Chicken parm in Washington, DC: our top picks
Washington never grew a Little Italy on the scale of Baltimore’s or Philadelphia’s. By 1913 the city had about 3,000 Italian immigrants, many in row houses near Judiciary Square, and that year they got their own parish, Holy Rosary, which still stands on Third Street NW and runs the Casa Italiana cultural center. The houses around it went long ago to downtown real estate, so the old community’s surest survivor is a grocery: A. Litteri, opened in 1926 by the Sicilian immigrant Antonio Litteri and in the same Morse Street NE building near Union Market since 1932.
That Litteri lineage runs straight to Capitol Hill. Nostra Cucina, a small room on D Street NE, comes from the Joya family, who worked at Litteri for years before opening their own place in 2019; the sauces, pizza dough and pasta are made from scratch. Across the Hill, Caruso’s Grocery has played the red-sauce part straight since 2021, with a menu chef Matt Adler built from his father’s old restaurant in upstate New York, and Washingtonian has singled out its "expertly fried chicken parm."
Elsewhere the parm comes in very different rooms. Filomena has been below street level on the C&O Canal in Georgetown since 1983, with its Pasta Mamas rolling dough in the storefront window. RPM Italian, from Chicago’s Lettuce Entertain You and Bill and Giuliana Rancic, opened in Mount Vernon Triangle in 2016 and makes more than a dozen pastas in-house every day. And Pines of Florence, a scrappy veteran that once held down Connecticut Avenue and carried on in Arlington, came back to the District on M Street NW in late 2023, proof that a Washington red-sauce room can cross the river and still find its way home.
- RPM Italian (Washington) — Parm Score 90. Chicken parm comes up in 2 of the recent Google reviews we sampled, and the tone is positive. It is on the menu, too. 4.7 on Google across 5,891 reviews.
- Caruso's Grocery (Washington) — 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 510 reviews.
- Trattoria Alberto (Washington) — 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. 4.6 on Google across 475 reviews.
We ranked 19 restaurants within 10 miles of Washington, DC. 7 of them have the parm confirmed, by reviewers or on their own menu, and Parm Scores run from 53 to 90. 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 Washington, DC · Eggplant parm in Washington, DC
19 restaurants ranked for Chicken parm near Washington, DC.
- RPM Italian
650 K St NW, Washington, DC 20001, USA - Caruso's Grocery
1401 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20003, USA - Trattoria Alberto
508 8th St SE, Washington, DC 20003, USA - Nostra Cucina
320 D St NE, Washington, DC 20002, USA - Filomena Ristorante
1063 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC 20007, USA - Tortino Italian Restaurant
1228 11th St NW, Washington, DC 20001, USA - Matera Italian Restaurant & Bar
924 25th St NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA - L'Ardente
200 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001, USA - Floriana
1602 17th St NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA - Al Volo Osteria
1790 Columbia Rd NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA - Carmine's Italian Restaurant - Washington D.C.
425 7th Street NW at, E St NW, Washington, DC 20004, USA - LiLLiES Italian Restaurant & Bar
2915 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008, USA - Centrolina
974 Palmer Alley NW, Washington, DC 20001, USA - Rosemarino D'Italia I Dupont Circle
1714 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA - La Tomate
1701 Connecticut Avenue N.W, Washington, DC 20009, USA - Grazie Nonna
1100 15th St NW, Washington, DC 20005, USA - Il Piatto Restaurant
900 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20006, USA - Angolo Ristorante Italiano
2934 M St NW, Washington, DC 20007, USA - La Collina
747 C St SE, Washington, DC 20003, USA
Rankings use Parm Score (Google rating, review volume, and parm mentions). Restaurants with the parm confirmed, by reviews or on their own menu, always rank first. Photos, ratings, and hours from Google Maps. Interactive map and filters load above. How Parm Score works.