This café is a favorite with the locals from the surrounding condos, so it gets busy. If you want to have the place to yourself, arrive before 8:00am. Otherwise, you may have to wait a while for a waiter to notice you. Don’t be discouraged though-–it’s worth the wait. I ate here every morning during my week in Puerto Rico.

Although the omelettes, cinnamon buns, and sandwiches are good, by far the best meal is a breakfast of freshly squeezed orange juice (order without ice for better value), café con leche, and a warm croissant with butter and jam. Two people can eat breakfast here for less than $20 and the waiters are eager to practice their English with you.

The Patisserie itself was poorly stocked when we arrived, and unless you probe further, you'd never know they served anything but waist enhancing goodies. As you walk past the pastries display, you go up a step, and voila, an adorable little set up of blue wrought iron chairs with round tables for 2. Booth seating is available against one wall only and we found it quickly enough. The menu was quite varied actually, with several tempting omelet concoctions which they stop serving after 11:00am.

Chuck chose the King Crab on French bread and I had an avocado and Swiss Cheese wrap . For drinks, I had Earl Gray (what's new here?) and Chuck tried the El Presidente beer which is imported from the Dominican Republic. The food is fresh and served fairly quickly by the man who appears to own the place. If you are interested in a dinner that doesn't entail many courses, this is a great little find on Ashford, the main and poshest drag in the Condado district of San Juan.

Before making an exit, I decided to sample a couple of pastries for later and chose an apricot tart which, later, melted in our mouthes; one plain croissant and one guava croissant. This kind of stuff never stays around long enough to get old.