Best Chicken Parm in Boston, MA

Chicken parm in Boston, MA: our top picks

Boston’s parm story starts on Hanover Street in the North End. Cantina Italiana, at 346 Hanover, has been serving since 1931 and is billed as the oldest restaurant in the neighborhood. Farther along, at 415 Hanover, Lucia Ristorante opened in 1977 after Filippo Frattaroli bought an old funeral home and did the construction work himself. Ristorante Villa Francesca has been cooking since 1976 on Richmond Street, just off Hanover. The newcomer is Tony & Elaine’s on North Washington Street, a short walk from TD Garden; owner Nick Frattaroli named it for his parents, and it runs on checkered tablecloths and red sauce. Each August the Saint Anthony’s Feast, started in 1919 by immigrants from Montefalcione near Avellino, takes over Endicott and Thacher streets.

The North End isn’t the only place to find parm. Lilly’s Gourmet Pasta Express, on Tremont Street at the edge of Mission Hill, grew out of a pasta business that Lilly D’Alelio, a transplant from Milan, started in a small shop in Everett and built up with her son Antonio; the pasta is made in-house, and the chicken parm comes over pasta or in a sub. Downtown, Casa Razdora on Water Street in the Financial District is a weekday lunch spot for fresh pasta, pizza and sandwiches.

East Boston’s Saratoga Street does it two ways. Luna’s, in Orient Heights, opened in 2017 with a menu that runs from lobster ravioli and chicken marsala to yuca frita and Chilean-spiced short ribs. Farther down Saratoga, Rino’s Place was on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives in 2010; it takes no reservations, and the line for its housemade pasta tells you why. For a sandwich, Boston Magazine’s parm guide sends readers to East Boston delis like Meridian Food Market and to Bob’s Italian Foods in Medford, which sells a "50/50" sub of chicken parm and meatballs. If an older Bostonian offers you a "spuckie," that’s a sub; the word is usually traced to spuccadella, a dialect word for a long roll.

1. Lilly's Gourmet Pasta Express (Boston) — Parm Score 91. Chicken parm comes up in 2 of the recent Google reviews we sampled, and the tone is positive. It is on the menu, too. 4.8 on Google across 1,327 reviews.
2. Tony & Elaine's (Boston) — Parm Score 81. Chicken parm comes up in 4 of the recent Google reviews we sampled, and the tone is positive. 4.3 on Google across 801 reviews.
3. Luna's Italian & Latin Cuisine Restaurant (Boston) — Parm Score 71. Chicken parm comes up in 1 of the recent Google reviews we sampled, and the tone is positive. 4.4 on Google across 593 reviews.

We ranked 21 restaurants within 10 miles of Boston, MA. 11 of them have the parm confirmed, by reviewers or on their own menu, and Parm Scores run from 53 to 91. 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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