To my mind, in order for a dish to be considered a pot pie, it should have crust all the way around it, just like a fruit pie. Most places that offer so called pot pies don’t do that. There’s just a layer of crust on top. That’s why I never order them, unless I have prior knowledge that they are being made proper. Of course, after pot, any kind of pie is really really good.
Different strokes, eh?
You may feel as you do because you were raised with those gawd-awful Swanson chicken pot pies in the little aluminum pie plates. Those things were so much crust and so little filling as to barely qualify as dinner instead of dessert. I was, too.
The first time I was served a regular pot pie with pastry only on the top, I felt robbed! But then I realized I liked a lot more filling with a lot less crust. I learned how to make them myself, and that’s how I prefer them now.
Can’t really speak to the pot pie after pot opinion, 'coz it’s just not my dealio. But it sounds right, if memory serves.
I loved those Swanson pot pies! But as a grown up I experienced how much easier it was to make a batch of biscuit dough and glob it on to the top of creamed chicken and vegetables. Never looked back.
The perfect pot pie would be one with just crust on the top, but shallow enough to give you the same crust to filling ratio as one with crust all around. The dense and soggy stuff on the sides and bottom can’t hold a candle to the delicate flaky pastry on the top.
I think it can be difficult to make individual double-crusted pot pies that have a satisfying ratio of filling to crust, but if you make a whole 9" pie you can feed 6 people easily.
Here’s what looks like a good recipe and technique:
I don’t usually bother with a bottom crust and just use puff pastry for the top. You get more filling and less dough that way. We keep Marie Callender’s chicken pot pies in the freezer for an easy meal, however.
I have always found that the way to get the perfect crust to filling ratio is to cook them separately. Good ready made pastry is available, so I started just cooking the puff pastry sheets, usually cut into triangles, on a baking sheet. Everyone can have as little or as much pastry as they desire with their pie filling.
I’m confused. Of course the crust on the bottom and sides gets soggy. Pot pie crust is supposed to get soggy. And when you get a pot pie, you cave the top in, so it too can get properly soggy.
I do that, too. But I bake a pie with a top crust on it, while simultaneously baking some plain crust on a cookie sheet. A piece of plain baked crust goes on a plate, while a big scoop of pie with its top crust gets laid on top of that.
Puff pastry is good, but I like to make my own pie crust. That way I can mix in a handful of parmesan cheese and some chopped parsley and scallions.
You are sick, and should speak with your physician and a clergy person.
G-d, I hated those things. Mama Plant served them with the dough raw on top. I ran away from home, but, G-d help me, I became hungry, and steeled myself to the inedible task.
I’m not saying that a dish comprised of a savory mixture with an overlying crust and naked bottom isn’t easier to make than a true pot pie or can’t be just as delicious. It’d be stupid to try and say that. I’m just saying they aren’t really pies. They’re more like stews with a confluent topping.
Making a proper pot pie is no picnic, just like making a good fruit pie, which also has the same challenges of soggy bottoms and trying to hit that golden mean of getting the crust to filling ratio right. But with fruit pies, when a person decides to forgo that challenge and just lay a topping over filling, we don’t still call those pies. They’re cobblers.
I still love the Swanson pot pies and there is one in my freezer for the next time I need comfort food.
I have no problems with crust all around, but I do have a problem with the dry, dense, absolutely lifeless pie style crust used in traditional pre-made pot pies. The pie crust in my opinion, should be a delicious part of the meal, not a quickly abandoned lump of dried paste.
So I either go with pot pie in a crock with biscuit/flakey batter on top (easiest), or go whole hog and make a flakey rolled dough and do hand pies with savory (and/or sweet) fillings. Do big batches and freeze if I’m making that sort of effort, and have trays of the darn things sitting in the downstairs freezer before being placed in tightly sealed ziplocks.
Normally I do a beef, dark beer, mushroom and (limited) potato filling, thickened with cornstarch, and seasoned with salt, black pepper, grainy mustard, and a touch of smoked paprika.
Or a much less traditional pork with lime, cilantro, green chile and tecate. But it has to be really heavy on the roasted chile and cilantro to make up for the less stand up power in the filling.
Need not mention that you can also do sweet options like ground almonds with brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, your pie filling of choice, or even instant pudding with reduced liquid. 
I normally use a variant of Alton Browns tender and flakey pie crust from his Good Eats series for the dough, although I have used sheets of puff pastry in the past when I want something fast.
Yes.
We had Banquet brand. TBH I didn’t appreciate them until I got a bit older. I know you can “upgrade” with better ingredients, but they’re a taste of childhood.
And the pie crust is the best part. No leaving off the bottom!
My fav. The crust is excellent.
Around here, a “pot pie” is just a top crust. If there’s top, bottom and sides, it’s just a “pie”
Although, technically, that’s a calzone. And the top-only pie is toast.
I’ve had too many bad Swansons pot pies in the past. I have made, however, a vol-au-vent chicken dish with puff pastry nests and a creamed chicken and mushroom filling 
You like soggy pie crust?
I thought a cobbler had a top layer of sweet bready crumbles, not an actual crust.
My understanding is this:
If a solid crust top and bottom, it’s a pie.
If a solid top crust with no bottom, it’s a pot pie or a cobbler.
If a dropped or patted crust, it’s a cobbler.
If a crumbled crust, it’s a buckle.
But I think these terms are widely used interchangeably.