Pie in the Sky

I went to the new Target in Madison before Pie in the Sky was open, and before their sign was complete, and tried to figure out what it was going to be. I thought, pies? Like, apple pies? British-style steak pies? Duh. It's pizza pies.

Pie in the Sky is in the Shoppes of Madison on highway 72.

This made me happy. I love pizza, especially places that you can sit and eat the pizza, as opposed to places that rely on carryout and delivery. But I also would have been happy about British pies.
Beardy, Smalls, and I visited Pie in the Sky on a Sunday, late lunchtime (I think we missed most of the after-church crowd). They told us it would be a 25-minute wait, but it was only 15. We went outside to wait, and as soon as Beardy went inside to check the status of our wait, we were led to a table. We suspect they called our name inside and marked us off the list when we weren't in there. When you go, maybe you should make sure at least one member of your party waits inside.

What are these screens called? Where you touch the screen and lightning seems to gather at your finger? There's one in the waiting area.

We were seated in a booth, and we got a booster seat for Smalls. However, the booster seat made me want to give booster seats themselves a booster-seat rating of ZERO. This one slid all around the booth, and once Smalls fell over onto me (she is very wiggly). I think she would have done better just sitting on the bench. This is not specific to Pie in the Sky; this is just a general tirade about booster seats.

Here's the kids' menu.

Pie in the Sky has a kids' menu. The sides you can choose from are steamed broccoli (yay), spaghetti, fettuccine Alfredo, pasta salad, fries, and kettle chips. You can see the entire menu here http://www.pieintheskypizza.com/menu.
We didn't order off the kids' menu; we just shared a pizza with Smalls. We got a medium 1/2 Greek, 1/2 pesto. The waitress actually offered the half-and-half option, which I thought was nice. The Greek had kalamata olives that were delicious, but Smalls got one with a pit (Ppp-too. "I not yike iss part"). So check your olives.
They also offer gluten-free crust. It's $2.50 extra for a small pizza. Other sizes are not mentioned, so I don't know if this means this option is only available for a small.
Pie in the Sky has local beer, so if you're interested, ask for a separate beer menu. They had draft beer from Back Forty (whoo! Gadsden!), Blue Pants, Good People, Old Black Bear, Straight to Ale, and Yellowhammer.
To entertain the kiddies, they have a counter with about four stools where kids can watch the pizza chefs at work. They plop little dough balls through a dough hole in the glass to the kids. Smalls kept trying to toss it back through the hole. Back at the table, Smalls dropped her doughball under the table several times and it just kept picking up floor dirt and it grossed me out a little. It also explained the strange sticky lumps melting in the puddles on the sidewalk outside the restaurant that I spotted while we waited for a table. Maybe I'm not a fan of the doughballs.

The kids' pizza viewing window. There's a dough hole in the glass to the left of the man's hat.

Overall, this place is very kid-friendly. I also like the local beer selection. I think the pizza's a little expensive (our medium-sized half Greek, half-pesto was $22). I think Famous Joe's has better pizza, and Big Ed's has cheaper pizza.

Bathroom report: Very nice and clean. Two stalls with a fold-down changing table in the large stall.

Toddler friendliness ratings:

Atmosphere: 4.5 out of 5. They cater to the kids by having dirt-collectors, I mean doughballs to play with. It's casual and fairly noisy (which can be a plus when your toddler decides to wail a little--just a little--like Smalls did at one point).

Food: 4 out of 5. It seems like the kids' menu is a natural offshoot of the regular menu (it has some of the same food as the regular menu, not just freezer fries and ChickieNobs), and I like broccoli as a side choice.

Pie in the Sky Pizza
Shoppes of Madison, Highway 72, Madison
256-722-2112

Hours:
Sunday-Thursday 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Friday and Saturday 11:00 AM - 12:00 AM

Pie in the Sky is a small Nashville-based chain, and they have a nice Web site with menus and a list of other locations (in Nashville): http://www.pieintheskypizza.com/.

The menu is here: http://www.pieintheskypizza.com/menu.