Best Chicken Parm in Providence, RI

Chicken parm in Providence, RI: our top picks

Providence’s red-sauce story starts on Federal Hill. Southern Italian immigrants began arriving in the 1870s, and in the first decades of the 20th century Atwells Avenue became theirs. The pine cone hanging from the arch over the avenue, La Pigna, is an old Italian emblem of welcome and plenty (no, it isn’t a pineapple), and the Columbus Day parade still marches beneath it. Angelo’s Civita Farnese has been on Atwells since 1924, still in the founding family and still using its original community tables; in July the city renamed part of Pequot Street Angelo’s Way. Venda Ravioli, on DePasquale Square, dates its pasta-making to 1938. Scialo Bros. Bakery, open since 1916, did not survive 2020.

The habit is statewide. In the 2000 Census, 19 percent of Rhode Islanders claimed Italian ancestry, the highest share of any state. It shows up in pizza strips, sauced focaccia eaten at room temperature from bakeries like LaSalle on Smith Street, and in Cranston’s Knightsville, where families descended from immigrants from Itri keep up a St. Mary’s Feast with roots in 1905.

Plenty of the parm worth the drive sits past the city line. Uncle Tony’s Pizza & Pasta goes back to 1969, when Edward Carosi opened his first place; today there are branches in Johnston and in Rumford, in East Providence. Luigi’s Restaurant & Gourmet Express on Hartford Avenue in Johnston has been around since 1971, half sit-down restaurant, half take-out deli, and Rigatoni’s is on Warwick Avenue in Warwick.

Italian Corner in East Providence is a deli opened in 2005 by Osvaldo Pirro, a Milan native; its handmade tortellini made Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives in 2012, though the owners admitted they struggled at first because "East Providence isn’t known for Italian food." Up in Lincoln, Trattoria Express is Rome-raised chef Luciano Canova’s counter-service spot, built on family recipes.

1. Tomaselli's at Rosario (Providence) — Parm Score 88. Chicken parm comes up in 5 of the recent Google reviews we sampled, and the tone is positive. It is on the menu, too. 4.6 on Google across 304 reviews.
2. Uncle Tony's Pizza & Pasta (Rumford) — Parm Score 82. Chicken parm comes up in 2 of the recent Google reviews we sampled. It is on the menu, too. 4.4 on Google across 1,787 reviews.
3. Rigatoni's (Warwick) — Parm Score 76. Chicken parm comes up in 2 of the recent Google reviews we sampled, and the tone is positive. 4.4 on Google across 780 reviews.

We ranked 16 restaurants within 10 miles of Providence, RI. 10 of them have the parm confirmed, by reviewers or on their own menu, and Parm Scores run from 56 to 88. 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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