then popped it in a preheated oven for 20 minutes. The pie wasn't completely hot through. Our oven always takes longer than expected so I would blame this on the oven rather than the instructions. Another 5 minutes did the trick in our oven. When I took the pie out of the bag, I noticed that it was completely in tact. There were no signs of the contents coming out of the pastry or the pastry cracking or drying out. These are all common experiences when heating pies at home.

The pie looked nice and solid and didn't look greasy or soggy. I cut the pie into quarters so I could share it with my family of four. Each of us took a piece and everyone was impressed straight away. The smell certainly caught our attention. It smelled just like lasagne! Mr Six announced that it was "yummy" and that it "tastes just like lasagne". He loved the mince content in it.

We found that the pastry was lovely and it wasn't at all oily. The pie held together nicely. The contents of the pie were consistent in texture and there were no lumpy bits. There were bits of pasta throughout the filling. I think that the balance of the contents was well done. It didn't feel that the pie was too heavy to eat. I actually felt quite good after eating it.

We don't usually have pies for dinner (in fact we don't eat them too often). Even with this in mind, my husband said that he would consider the pie a dinner rather than a greasy snack. This pie was a good one to start off with as all of our family enjoyed it and would consider having it again.

As a lover of lasagne, pies and all things Italian I was rather excited to see 2 of my favourite foods come together as one to create a Italiano Lasagne Pie! I couldn't help but try this pie first out of all of the Dad's Pie's which I had received to sample!

Being rather hungry at the time, and also not having much time before I needed to head out, I decided to pop my pie into the microwave to cook, since I have a 1100w microwave I popped the pie (in the bag) for 75 seconds, however when I cut into the middle of my pie it was still a fraction colder than I like so I put it back into the microwave for another 30 seconds until it was piping hot and perfect. I loved the fact that I could heat the pie in it's bag, as this was great for preventing the microwave from getting dirty as the pie cooked.

The pie smelled amazing, just like a lasagne, but the taste was even better! The pie was full of a tasty beef mince, a yummy tomato based sauce which was seasoned with the perfect amount of herbs and spices, and of course in true lasagne style it had a plentiful amount of lasagne pasta through it, this scrumptious combination was encased in a crisp, light pastry which was the perfect thickness and texture, which crisped up rather nicely considering it was cooked in a microwave.

This pie was amazing don't get me wrong but if I was to make one small suggestion to give this pie even more of a 'wow' factor I would suggest adding a layer of cheese, or cheese sauce to the top of the mince mixture as a true lasagne always has lashing of cheese and a tasty sauce to top it off nicely!

I would certainly buy this pie again, and as far as microwave pies go this is right up there as my new favourite, $4 doesn't seem bad at all for this quality of pie, which seems far superior in quality to any other microwave pies I have tasted! I just hope the other Dad's Pies can live up to the same standard!

For as long as I can remember, I have LOVED lasagne, almost to Garfield-like proportions, so I was eager to jump into this pie first, and I was not let down. The first thing I noticed after opening the wrapper was the sprinkling of breadcrumbs on the lid, something which makes sense, but still took me by surprise. It appears that the chefs behind Dad's Pies put quite a bit of effort into properly blending pies and lasagne together, instead of making a half effort and ending up with something like those lasagne toppers you find in bulk bags in the Supermarket Freezer.

This effort did not go to waste, because when I took a bite, the taste was exactly like what I have come to know as an "authentic" lasagne taste, which I got by having homemade lasagne made by parents, parent's friends, and even myself at one point. I noticed that underneath the layer of pastry was a second layer of sheet pasta, which was a nice touch, and it also enhanced the savoury flavour of the pie as well as adding a nice texture.

The fillings themselves were awesome, the mince had a beautiful taste, especially with the mix of herbs and spices added. The cheese was of good quality, it didn't taste like any of the "normal" stuff, like the cheap cheese you can get at Pak'n'save, nor was it like the kind that you find in the budget pies, this is a true high-quality pie in my book. The overall texture of the fillings was pleasant, it had the thickness I'm used to finding in things with cheese mixed in, but it also wasn't mushy or starchy, which is common in most pies.

