While decidedly not authentic Italian cuisine, chicken parmesan is nonetheless a very popular dish that has come to exemplify Italian-American comfort food. Much like lasagna, another red-sauce staple that often eschews authenticity in favor of indulgence, chicken parm comes in many forms and iterations, with each restaurant offering its own twist on the decadent tradition. In addition to chicken parm subs, you’ll find an array of Italian and Italian-inspired chains that tinker with various versions of marinara, herbs, techniques, and cheese to various degrees of success.
After my recent lasagna taste-test, I embarked on a chicken parm edition across southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts. And after consuming enough cheese-crusted chicken to last me a year, these were the results.
Here’s how the chicken parm compared across five popular Italian chains, ranked in descending order from my least favorite to the overall best.
The Ninety-Nine
Nutrition: (Per Serving)