El Brazo Fuerte Bakery

Great, cheap and delicious cuban bakery. I recommend the cream cheese filled pastelitos or the croissant ham and cheese sandwich. You can also order ahead food for events.

Coffee is terrible! And their guava pastries are bad too! This place is so old fashion and the service is terrible… They have these old cakes and decorations in the windows… And is kind of dirty… Stopped a second time for a cuban bread and is cheap but not good i just do not crave this place… They need to improve…

mmm so many delicious pastrys, sweets, sandwiches, croquetas. and all so cheap. i always bring a few boxes back for me and my family whenever im in miami favorites of mine are the cream cheese pastelito guava cream cheese, capuchino cones and croquetas

I grew up visiting and eating at El Brazo Fuerte. As a kid, I knew they were awesome. As an adult, gaining more experience, I realized they are one of the best bakeries in Miami. Often reputed as THE best bakery. I remember when you could visit here at any time of day and find parking. Not anymore, their consistently high quality and reasonable prices have made them way too popular. This is the place to go for pastelitos!

The parking sucks but it’s so worth it. It’s the only place I can find my cookies that have almond slices on the outside. It’s the best place for Cuban pasties in Miami. I always make sure to stop there before I head back home to Orlando. It can get crowded but they are pretty quick with their service.
Cuban bread, croquettes, almonds cookies, pastelitos, and café con leche I believe are a must have or at least that’s what’s in my box to go. Love this place. Can’t wait to go back to Miami.

If you are local or find yourself in the area check this place out for pastelitos (pastries), croquettas, and Cuban coffee/​café con leche. Very old school style bakery worth checking out if you want a true Miami style breakfast.
A nice unique item here that isn’t common to «most bakeries» is the yemitas. Try them out, they are little yellow spheres with a white dot on top.
I recommend this place, parking is a bit sparse but it has never ceased to impress me with its consistent Latin bakery authenticity.

So glad we found this cozy little bakery on Unilocal!The pastelitos are perfectly light and flakey with just the right amount of sweetness. Friendly staff that does not speak English, but we made it work through pointing and our very limited Spanish vocabulary haha. We ordered a couple of cheese, as well as guava and cheese pastelitos thinking that was enough — then proceeded to eat them all on the spot before ordering several more to go. They are that good!

Your typical, traditional bakery in Miami. I love the hidden location. You have your assortment of pastries, Cuban bread, Cuban coffee and very sweet Cuban cake. The pastelitos were amazing! The tostada not so great, bread didn’t feel fresh. The croquetas were also great although personally I like the outside a little crunchier but that’s just a personal like. The flavors and freshness, treatment and Cuban coffee were amazing!

I found this place based on Unilocal reviews while in Miami on business and decided I needed to take home some authentic Cuban treats. The staff up front didn’t speak English to give me pointers on what to select so my floundering was obvious to all in the shop. Luckily Henry, a friendly Cuban-​American patron, filled me in on the best local pastries and told me he drives well out of the way for this place since it’s the best in town.
I got a box filled with meat, guava and cheese pastelitos at his direction. They were fresh and warm out of the showcase. At first blush the pastry seemed like the American version of a croissant, but they were actually a lot more light and flaky, the cheese filling tasted more sharp than a cream cheese, but it contrasted nicely with the sweetness of the pastry and the fine granular sugar on the outside. Good Cuban stuff for a Carolina boy!

Pastelitos!!!

I love Pastelitos so I usually stop at a bakery when I have time. Then one day I passed by El Brazo Fuerte Bakery and ordered a few pastelitos. They looked fresh and yummy. The minute I took a bite I said to myself «these are the best» and to this day I go out of my way on Sunday mornings and order at least 10 pastelitos for the family and have them for breakfast w/​café con leche. And their party platters are also very fresh and good. So far my favorite.

Everything is so good here. I have personal preferences, but friends have ordered the guava and cheese and loved it. Their croquetas and pizza pastelitos are my favorite! Pizza and pastelito, what more can you ask for?
You can tell it has been around for a while, and fits right into the neighborhood. I live in broward county, and it is worth the drive but I am excited for their new location in Pembroke Pines!