It was also very easy to cook this pie, it came in one of those perforated bags that, when placed in the microwave, will act like a mini steam-cooker, cooking the fillings evenly instead of leaving some ingredients rather cold, while others are almost turned molten, something quite common with microwaved foods, and sometimes even stuff cooked in a proper oven, ever heard stories about Christmas turkeys that were brown and tender on the outside, but a frozen meat-pop on the inside?

Overall, I think this was a very high-quality pie, with firm yet soft pastry, delicious fillings, an easy cooking method, and great attention to detail when it came to trying to make a "holy" lasagne/pie hybrid, it really did work, and I will have to see if I can find these pies in any stores around, if possible. I would highly recommend, though, that if you happened to find this pie in a store, buy it; it's a worthwhile purchase.

I have to say that I wasn't overly sure about the concept of putting lasagne into a pie, but I do love lasagne and pies separately so I thought it was worth giving it a try. I picked out 3 pies for my family for dinner tonight and this was one of them as I thought it had a nice family friendly appeal to it.

Upon tasting it, Miss 7 declared that she loved it and snapped up the last bit so hubby got barely a bite. I enjoyed a decent sized taste and really enjoyed the lasagne flavour - it felt really authentic with a rich sauce and noticeable pasta through it. It didn't have any noticeable cheese in it, but both grated cheese and parmesan cheese are mentioned in the ingredients so they are in there somewhere.

As delicious as the lasagne is though, I'm still not sure about putting it in a pie with both pasta and pastry together! So having now tried 4 of Dad's pies, I probably wouldn't buy this one again due to there being so many other good flavours - but that's just a personal preference - there really is nothing I can actually mark this pie down on.

On a final note, I did heat these in the oven, but I wasn't overly sure about whether I really could leave them in the packets as per the option in the instructions, so took them out. But they still heated beautifully in the suggested time and the pastry was nice enough and the filling plentiful. I now realise it's fine to leave them in the packets and even leave the packets closed so will try that next time. And on one final note, I love that each pie seems to have a different topping (this was a fine sprinkling of crumbs) as it was very handy when I went to serve them up as I could clearly see the differences.

Questa torta era molto impressionante, spingerei finora a chiamarlo stupefacente!

Oops, sorry... I got a bit carried away there by the authentic flavours and pure amazingness of this pie. Being quite a fan of some of the more basic Italian style foods - mostly pastas with various sauces, with or without added meat - to say I was curious how well this concept would work is a bit of an understatement. I have to say, while it didn't really taste like a lasagne per se, it DID taste like a lasagne pie. You had everything you could reasonably expect in a basic lasagne - beef mince, tomato paste, herbs, spices and mini lasagne pasta - wrapped in a buttery pastry.

Now, since I didn't have the patience, or the inclination, to fire up the oven to cook one solo pie, I used the microwave. Unusually, for single-serve pies, this one did come with clear microwave directions on the bag... which I promptly ignored in a typical male manner, and used my own timing/power programme that trial and error has proven gets the best results out of my microwave.

Four minutes later and I had transformed a frozen lump into a piping hot pie, with soft but not soggy or chewy pastry. Being a bit of a pessimist at heart I put a wee dollop of tomato relish on the side of the plate and tucked in. I am ashamed to admit that by the time I was finished the pie, it was clear I shouldn't have bothered with the relish. The pie was absolutely divine on its own, as is. Some may disagree - taste is such a subjective thing - but I was hooked.

Overall, this is the sort of pie I would quite happily hand over $4 for. Taking into account this is not part of the "One Buck Yuk" range by any means, and it's peers (actually, its inferiors, IMHO) are often price higher, this is a wonderful welcome to this new retail brand. Despite the fact that these pies are the 'incognito heroes' of every BP Wild Bean Cafe in NZ, this is the first time I have encountered them as a stand-alone retail brand... and that's a well overdue thing!