Capri Pizza in Cresco, PA: A Skytop-Adjacent Poconos Slice Contender with One Bake Note Away from a Banger

I walked in, ordered, paid the bill, and reviewed the pizza like every other customer. No heads-up. No comps.

If you’ve been reading NEPA Pizza Review for any length of time, you’ve probably picked up on a pattern from me when it comes to Poconos pizza: there is a whole lot of good, dependable, foldable New York style slice work happening in these mountains. What’s harder to find is a shop that jumps out of that solid baseline and grabs you by the collar. Capri Pizza in Cresco, PA — sitting right on PA-390 at 1127, less than a 10-minute drive from Skytop Resort — has been near the top of the reader-recommendation pile for a long time, and this trip finally gave me the chance to see if the recommendations held up.

Spoiler: they largely do. One slice on this visit was a genuine contender for the best slice I’ve had in the Poconos so far. The fresh pie that followed was very close to something special — held back by one specific, correctable thing. Let me walk you through the whole visit.

Family Time in the Poconos, Pizza on the To-Do List

We were staying with family near Skytop Resort for the trip, and Capri sits practically next door in Cresco. That kind of proximity made this an obvious pizza review target, and the reader recommendations sealed the plan. Capri Pizza — sometimes listed as “Capri Pizza by the Falls” — has consistently been one of the most-recommended pizza spots in the Poconos from my readers, right alongside Joe’s Brick Oven Pizza also in Cresco.

Which brings up a fun local storyline worth sharing.

The Joe’s–Capri Story

According to locals I spoke with while I was in town, Joe’s Pizza actually used to own Capri Pizza. The former owner (Joe) sold Capri, and later opened his new spot, Joe’s Brick Oven Pizza at 109 Oak Lane in Cresco’s Lewis’s Shopping Center, where his current specialty is Brooklyn-style brick oven pizza. That backstory shows up in the local review chatter and in the community’s word-of-mouth: same original pizza mind, two shops now, both routinely mentioned in the same breath when readers rank Poconos pizza.

I want to be clear that I was there to review Capri under its current ownership on this visit — and Joe’s Brick Oven Pizza is next on my list next time I’m in that area. Doing both back-to-back is going to be one of the more fun Poconos pizza comparisons I’ve had lined up in a while.

Atmosphere: Beautiful Storefront, Throwback Vibes Inside

From the outside, Capri Pizza has a beautiful storefront with inviting signage and plenty of parking — the kind of curb appeal that tells you the operation cares about first impressions.

Step inside and it’s a classic throwback pizza shop — and I mean that as a compliment. Black and white checkerboard tile flooring. A small pizza slice display case up front with just a couple of slice pies sitting ready. A few booths and a couple of tables for dine-in seating. It’s compact, it’s honest, it feels lived-in in the best way. This is not a place trying to be trendy. It’s a Poconos pizza shop doing what a Poconos pizza shop should do.

The customer service was super fast and friendly. No wasted motion, no fuss, no attitude — just get the customer taken care of. Exactly what you want walking in with a hungry family.

Then I looked at the menu board and immediately got excited.

The 20-Inch Round: A Real NEPA Standout Detail

Capri offers a 20″ New York style pizza as their standard large. That’s bigger than the 14″ or 16″ you get called “large” at most pizza shops in NEPA, and it’s the kind of Old Forge / New York throwback move I always want to see more of. $20 for a 20″ pizza is honestly a strong value in 2026 dollars, and I think that pricing point deserves more attention than it usually gets in the Poconos conversation.

We ordered a large cheese pizza fresh out of the oven, and because the Pizza Prince — my son and fellow pizza reviewer — was getting a little hangry, we also grabbed a New York style pepperoni slice from the case to hold him over while we waited.

That “hold-us-over” slice turned out to be one of the highlights of the visit.

The Pepperoni Slice: A Contender for Best in the Poconos

Let me say this plainly and directly: the pepperoni slice at Capri is one of the best slices I’ve had in the Poconos to date.

