Palmer Bakery

Unfortunately we were unable to find Palmer bakery. We tried for a good half an hour. Then when we finally had some sort of idea from the locals, they told us it was not open yet. Ended up at Rico Pan Bakery, which was great so it all worked out.
Conclusion: where is Palmer?

CLOSED — tried visiting in March 2014 and they were all locked up. Could not read the notes on the door, but a woman walking past told us it was closed now for a few months.

I love this place! I’ve been going here for years and they they always take care of me and greet me like a long lost friend. This is a traditional Puertor Rican neighborhood bakery. The last time I went I asked the gentleman for a traditional lechon (a baked ham) for the following day as I was entertaining gringos who had never had the honor. He assured me he would take care of it. He asked for no deposit or anything else. When I arrived promptly at the time arranged, everything was ready including a traditional «salad» (chopped cabbage with a catsup/​mayo dressing) and arroz con habichualas. (enough to feed an army. Everything was incredible! The service is always great. Bring your spanish, but if it’s as bad as mine, you’ll still do well and get everything you want.

Decided to check this out after seeing the first review, but a quick warning: the Unilocal/​google directions are wrong — I followed them to the middle of a really bad neighborhood with no bakeries to be found. We stumbled upon the actual Palmer Bakery when we drove from the Wyndham Rio Mar to El Yunque… the actual location can be found by mapping Cll Principal, Palmer, Río Grande, PR 745 and going a little East of the intersection with PR-​191 that goes to El Yunque.
This being said… I found the Palmer Bakery to be quite a dirty dive with a limited assortment of pastries. Did not feel comfortable eating their bread, deli products or sandwiches, so we ordered a guava cinnamon bun (which was pretty much a standard dry cinnamon bun with guava on top — nothing special) and drove away.
Your mileage may vary, but I cannot recommend driving to the Palmer Bakery when you have so many better choices in the area like La Familia Bakery2, the 60 Luquillo Kiosks, Don Pepe accross Routs 3, etc.

Stopped in to check out some authentic Puerto Rican pastries and were glad we did. The surrounding neighborhood was maybe a bit «work in progress» but we felt totally fine visiting there in the mid-​afternoon. The guy behind the counter was extremely friendly and welcoming. Unlike a few other bakeries we visited in PR, this gentleman spoke enough English + slow Spanish for us to communicate without any confusion … I certainly don’t expect that when I’m out of the continental U.S., but I did appreciate it!
We picked up two different guayaba y queso (guava and cheese) pastries since we’d been told by PR-​born friends that’s what we had to try. One was made out of puff pastry (my wife’s favorite) and the other was more like a giant cinnamon roll (my favorite). I think both items together were only $ 3ish, quite the deal for such tasty eats.
Authentic pastries + cheap prices + friendly service = what’s not to like? Palmer Bakery is definitely worth a quick stop in Rio Grande.