By far the best restaurant we dined in during our Poconos vacation. Walking in, we quickly realized we were in a hot spot because the place was busy for a Tuesday night in September. Despite not having a reservation, we were able to be seated. But I do suggest planning ahead and reserving a table. Especially if you visit during high season. Anyhow, the service was excellent. Our server, Sam was extremely attentive. She explained the menu to you and shared some recommendations. We started out with a Caesar salad to share and knew right then that the servings would be ample! The kitchen was kind enough to split the salad for us between two plates and I'd have thought just half was shareable. But lucky us, plenty to indulge. We absolutely LOVED the dressing but found it a slight tad heavy handed. If we make it back, we'd definitely ask for dressing on the side. But nonetheless we appreciated the authentic Caesar dressing complete with anchovy paste. For entrees we had the penne vodka with sausage and shrimp 360. Both plates were big enough to feed an army and made for nice left overs. But make no mistake, both were delicious! Hit it out of the park, delicious! And beautiful al denté pasta. This meal really hit the spot. Even though we were completely stuffed, we managed to find room for homemade pumpkin cheesecake! I don't say this lightly, but it was hands down the best slice of cheesecake I've ever had. We couldn't stop raving about out it! This is a great restaurant to visit when visiting the Poconos. The setting was elegant in an understated way while being incredibly cozy! I think it would be great for larger groups but also intimate enough for couples. read more

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Great food and service. The atmosphere is also very welcoming. Their bread, soups and salads are a great introduction to the tasty entree to the tasty main courses. read more

Basso Cucina Italiana is an Italian restaurant and wine bar that opened in Cresco, Pennsylvania in July 2010. It was founded by members of the Pipolo family, including Bill Jr. and his wife Kim. The Pipolo family, including father Bill Sr. and mother Fabiana, had moved to the Poconos area from the Bronx, New York in 1984. Bill Sr. had a construction business which sons Bill Jr. and Peter worked in after graduating from high school. Bill Jr. first had some experience in the hospitality business when he owned the Calico Kitchen in Canadensis. When a location formerly home to Harrison's Tavern became available, the Pipolo family acquired it with the intention of turning it into an authentic Italian restaurant. The whole building was completely redesigned to resembled a trattoria in an Italian mountain village. Basso became a full Pipolo family endeavor. Even the grandchildren can be seen greeting guests and bussing tables from time to time. Bill Jr. and Peter later purchased the former Jagermeister German restaurant down the street and turned it into the PourHouse Neighborhood Bar & Grille after a renovation. My family and I visited Basso for dinner on a recent trip to the Poconos. We had previously visited the Pipolos' other restaurant, The PourHouse, and were excited to try their take on authentic Italian fare. The interior was nice and cozy. After looking over the menu, my wife and I decided to start out with some cocktails. I had the "Limoncello Spritzer" while she had the "Peach Berry Pink Sangria". Both were very refreshing! For our entrees, I had the "Pork Chop Di Parma" (juicy 12-oz. pork chop topped with prosciutto and red wine demi-glaze served over risotto), my wife had the "Cherry Red Shrimp" (sautéed shrimp with garlic, cherry tomatoes in a fresh basil butter sauce over linguine), our older son had "Tortelloni with a Pink Sauce", and our younger son had "Baked Ziti". Although the wait for the food was a little long, it was well worth it because everything was to die for! Our server was also very friendly and helpful. It's also worth noting that parking is very limited, so definitely try to stop in on the early side. We had an excellent experience at Basso and give them our seal of approval! read more

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My food was fantastic as always. The SS Cassoulet appetizer was very good. My Bacon wrapped Scallops were very good. My 4 layer chocolate cake was also very good. I highly recommend Basso Cucina Italiano. read more

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Basso is back. Yay. Food is always good and nice to see familiar faces back behind the bar. read more

Food was delicious, we had Lump Crab for Dinner. The food was delicious. We also had Pear dalad and Basso Shrimp. The appetizers were delicious. Cho late to celebrate Rosemary's Birthday was delicious. Ambience was romantic and Chianti was exquisite. Samantha our waitress / hostess was very friendly. We just included Basso As our go to favorite Italian Cuisine in the Poconos. See you soon Thank You Bob & Rosemary read more

