Is this sentence right? コーヒーがおいしい喫茶店{きっさてん}へ行きたいです。

Question

Can I transform this sentence:

おいしいコーヒーがある喫茶店{きっさてん} へ行きたいです。

into this sentence:

コーヒーがおいしい喫茶店{きっさてん}へ行きたいです。

?

Answer 1

Yes, you can.

Both sentences are grammatical and they mean just about the same thing.

One thing I would like to mention, though, since this is a learning site is the fact that native speakers are taught from early on that the particle 「が」 in a relative clause sounds "better and nicer" if changed to 「の」. Some teachers are more strict than the others on this. Personally, almost all of my own teachers in elementary school were in the の-sect, so I myself am also. Old habits die hard.

Thus, depending on the person you ask, you might be told to make that change in both sentences even though they are already "correct" if grammatical correctness is all that matters.

Highly related:

What's the grammar behind ヤカンのある部屋?

To sum up, you can say:

「おいしいコーヒー(が or の)ある喫茶店{きっさてん}」

「コーヒー(が or の)おいしい喫茶店」

「アタシ(が or の)好{す}きなCD」

But you cannot say:

「あの喫茶店にはおいしいコーヒーのある。」 Only using 「が」 is correct.