Best Chicken Parm in Albany, NY

Chicken parm in Albany, NY: our top picks

Albany’s own Little Italy grew up around Madison Avenue and Grand Street, with St. Anthony’s church on the corner. Most of it is gone. In March 1962 the state took about 98 acres of downtown by eminent domain to build the Empire State Plaza, and while only about half of Little Italy was actually seized, the noise and dust of construction drove out many of the neighbors who were left. So the region’s red-sauce tradition didn’t stay in one neighborhood. It spread out along the arterials and across the river, and a good plate of parm here usually means a short drive.

Caffe Italia is the clearest example. Joseph and Joanne Romeo opened it on Central Avenue in 1975, first as a small cafe and, by 1980, as a full restaurant. Their four children, Maria, Paul, Suzanne and Michael, now run it, and after roughly half a century on Central Avenue they moved it to Hamilton Square on Western Avenue in Guilderland, where they held the 50th-anniversary block party in the new parking lot.

Head north to Troy for the oldest family name in the area. Rafael and Frances Verdile opened Verdile’s in Lansingburgh in 1943, and it has been on Second Avenue at 115th Street since 1951. Zotto’s The Pine, on Hoosick Road in Brunswick, comes from Troy’s Notty Pine, a 1945 pizza place the Zotto family bought in 1987 and closed in May 2021 before reopening under the new name.

Back in Albany, Villa di Como sits on Lark Street near Hamilton Street. To the south, Track 32 opened in Feura Bush on the site of a razed dive bar called Pixie’s; it’s a pub that also sells pizza by the slice, and its menu has a half-dozen parm entrees, from eggplant to shrimp. The drive is part of the order here.

1. Nicole's Restaurant (Albany) — Parm Score 87. Chicken parm comes up in 2 of the recent Google reviews we sampled, and the tone is positive. It is on the menu, too. 4.6 on Google across 551 reviews.
2. Bellini's Italian Eatery - Latham (Latham) — Parm Score 87. Chicken parm comes up in 2 of the recent Google reviews we sampled, and the tone is positive. It is on the menu, too. 4.5 on Google across 697 reviews.
3. Paolo Lombardi's Ristorante (Wynantskill) — Parm Score 86. Chicken parm comes up in 2 of the recent Google reviews we sampled, and the tone is positive. It is on the menu, too. 4.5 on Google across 650 reviews.

We ranked 19 restaurants within 10 miles of Albany, NY. 11 of them have the parm confirmed, by reviewers or on their own menu, and Parm Scores run from 53 to 87. Confirmed places rank first; the rest are well-reviewed Italian spots where the parm is not yet confirmed, and pizzerias and steakhouses need a mention to appear at all. How Parm Score works.

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