We were recommended this place by our hotel. Rushed because they wanted to close early. Definitely did not taste like a from scratch kitchen. read more

Basso is one of my favorite Italian restaurants. Great food and service! We love the ambiance. The entire staff is friendly. Everyone at our table "loved" their food. read more

We were a group of Italian Americans visiting from NY/NJ searching for Italian cuisine that meets our standards ;) The owner Kim and her husband are originally from NY - very nice people! Everything was delicious and nice and hot - the portions were huge as well! Not pictured - We also had baked clams, calamari (both versions), stuffed mushrooms, pasta e fagioli, linguine with clam sauce, chicken francese, steak entree and a few other things I can't remember. Drinks were prepared perfectly as well. We will definitely come back if ever in the area again. read more

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Awful! Just awful. Complete disappointment after reading all the glowing reviews, which, after experiencing it firsthand, had to be written by family and staff! Wasn't going to write this but after seeing it compared to Volare I had to step up. Volare is outstanding! Superior in every way. Basso Cucina Italiana is an insult to Italian cooking, hospitality and ambiance. Save your money. Don't wasn't your time and the bad taste left behind. Better served going to a Mikey D's! read more

While out of town for work, I stopped in this restaurant. I parked in the restaurant lot. I walked in and sat at the bar. Valerie was my bartender. I started with the limoncello martini and didn't care for it, so I switched to the espresso martini, which was tasty. For my appetizer, I got the stuffed clams, and they were ok. For dinner, I got the swordfish special with potatoes and spinach, and that too was just ok. The bill was affordable, and I had an ok experience. read more

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Nice place. Started with a Limoncello martini! So good. Husband had a bottled beer. No craft beers or beers on tap. Started with shrimp bisque and eggplant salad. Shrimp overcooked but delicious soup. Eggplant salad was good but I was hoping Eggplant was hot. Bread served at table was bland. Could be warm and crusty bread. Entrees took along time to come out. A Husband had veal parm but the veal was patty not a nice piece of veal. I ordered shrimp 390. Supposed to be white wine sauce. It was a crushed tomato sauce. Nothing like it described and shrimp overcooked. Waitress was very kind and took it off our bill. So, might have been busy for Mother's Day but was sooo much better the first time we went! read more

Basso Cucina Italiana - Limoncello martini and fabulous husband of 47 years!! - Italian Near Me - Cresco, Pennsylvania

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Let me start by level-setting expectations- for the geo-area where the restaurant caters to, this is considered very high-end and you will pay for it. It's the sort of place most might go for a special evening event. However, when comparing to any and all of your historical restaurant experiences, it's okay. Let me now explain. I've lived and dinned throughout Manhattan and the NYC metro as well as center Philadephia and its immediate suburbs where competition amongst restaurants can be fierce and where prices can be on the higher side; however that comes with the expectation that the chef and kitchen are using a higher quality of food, have more diversity in terms of food, range of ingredients, preparation, and presentation. My wife and I dine out often, Basso, while having an excellent presentation, and terrific wine menu options, fell short for us the other weeknight evening in terms of meal preparation and flavor profile. It was a very expensive meal for what was prepared and delivered. First off, we did have an early evening reservation, they were not crowded, but rather just getting started that Tuesday night. We were seated, menus were brought over, water was poured, and we ran through a few first-timer questions about preparation, the range of options, and the server's suggestions. While waiting on our highly recommended and much-anticipated appetizer, they brought over bread served from a basket... that was a really nice presentation and sets up your anticipation for exceptional bread to enjoy in the special dips. Sadly the bread was room temperature and no better than plain everyday bread served at most restaurants. What a letdown as we were now starting to sip our bottle of Malbec wine. To start we went with the server's recommendation of the chef's special preparation of the clams oreganata. Everything Sam told us sounded great and made your mouth water. The dish was more of a broth with the ingredients mixed all together vs individually clam by clam as is most often the case. In this case, however, some clams had no oreganata seasoning and many more were caked in thick batches of bland breadcrumb balls. Sam told us that people dunk their bread in the sauce, okay great, but there was nothing to dunk into, was a heavy breadcrumbed base the clams were served in. We could not enjoy it or finish it. For our entrees, again with Sam's guidance, my wife ordered the veal sorrentina over pasta and I ordered the pork chop de parma and opt for no risotto and instead asked for a vegetable, preferably broccoli rabe to which the chef accommodated. My wife's dish came out burned and dry, the pasta was greatly undercooked, while my dish was cooked as requested (light medium) but was sitting in a watery base from the vegetable. The flavor profile on both was flat, one would expect to enjoy the flavor of the sauce on the breaded veal and that mine would warm the soul that cold evening. The only flavor my dish had was from the prosciutto pieces on top. As for service, I guess they may have been a bit understaffed or overwhelmed with a party group starting to form. We did order ahead of them. We had no silverware or cloth napkins, had to request twice, had to request water glass refills. We've had way better experiences for way less hence very underwhelmed and being generous with our 3-star review which goes against my averages as I mostly rate 4s and 5s as you can see from my multi-year Yelp Elite profile. read more

