Panaderia El Timon

Humble, tasty, and friendly: this place hits all my requirements for a hearty endorsement. We’ll be back more than once to Panadería El Timón and I recommend it for breakfast, lunch, or coffee if you are visiting the Las Croabas, El Conquistador, Fajardo ferries, or Ceiba areas.
This time, we came for breakfast (desayuno). It seemed a good sign that we appeared to be the only tourists in the tiny busy place. Two nice ladies behind the counter were handling everything with skillful speed, from taking orders to making coffee drinks to cooking eggs and pressing sandwiches, to handing out completed dishes.
I got in line behind an elderly gentleman who was picking up several fresh baked, 2 feet long, sub sandwich-​perfect, Puerto Rican-​style loaves similar to French bread wrapped in paper bags. I was jealous until I discovered that this same heavenly bread would come butter-​filled and press-​toasted as a free side on my $ 3.85 fried egg & ham platter. Score!
We wanted to try a bit of everything, so we added a few pastries, a couple of flans, café con leche, and hot chocolate to our egg-​based breakfasts. The feast for 3 came to less than $ 25 total, and everything was fresh and entirely delicious.
We ordered in my simple traveler’s Spanish (thanks, Señora Wadell of West Brook High!), but both ladies spoke to our young son in English (little did they know that his Spanish is much better than mine, thanks to his Spanish immersion IB school).
Though it was only 9:30a, we noticed only after we sat down that most other patrons were eating the hearty stuffed sandwiches. I had half a mind to go back up to the counter and order the Tripleta (3 meats, cheese, and french fries in the mix) or the Timón (pork, swiss, veggies, pickles, condiments, and again, french fries), but we’ll just have to come back again next time for these.
A small snag in our visit was that we failed to receive one of our ordered items (a vanilla flan). Our drinks & cooked items were called out for pickup first, and then our pastry case items came out one by one later, requiring multiple trips back up to the counter and creating a bit of confusion. By the time we realized the missing dish, we were completely stuffed and ready to leave for our day at the beach, so we just let it go. No hard feelings; this remains one of our favorite meals of our trip and will be on our must-​do list for when we come back to PR next year.

While staying at El Conquestor in Fajardo, we wanted an affordable breakfast alternative to the overpriced breakfast menu at our resort.
Panderia El Timon is a quick 10 minute drive from El Conquestor. It’s a no frills place that serves breakfast sandwiches and has a lot of pastry options. No breakfast item was over $ 5 bucks. Very excited. They have basic omelets and egg sandwiches.
Seating is available both indoors and outside and parking is accessible in front or around the corner.
As a person who speaks English, I was kind of hesitant to wonder out to a «locals place» to find food, but this place didn’t make me feel out of place. Most of the staff here speaks English.

On your way to the caves? Stop by here. Grab some baked goods and or coffee THEN RUN TO YOUR CAR AND LOCK YOUR DOORS!!! I’ll get to why in a second.
Food here is very inexpensive and high quality. Coffee seem yummy but I’ll never know. The reason I say run to your cars and lock the door is because of this place’s real masters. The bees! Bees are EVERYWHERE here. They are relentless and unforgiving. I put my cup down for one second to look at the bird I hit. Big mistake! My coffee no longer belonged to me. Holy shizz they’re fast.
The locals were so gangster! They were outside enjoying their meals paying zero attention to the swarm.
You’ve BEEn warned!

Excellent sandwiches and friendly service from bilingual women behind the counter. Pastries we tried were very good as well.

Hurry up and take my $! This place is beyond excellent, some of the best baked goods I’ve ever had. The coffee creations were a unlike anything I’ve had and We were all pleasantly surprised. The staff were very friendly and helpful. We will be back tomorrow and the next day and again and again until our time in Puerto Rico is up. Thank you.

Loved the medianoche sandwiches. Good value and very tasty.

Great price with awesome local bakery food… many have heard of the famous Cuban sandwich. Here you’ll find it plus the Puertorican version called Tripleta. The price is amazing and all fresh… a little hidden gem…

The fiancé and I were on our way to the Roosevelt airport and decided to stop here to grab a bite since we were early! He got the chicken sandwich and I got the turkey breast. They make their own bread here and it was amazing! The bread was toasted and the meats were chopped. We loved it! We also had the coco dessert (like tres leches) and it wasn’t too sweet but tasted delishh!

My wife and I love this place while we are vacation in Puerto Rico. The food is great for breakfast! No complaints here!

Excellent sandwiches! Pastries and bead looked wonderful, although we did not indulge. Easy to find, friendly and clean.

Stopped here on our way back to airport per it being the only thing on Unilocal nearby. It’s close to a couple of fast food places and shopping center. It’s very small inside, they have pastries, breakfast and sandwiches. There is more seating outside.
We ordered breakfast, I got an omelette and my boyfriend got scrambled eggs, our dishes were pretty much identical. The «tostada» that comes with your breakfast is bread, not like the Mexican Spanish word for tostada — and it’s huge! It’s not just a small piece, but a full fresh baked maybe 6 — 7″ loaf of bread, which you can make a breakfast sandwich out of. This place is ridiculously cheap — but be prepared for a lot of food, or share, one order is enough for two.
Although this was one of the cheapest meals we had, the place wasn’t really inviting, or cozy — I suggest taking your food to go and eating it once you get to the airport, or wherever you are headed. The seating outside is awkward and it’s next to a busy street.

Very helpful and friendly staff, serving really good food. We had the western omelettes, two cappuccinos, and toast.

Delicious pastries and sandwiches. Stopped by twice during our week stay and my son begged to go back for more! Be sure to try the flan — wow! Sandwiches made with delicious fresh baked bread. Stop on the way to or from East Island Excursions.

Excellent all fresh and homemade! Yummy and did I say CHEAP? What tourist doesn’t look for that as added bonus. Menu in Spanish with English also for those like me who don’t speak the language. Friendly staff breakfast cooked while you wait fresh bread or sandwiches if you aren’t breakfast person. Be sure to try a pastry soooo good, definitely go here if in fajardo

Stopped by on our way to bio bay. Amazing sandwiches. I ordered thr Timon, soon good! Pastries are 2 for 1 $ after 2 as well! I don’t speak any Spanish, everyone was very helpful!

This place is great. Super cheap, super local, and really yummy. Sandwiches run about $ 3 and pastries are under a dollar. It’s a great alternative to the McDonald’s and Burger King that loom nearby. Go!

Great local place. All sandwiches priced under $ 6! Tons of pastries and it looks like they sell freshly bakes bread. Their regular black coffee is sweeter than you would expect.