• Crispy bottom. Not a flimsy reheat, not a soggy bottom — a legitimately crispy underside from a proper, thorough re-crisp in the oven.
• Proper thorough reheat. The pepperonis had that beautiful curl-and-cup character, the cheese was melted through, the slice was hot all the way through.
• Plenty of pepperoni. Generous topping application, no skimping.
• Sauce bursting with flavor. This is where Capri’s real strength lives — I’ll come back to it in a moment.
• Great proportions of dough, sauce, and cheese. No single element hogging the spotlight, no ingredient in short supply.

The Pizza Prince and I looked at each other. We were now really excited for the fresh cheese pizza to come out. Expectations were sky-high after that slice.

The Fresh 20″ Cheese Pizza: Beautiful, Vibrant — and One Note Away

The large 20″ fresh cheese pizza arrived very shortly after the slice hit the table. Almost surprisingly fast, and that speed became relevant in a minute.

Visually, it was a great-looking pizza — a big, generous, saucy 20-inch round. But my eye caught the crust color right away. It looked a little on the blonde side. Fair-to-light golden bake rather than the deeper, more developed color I’d expected after the slice’s crispier bottom performance. Hold that thought.

Then I bit in, and the flavor story took off:

• They are a little heavier on the pizza sauce than most spots, and I absolutely love a saucier pie. Let me be clear: the extra sauce application is a genuine positive for me, not a knock.
• The tomatoes were extraordinarily fresh and vibrant — a really impressive sauce with a nice tang, a savory depth, and just a hint of natural sweetness with very low acidity. These are quality tomatoes, treated with respect.
• The seasoning was light and let the tomatoes do the talking. They didn’t need much seasoning at all because the raw ingredient was already vivid. This is exactly what I want to see from a sauce program: quality tomato first, seasoning in support, not the other way around.
• The cheese was a high-quality mozzarella — flavorful, well-melted, and the Pizza Prince pulled off an epic cheese pull with the pizza, his signature move that never gets old for me as a proud dad and pizza guy.
• The dough was baked all the way through with no gumline. No raw or doughy interior — the pizza was fully cooked.

Now for the honest note.

The bottom of the pizza was quite soft and not as crispy as I’d have liked. I don’t personally care much about flop — foldable New York slices flop by nature and that’s fine with me. But the actual bake development on the bottom crust just wasn’t there yet. This pizza was served just a few minutes shy of where I think it wanted to be. Intuitively, given the flavors and the ingredient quality on display, I believe this pizza was just 2-3 more minutes in the oven away from a much higher rating.

After I posted photos, several locals told me they always order their pizza well done at Capri — and honestly, I can see exactly why. Locals know. That’s the move.

Pizzaiolo’s Notes 🍕

A few observations from the pizzaiolo seat:

• The sauce is Capri’s real weapon. That fresh-tomato-forward, low-acid, minimally-seasoned sauce is a differentiator in a region where a lot of sauces come across as either flat or over-seasoned. This is one of the more memorable sauces I’ve had in the Poconos and it’s the biggest reason the pepperoni slice landed as high as it did.
• The 20-inch round is a real value story. $20 for a 20″ NY style pizza in 2026 is a legitimately strong price point, especially given the ingredient quality. The size alone is a NEPA-worthy detail.
• The bake variance between the reheated slice and the fresh pie is worth noting. The pepperoni slice — properly reheated in the oven — had the crispy bottom the fresh pie was missing. This tells me the pepperoni slice re-crisp bake time is dialed in, and the fresh pie was rushed out slightly quick. Easily corrected on the customer side by simply ordering it well done, as the locals recommend.
• The Pizza Prince cheese pull is undefeated. Kid has a gift.

Order It Well Done: My Standing Advice for Capri

If you take one thing away from this review, take this: order your Capri pizza well done. It’s what the locals do, it’s what I’ll do on my next visit, and given the quality of the sauce and cheese underneath, an extra few minutes of bake will move this pizza from “good with an asterisk” to “one of the best in the Poconos” territory. The ingredients are there. The bake just needs to catch up.