Basso Cucina Italiana - Veal sorrentina - Italian Near Me - Cresco, Pennsylvania

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My family and I recently visited to celebrate my father's 70th birthday. The service, food, wine, and overall ambiance blew us away! You can tell the owners take pride in their business. The chef made all of our food to order and everything was absolutely delicious! Our waitress was attentive and gave fabulous recommendations (seafood bisque and scallop special were amazing!). Our family lives all throughout the Tri-state area. To all reunite for such a milestone occasion was special in and of itself, but Basso's was the icing on the cake! read more

If you're a person of color, do yourself a favor, just don't go. Racism at its finest. Take your money elsewhere. Honestly, it's hilarious we still go through this. To paint the picture, the place we are staying at recommended a list of places to visit during our stay. We visited four of them so far, absolutely incredible. We decided to try Basso for dinner because so far the recommendations did not disappoint. As we got there, we helped a waitress grab a can since she was struggling cleaning a table from outside, we walk inside, waited for about 5 minutes. Employee walks behind the bar and serves a drinks, proceeds to peek behind the wall and speaks to someone. Now the other lady walks up to us, greets us, asked us if we have reservations. I said no. She said "Oh so sorry, we are only by reservations and are completely fulled tonight." I just smiled. The bar was completely empty, just two plates from previous guests that still wasn't cleaned. Front tables were empty, there was an outside table also empty. She then told us to visit their sister restaurant the Pour House. There were only white people in there; just staring at you as if you have 3 heads. I definitely should've read some reviews before going. Other people experienced the same and Basso hasn't even responded to the reviews. read more

We have been to allot of restaurants all around pa and we finally tried basso which is not far from our house boy we are glad we did we went with another couple and our server Samantha was awesome we had baked clams for appetizer for our meals we got tortellini parmesan chicken salmon and sea bass we were all very happy with are meals we will definitely be back and we would definitely recommend this place read more

alfredo sauce is literally completely liquid, tastes like milk. very unsatisfied. steak was overcooked and the waitress refused to give any sort of discount. the ny strip tasted nothing like steak and was awful. read more

I give the food 4 stars but the service gets 3. I get we are still reeling from restaurants not having enough wait staff but I appreciate those establishments who admit that at the start. This one didn't so it seemed there were enough staff working. I don't know if that was the issue or not for the poor service. Let me be a bit more specific. Our tea was never refilled unless we caught her attention, the empty plates were not cleared from the table, water was not filled unless we asked and absolutely no small talk, help with suggestions or apologizes for the tardiness of service. Now for the food. First we were given some bread with oil for dipping (good with wonderful spices) and a tomato spread (also very good). The bread wasn't anything special, it would have been nice for it to be a delicious crusty bread, but no so we didn't finish it. We wanted to order the stuffed mushrooms then dinner but the waitress said since they make everything from scratch we would have to order appetizers and entree all together. No explanation just that we had to do it. So we ordered the stuffed mushrooms, seafood special with angel hair pasta and the scallops zollo. I ordered a drink, orange pomegranate cosmo, to go with our stuffed mushrooms. Both were delicious. The mushrooms were huge with sausage stuffing. The mushrooms were a little on the chewy side and the stuffing seemed to have just a tad too much bread crumbs but still delicious. The scallops zollo was delicious and the risotto made perfectly. The seafood special had 2 scallops, 2 shrimp, sole and salmon. It was a very big portion but it all tasted yummy. Even though I didn't finish my meal we still ordered cheesecake for dessert with coffee. We were told they make the cheesecake in house so that helped with our decision. Coffee was good but the cheesecake was fabulous! It didn't have any sauce or berries with it but they weren't missed. You could simply taste the delicious dessert. Parking here can be a little tight so get there a little earlier to allow for that. Cost wise for the 2 of us we spent around $30 per meal (not including drink, appetizer or dessert). I would recommend giving this place a try and hope the service was a little more professional and friendly because the food really is good. read more