After 20 years pastelitos and croquetas still one of the best. I used to come to this bakery all the time when I was in high school. Today I was in the area and decided to stop by and have a pastelitos and croqueta. I could honestly say I wasn’t expecting much, it was 4:00pm and by this time pastelitos are either sold out or stale from sitting there the whole day. There was only two pastelitos de guayaba (guava) left, and of course there was only one person in front of me and she snatched them up so I got the next best thing, guava and cheese. I was surprised how flaky and delicious the pastelitos was. The croquetas were just as good. 20 years and still kicking but.

The food is good, but not anything out of the ordinary. I could get this at any other Cuban bakery. My friend’s cortadito tasted burned. I live close by so I came here, but the service is ALWAYS a hit or miss. Very annoying. The lady I had today definitely wasn’t in a mood to help out. I spent nearly $ 20 got quite a bit of things. The service is what truly kills this place. Oh & there’s a $ 10 minimum when you use cards. That’s a bit ridiculous considering things are a 1.25 & less. So come with friends or a nice apetite if you are using a card.

A very classic Cuban bakery. They have a wide selection of sweets as well as small sandwiches. I prefer to get a café con leche and a croquetta to go. The staff is very friendly but doesn’t speak and English. So be careful if your a gringo like me. Lol

i love this place! The best pastelitos and sweets! Every time i need to order a party tray of pastelitos I always get them there! Parking might be a bit hectic during busy hours but it’s worth it!

I love this bakery!!! It has the best pastelitos. If you are looking for an authentic Cuban bakery then this is the place to go. It so many sweet treats and it even has cafecito. Once you try it you will be hooked on it.

Best pastelitos! The service is slow. The nicest lady is the really old one. Be patient, it’s normally super busy. The pastelitos are totally worth the wait. The guava pastelitos is perfection.

One word: Paste-​freaking-​litos.
Finding Miami’s tastiest and freshest pastelitos was one of my top priorities while in this humid beach city. I turned to Unilocal for assistance, and of course my old friend did not disappoint!!!
This little tiny bakery was EXACTLY what I was looking for! Hidden in a neighborhood off the beaten path of Tourist Town you will find El Brazo. Be warned, if you are solely an English speaker like myself you might have a little trouble… Thank the mighty heavens one of my girlfriends traveling with me was bilingual! The service was amazing and the crew working here was very friendly, helpful, and kind. This little haunt is plucked right out of Cuba. Even on a weekday there was a crowd inside the tiny shop, so be prepared for a very small wait.
You don’t have to ask. The Pastelitos were A-​MAZ-​ING. My girlfriends and I walked out with a box of a dozen (there were four of us), but the perfect burst of guava and cheese mixed with the flaky pastry was just not enough folded into their tiny little edible packages! We weren’t very far before we decided we needed to turn back and get a second dozen! But they have SO much more to offer you could stand there for ages choosing what to eat next. Cakes, pastries galore, and another Miami treat that is an absolute must to check off your eatery list– Cuban Coffee. That tiny little shot of delicious, stronger than espresso, joe is a perfect pair for your breakfast pastries.

The great Cuban Pastry hunt begins! I refuse to let my wedding guests starve so they will be spoiled by the presence of pastelitos. I’m looking no further than El Brazo. The prices are ridiculously low, like time-​travel cheap, and the cafecito will turn you into a junkie.
Don’t expect them to speak English. The future hubs did his best to order in Spanish and everything turned out fine. There are numbers, pictures, and labels on everything so you can just grunt and point your order and they’ll get it right.
We ordered an array of goodies from sweet to savory. Our favorites were the pastelitos de guayaba and guayaba y queso. They’re iconic so they’ll definitely be making an appearance at the reception. I also loved the almond biscuit. It’s shaped like a little crescent and the flavors immediately took me back to my Italian aunt’s house.
I can’t wait to order these puppies. They have awesome specials and the place was filled with party trays. all a good sign! The only problem with this discovery is that I can’t keep going if I want to fit into my dress.