If You Say So Espresso Bar, St Lucia

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Posted 2025-01-08 by T. A. Rose ⇒ follow

If You Say So is a small cafe in the St Lucia suburb of Brisbane, located halfway along Gailey Road. The cafe has many customers enjoying the cafe's ambience, communal spirit, and view of Jack Cook Park. I appreciated that they recently advertised via Facebook shortened yet open hours for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year's Day and the combination of an appealing hot and cold drinks menu accompanied by a comparatively moderate cafe snack food menu. The cafe appears to be a meeting place for a variety of customers, including students and families. Views of the parkland across Gailey Road and the compact size of the cafe were also appreciated during my recent visit.

Gailey Road outside the cafe

I visited If You Say So in January 2025. Based on reading some of their many Google reviews, I decided to order a matcha, a flat white, and a ham toastie all to takeaway. I was happy just to wait for my sandwich. When I spoke to the baristas, I even implied that I ought to wait for my sandwich because it was early yet busy at the cafe.

While I waited for my sandwich, I tried the drinks part of the order and during that time appreciated the cafe's ambience and why it was very popular. I felt welcome to spend some money and even ask some polite yet concise questions to the baristas.

One additional aim I had when researching cafes in the area the day before was to budget so the bill was less than $30. The ham toastie was $14.50, and the small flat white and matcha combined must have added to $12.50 because my final bill was $27.00, which is reasonable in 2025 but not necessarily cheap. I definitely didn't feel like the prices or overall experience were all that dear, however.

Matcha, for those possibly unfamiliar, is a green tea powder drink made into a hot or cold beverage. If You Say So offered matcha in several varieties, but I just couldn't resist the iced strawberry matcha made with full cream milk, and the green tea extract in liquid poured over the top was divine, especially on a crisp, cool morning for a Queensland summer. The way it complemented my hot coffee and food order was a welcome surprise.

Strawberry matcha

Flat White

If You Say So sells and makes MARCO coffee. The small flat white extracted and made expertly had what I believed to be a powerful chocolate, roasted hazelnut, sweet flavour, but the pattern on top was distorted by my lid removal. Overall, the coffee had a nice strong flavour and a bit caffeinating given the small size that I decided to order.

Takeaway small flat white with the lid removed by the customer for the photography.

Ham Toastie

The cafe sells a range of toasties as well as other baked treats, that are well-signed and displayed. I selected the ham toastie, which had some extra flavour apart from ham and toasted bread. My overall impression was the other fillings, the extra gourmet tomato sauce in a generous side serve, and the bread thickness and softness were a strong reason why they seemed popular. There were other customers ordering toasties as well, and I think they are understandably rather popular all throughout the day.

Ham toastie, sauce placed beside sandwich by customer

The popularity of If You Say So seems to reflect the harmony of its excellent coffee and food quality with an appealing location. Given there is parking nearby at Jack Cook Park (and a bus stop outside for route 411), visiting the cafe from outside St Lucia is a reasonable proposition, especially given the fact the cafe is open every day. Based on my customer experience, I found If You Say So had an uplifting vibe even though I was visiting at the cafe's very early opening time. I liked how people could feel relaxed yet order good quality food and drink at this cafe, but ultimately the best aspect of the cafe is the unexplainable good vibe about the place.

Note that all photos in this review are the original author's work taken in 2025. The cafe is located at 88 Gailey Road, St Lucia, Q, 4067, and due to its outdoor seating, it is pet-friendly. There are few ways to contact the cafe except via social media websites like Facebook . At this review's publication date, the cafe is usually open every day from 05:30 to 13:00. I've left some links below with other reviews, official cafe social media, and reviews of nearby Munro, Perrin, and Jack Cook parks.