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Basso's is a wonderful dining experience. The atmosphere, service, pace of the meal, and the meal itself, is amazing. Food quality and portions are fantastic, and it's clear the food was prepared with a lot of love. The Scallops Zullo was both unique with a bacon cream sauce and fresh walnuts, as well as delicious and satisfying, and the pasta fagiloi is the best I've ever tasted. The homemade cheesecake is moist, creamy, and incredible! This is the best Italian meal I've had in years. Highly recommended! read more

A from-scratch "cucina italiana" with a homey ambiance and superb service. The food was great, be sure to come in hungry. Do yourself a favor an order a NY Style Cheesecake. read more

They sat us in a very small table for 2 when there was better choices available. Near the swinging doors to the kitchen. I ordered the duck and the side dish was spaghetti. So not appropriate. Dark, not enough lighting. read more

Basso is such a great spot in the Pocono area. I've been multiple times over the past few years and the food is always consistently good, service is friendly, the the atmosphere is cozy. Most recently I ordered takeout and the food quality was just as great as when dining in. The chicken scarpariello was the front runner - perfectly balanced with chicken, sausage, potatoes and peppers and in the most delicious salty sauce. Their cannolis are also amazing!! Don't skip on dessert! The shell was perfectly crispy and flaky and the fresh filling was light, sweet, with a few chocolate chips. Yum! read more

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Basso's is our favorite fine dining restaurant in the Poconos. The menu features lots of Italian classics, along with interesting nightly specials. My favorites on the appetizer menu are the antipasto and stuffed mushrooms, but I usually skip the appetizers and start with the caesar salad, and my husband gets his favorite, the pear salad. Both are really big, so we're usually half full by the time the entrees arrive! By then, we've also been filling up on the warm bread and olive oil that they bring to every table. And wine. We've been drinking wine. Or sangria..they have great sangria. For entrees, our favorites are the lasagna, veal parm, and chicken parm, and I've enjoyed every nightly special I've tried. It's definitely worth the expense, which isn' t small. With a bottle of wine, salads, entrees, and splitting a piece of their EPIC chocolate cake (don't skip the cake), it'll be over $100 for two. The food is great, the service is always friendly and attentive, so I consider ito EU well spent. read more

Me and my wife came here a year ago and we loved it so much we came back the next chance we drove out to the Poconos. The food as we remembered it was superb. This time around, it wasn't as great. First of all, none of the items we ordered last year were on the menu now. They have a completely new menu. Of course having a new menu is not a bad thing but it may suggest a new chef is in the back and as such dishes may taste different or be prepared different. Again, not usually a bad thing. The pear gorgonzola salad was excellent. The orange slice with balsamic palette cleanser was sweet and refreshing. But that's where it ends. The surf n turf my wife ordered was tasteless. Here we are dunking a piece of lobster tail into a warm cup of butter and nothing. I even dunked the NY strip into the cup of butter hoping to get some sort of flavor form the steak. But yet again, nothing. I ordered the chicken Florentine on a bed of risotto. The chicken was a huge piece absolutely smothered in cheese and spinach sauce, yet somehow that too was bland. Me and my wife thought we may have gotten Covid and our sense of taste was gone, but we didn't. The food was very bland. Other than the food being bland, the decor is quite nice, the staff are super friendly and courteous. The pear salad and orange slice may have saved the night because our main entrees were not worth the price. read more