What I’d Order Next Time

• Fresh 20″ cheese pie — well done. Top of the list.
• A round with sausage and mushroom or a specialty pie to see how the shop handles more toppings.
• The Pocono Heat Pizza listed on their online menu (mozzarella, marinara, hot cherry peppers, and long hot peppers fried in olive oil and garlic) — that sounds like an obvious pizza reviewer’s slice to try.
• A hot sub or Italian sub — the reader chatter around Capri also praises the sandwich program, and I want to see what’s happening on that side of the menu.

And then, of course, Joe’s Brick Oven Pizza in Cresco for the follow-up story on the original owner’s current spot.

Final Thoughts: Absolutely Recommend, Absolutely Returning

Capri Pizza in Cresco, PA delivered on the reader hype. The pepperoni slice was one of the best slices I’ve had in the Poconos so far. The fresh 20″ cheese pie was a great pizza with genuinely standout sauce, and it was one small bake adjustment away from being something really special. $20 for a 20″ pizza is a strong value. The service was fast and friendly. The atmosphere is a classic throwback Poconos pizza shop in all the right ways. And the fact that the same reader base and local word-of-mouth also points constantly at Joe’s Brick Oven Pizza just down the road tells me the Cresco pizza corridor is one of the more interesting pizza pockets in the entire Poconos region.

If you’re staying at Skytop Resort or anywhere in the Mount Pocono / Cresco / Mountainhome area, Capri is a very easy, very confident recommendation. I would not hesitate to return, and I absolutely recommend this pizzeria — especially if you’re in that pocket of the Poconos.

My Takeaways

• 🍕 Capri Pizza is a legitimate reader-favorite Poconos pizza spot, less than 10 minutes from Skytop Resort
• 🍅 The sauce is the star — fresh, vibrant, low-acid tomatoes with just enough seasoning to let them shine
• 🍕 The pepperoni slice is a serious contender for one of the best slices I’ve had in the Poconos
• 🧀 High-quality mozzarella that supports epic Pizza Prince cheese pulls
• 🍕 20″ NY style pizza for $20 is a standout NEPA value — bigger than most large pies in the region
• 🍕 The fresh pie ran a little blonde on the bottom crust — order it well done like the locals do
• 🍕 Joe’s Brick Oven Pizza (the former Capri owner’s new shop) is next on the Cresco to-do list

Have you tried Capri Pizza in Cresco? Are you a “well done” orderer, or do you like it as it comes standard? And if you’ve done both Capri and Joe’s Brick Oven, tell me which one wins the Cresco round in your book — I want to hear it.

Pizza is Similar to:

• Other quality Poconos New York style traditions like Primo’s Pizza and Pasta in East Stroudsburg and Brother’s Pizzeria in East Stroudsburg
• The reader-favorite Cresco pizza corridor including Joe’s Brick Oven Pizza (upcoming review)

Rating Tables

A quick note before the table: the descriptions above are my gut read — the in-the-moment flavor experience of the visit. The scorecard below is my technical scoring on the standard six-category NEPA Pizza Review rubric — Crust, Sauce, Cheese, Taste, Crispy/Cooked Properly, and Value. Both are honest. I stand by my gut take of what I enjoyed most in the moment, and I stand by the technical scores I locked in after careful reflection.

The pepperoni slice edged out the fresh 20″ pie primarily on the Crispy/Cooked score — a 7.6 on the properly-reheated slice vs. 6.9 on the fresh pie that came out a touch blonde. Both pies scored a Sauce mark north of 8.5, confirming Capri’s tomato work is a real regional standout.

Capri Pizza
1127 PA-390, Cresco, PA 18326
Also known as: Capri Pizza by the Falls
Family-style Poconos pizzeria · Reader-favorite in the Mount Pocono / Skytop area · 20″ New York style large pizza

Speaking of sauce — Capri’s fresh, tomato-forward, low-acid sauce is one of the more memorable in the Poconos. If you’re curious how it stacks up against the rest of the NEPA sauce field, check out our NEPA Pizza Sauce Rankings for the running leaderboard. And if you make pizza at home and want the gear I actually use, our Amazon affiliate picks are linked on the site — every click helps keep NEPA Pizza Review independent and ad-light.