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I think a comma is necessary in such phrases because "that restaurant" is only one here:

A: Have you been to that restaurant, which is popular among young people?

B: Yes, I have. I enjoyed lunch there.

Can I write it without comma like this? Isn't it necessary to put commas before some certain relative clauses?

A: Have you been to that restaurant which is popular among young people?

B: Yes, I have. I enjoyed lunch there.

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It depends. There are two types of relative clauses, restrictive and non-restrictive:

Restrictive

defines the meaning of a noun or noun phrase and provides necessary information about the noun in the sentence

e.g.

  • The student who sits in the back of the room asks a lot of questions.

Non-restrictive

adds additional information to a sentence. A non-restrictive clause can be omitted from the sentence.

e.g.

  • I want to thank my father, Mark Smith, for all of his love and support.
  • I want to thank my father for all of his love and support.

Some information taken from Grammar: Relative, Restrictive, and Nonrestrictive Clauses.

Lexico states that:

You do not need to put a comma before restrictive relative clauses.

Kentlaw.edu states that:

Place proper punctuation around nonrestrictive clauses, but do not place punctuation around restrictive clauses.

In this case, your sentence is a non-restrictive clause and therefore needs proper punctuation, so it's best to place those commas.

Note that having the non-restrictive clause at the end of the sentence still requires a comma and period

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    Depends whether the which is popular... clause is intended to identify the restaurant or not. "Have you been to that restaurant (pointing to it), that's so popular with young people?" or "Have you been to the restaurant that's so popular with young people - I forget its name?" Jul 29, 2022 at 7:46

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