Basso Cucina Italiana - Surf n turf - Italian Near Me - Cresco, Pennsylvania

Does this photo look like chicken parm to you? Me neither, but it's Basso's version. Terrible. I won't be back. read more

Basso Cucina Italiana - This is supposed to be chicken parm!! - Italian Near Me - Cresco, Pennsylvania

You're not allowed to sit at the bar unless Valerie, the old bartender approves your seats. They have a lot of weird restrictions on seating seems to cater only to regulars anybody new gets thrown in the back room if they choose to stay. Insists on reservations, so we called next time for a reservation at the bar but we're told we could only come early at 5 o'clock and had to leave by 6:00. Lots of empty tables, but they don't seat anyone because it seems like they only cook for the one round of tables a night. Strange place. read more

Good food. Great cocktails. Friendly atmosphere. A good dining choice in Cresco or while visiting the central Poconos

Awesome place! Food was unbelievable!!!!! Yum! We sat in back area three tables great mural on wall. Best waitress tall blonde ish Woman. I can't say how great Food Atomshere wait staff were! Added bonus Cannolis! This place is a 10 plus 10! read more

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Phenomenal food, amazing service, portions were huge and my drink was fantastic. Zero complaints and the price point was more then fair. I plan to return and recommend the coconut martini read more

Stopping in here for dinner on a busy Saturday night after a day of hiking, my fiancee and I were starved. This beautiful Italian restaurant seemed the place, and judging by how busy it was, we knew it had to be good. We were incredibly crestfallen to find out that they probably couldn't seat us, and we should have made a reservation. The maître d' said she'd see what she could do, but to expect a wait, and perhaps have a drink at the bar. We were pleasantly surprised to be seated about 15-minutes later. So, pro tip: Call ahead, make a reservation! I ordered a glass of wine, and I have to say... they do generous pours. Wow, this glass was the size of my head, and generously filled. The wine was great. Our appetizers of escargot was also delicious, and came out fast. I was a little disappointed in our bread, which seemed a little "store brand sandwich roll" like, but the dipping sauces -- olive oil with garlic, and a garlicky spread -- were top notch. The only letdown was the unfortunate wait between appetizer and entree. They were busy, so I can't be too miffed, but it was a good thirty minutes or more after we'd finished the appetizers before our entrees came out. It was long enough that neither of us were hungry anymore: though the appetizer was, well, appetizer sized and shared, coupled with the incredible wait, we'd both been temporarily sated. Our waitress was definitely bemused when we both took 2-3 bites and asked for boxes. I do have to say, the entrees were delicious, and portions were huge -- I wouldn't have finished my lasagna no matter how hungry I was! Actually, that's not true: fortunately the food reheats well, and I wolfed down my leftovers later! read more

Small restaurant. The 2 is is wete seated at a very small table next to bathroom and we felt cramped. I had the duck, tasted like it was sitting around for a while. They served it with spaghetti and red sauce, where is my baked potatoe?? Could not get waitress attention and I didn't want the rest of dinner to get cold. Not very friendly to us. Guess we didn't hit in to their clan. Not cheap. Not going back and we are locals. read more

Looking for a wonderful night out? Look no further than Basso's! Excellent and friendly service, great menu choices and the best Italian food in the area. From appetizer's to desert their array will please. A definite must do if you love good food!!! read more

Had dinner while in the area last night. Able to get a last minute table for 2 on a Saturday night in the bar area- what luck! Started w a red sangria which was amazing and packed a fruity punch! Server (?Val?) was lovely and attentive. Because we were in the bar area we could get smaller servings so we opted for pasta fagioli to start and 2 smaller servings for dinner of the Chicken Carbonara & the Barramundi special. Let me tell you, I couldn't possibly have eaten a larger portion, it was so filling!! Everything was FANTASTIC! Only complaint was that I wish they had not run out the soup special because I wish I could've tried the Seafood Bisque since everything else was so amazing. It was extremely well-priced with the smaller portions ($57 for 1 alcoholic drink, 1 soda, 2 soups, 2 entrees). I also loved how the greeter seemed to know everyone, lots of regulars! Highly recommend!!! read more

