Best Chicken Parm in Philadelphia, PA

Chicken parm in Philadelphia, PA: our top picks

Philadelphia’s parm comes out of South Philadelphia, where Italian immigrants settled in large numbers at the end of the 19th century and the curbside stands on Ninth Street, between Fitzwater and Wharton, became what everyone calls the Italian Market. It shares the neighborhood with a sandwich culture that treats a fried cutlet as serious business. Cosmi’s Deli, at Eighth and Dickinson since 1932, is best known for its Chicken Cutlet Lagasse: prosciutto, long hots, sharp provolone and broccoli rabe on a seeded roll. A chicken parm sits on the same board.

The sit-down rooms are older, though their birthdays are argued over. Dante & Luigi’s, on 10th Street a block west of the market, says it opened in 1899 as Corona di Ferro; when the Inquirer checked old city directories in 2012, the first listing for a restaurant at the address turned up in 1910. Either way it’s past a century, and Connie LaRussa has owned it since 1996. Villa di Roma, on 9th Street, has been run by the De Luca family since the early 1960s. Its chicken parm is pounded thin and breaded, and the eggplant version arrives as four crisp breaded discs under mozzarella, over spaghetti and house marinara.

Down South Broad Street, two BYOBs that both opened in 2003 feed the stadium crowd. Scannicchio’s, at Broad and Porter, is chef Christian Varalli’s branch of his father’s Atlantic City restaurant; its chicken parm covers the plate, and the veal parm is pounded thin. Ristorante Pesto belongs to John and Connie Varallo, and in 2015 John and their daughter Maria won the Rachael Ray Show’s Little Italy Showdown with cavatelli in lobster, shrimp and crab. Uptown, Osteria Ama Philly on Chestnut at 19th is the Center City sibling of osterias in Chadds Ford and West Chester, and its menu features a Chicken Parm Rosa.

1. Osteria Ama Philly (Philadelphia) — Parm Score 93. Chicken parm comes up in 3 of the recent Google reviews we sampled, and the tone is positive. It is on the menu, too. 4.8 on Google across 3,439 reviews.
2. Scannicchio's (Philadelphia) — Parm Score 84. Chicken parm comes up in 1 of the recent Google reviews we sampled, and the tone is positive. It is on the menu, too. 4.7 on Google across 658 reviews.
3. Giuseppe & Sons (Philadelphia) — Parm Score 82. Chicken parm comes up in 1 of the recent Google reviews we sampled, and the tone is positive. It is on the menu, too. 4.4 on Google across 1,426 reviews.

We ranked 22 restaurants within 10 miles of Philadelphia, PA. 11 of them have the parm confirmed, by reviewers or on their own menu, and Parm Scores run from 56 to 93. 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.

More rankings: Veal parm in Philadelphia, PA · Eggplant parm in Philadelphia, PA · Pittsburgh, PA · Scranton, PA · Best chicken parm in Pennsylvania