This was our first time at Basso. We enjoyed an excellent dinner of traditional Italian food, excellently prepared, well served, and of generous proportions. A wide range of salads, appetizers, pastas, fish and meats are offered. All of us- 4 adults and 2 children enjoyed our dishes. The buratta pomodoro was excellent. The tomato sauce was outstanding - great texture, rich flavor, not overly sweet. The buratta was perfectly creamy at its center. Chicken Marsala, filet of sole, and all other dishes were well enjoyed by our group. We look forward to returning. RECOMMENDED. read more

This is a restaurant I will remember for the rest of my life, and not for a good reason. If you are traveling, or you have a young family I urge you to read this. It's not pleasant. Stay away. This is an organization with serious problems. The food was very good. Our waitress was attentive and accommodating. We had two shrimp dinners, among multiple dinners brought to our table. Everything was great, but the shrimp in both meals were undercooked. It really was not a big deal. The waitress immediately took it back and asked if we wanted anything else and brought us menus. A few minutes later, the bartender came to our table though we were not sitting in the bar, and told us that the chef was not going to make us another dinner, and the shrimp is cooked correctly. We had two different people from the table who explained the shrimp was undercooked. The bartender reiterated that we were not getting additional meals that evening, despite the fact that we have menus for the waitress in our hands. My family looked at each other without knowing what to do. The bartender then started complaining that I did not return her phone call that afternoon. I calmly explained to my wife that I did not know what the bartender was talking about. we asked for the check and I did tell them that we were not paying for the shrimp. Nobody would. The chef came out a few minutes later without the check and lost his temper at us. It went on for a couple of minutes, but I assure you it felt much longer. He told us we didn't understand respect and we didn't appreciate what it means to under cook or over cook shrimp. Then he asked me if I wanted to have a staring contest with him. I asked for the check again, and he told me that I need to learn how to behave in restaurants. Then, a few minutes later, the restaurant got very quiet and the original waitress finally bought us our check. We waited for a little while for everybody to calm down. I had 911 on my speed dial while my family was walking out of the restaurant. We are traveling from out of state. We were appropriately dressed, and we had a multicourse meal. I had young children at the table that did not understand what was going on. I feel badly for my kids. They're onto something when they prefer to eat at Taco Bell. Because their customers get treated as they should be. And if the food is a problem, Taco Bell fixes it, or refunds the money. Meanwhile, my children's behavior was infinitely better than the staff working at the restaurant that night, which is a pretty low bar. If we were that much trouble, the waitress would have notified the restaurant long before the event I am describing took place. Do not eat here. Do not work here. Do not patronize this establishment. If this were a restaurant chain, the bartender and the chef would be fired right now. Which would be a favor to everyone since they obviously need to find another vocation and their anger challenges have foundations that existed long before we ever walked in for dinner. Bad news everyone. Sorry. read more

Great food with excellent service. The decor reminds me of a favorite restaurant in Georgetown in DC, where I used to live. There are a number of smaller size dining rooms that are quaint and you are able to converse with dinner mates without having to yell over other noise. What a pleasant change from so many other places! Huge portions that are reasonably priced! I split an appetizer (mussels ... delicious!) with my dinner companion. The portion of eggplant parmigiana that I ordered as my entree was so huge that I not only had it for dinner that night ... but also for the next two nights! It tasted better from one day to the next ... and was very good the night it was served! Looking forward to returning there soon! read more

Good food Great Service. Don't forget to try the Limoncello Parfait is delicious. Consider trying the Clams oreganato.

Very grateful that they offer outdoor dining and accept reservations for such. Delicious bread, appetizers with vegetarian options. Excellent service as well. read more

Very cute lil romantic spot. The food is ok. I won't rush back there. Small and quant place.

Had reservations early NY eve...430. Few patrons at that time. Service excellent. Nice ambiance. Knew it was pricey but expected a great meal. 6 of us in the party. Alcoholic beverages were good. Stuffed mushrooms excellent. Friends shrimp dish had very tough shrimp. Husbands del monico steak was a bit tough also with small tendons noted throughout, Clams and linguini..needed salt in pasta water and no clam shells to bite into. Friends pork chop dinner and another's chicken parm were good. We only complained about the tough shrimp dish and it was graciously comped. Overall, we spent too much money for at best ...a mediocre meal. read more