Things to Do in Mentor, Ohio: Restaurants, History and Lake Erie Parks

Calico Jack Coffee Roastery

Mentor · Mentor Avenue

On Mentor Avenue, Calico Jack Coffee Roastery is a family-owned small-batch roastery that has become one of the most-loved new spots in the city. Started by Chris and Charisse Barbian and their nephew Austin, the shop carries the name of a very well-dressed pirate cat, and the same playful warmth shows up in every cup they pour.

The beans are roasted in-house, the bakery cases are stocked with local pastries, and the space has quickly earned a devoted following and a spot on the City of Mentor's own New Business Spotlight. It is the kind of place where you walk in for a latte and leave with a four-pack of beans for the kitchen counter. A perfect first stop for a morning on the Lake Erie shore.

Sitting right on Mentor Avenue, TJ's On The Avenue has been a family-owned Italian favorite since 1992. For more than three decades, the same kitchen has been turning out homemade pasta, fresh bread, from-scratch sauces, pizza, and seafood, and dining lists across Northeast Ohio keep ranking it at or near the top of Mentor.

Locals come for the red sauce that tastes like Sunday dinner and the warm, welcoming room that has hosted three generations of birthdays and anniversaries. It is the kind of place where the portions are generous, the staff remembers your order, and every table feels like a family table. For a classic Mentor date night, TJ's is hard to beat.

Right on Mentor Avenue sits Lawnfield, the restored home of the 20th President of the United States, James A. Garfield. The National Park Service today runs tours of the 1880s Victorian farmhouse, where Garfield conducted his famous front-porch campaign, and the site is one of the most fascinating pieces of American history in all of Ohio.

Visitors can walk the same rooms where a president lived and worked, explore the grounds where his campaign trail began, and tour the Memorial Library built by his family after his death. It is the kind of place that surprises people: a quiet Mentor neighborhood hiding a genuine national treasure. For history buffs and families alike, it is a must-visit.

Headlands is Ohio's longest natural sand beach, a nearly mile-long stretch of Lake Erie shoreline that draws around two million visitors a year. It is the closest thing the state has to a true ocean beach, with wide open sand, dunes, driftwood, and water that stretches to the horizon.

In summer it is full of families, kite flyers, and sunset walkers. In late September and October it turns quiet and golden, perfect for a long walk with the dogs or a chilly plunge for the brave. Swimming, fishing, and picnicking all have their own devoted crowds. If you live in Mentor, a trip to Headlands never gets old, and if you are just visiting, you will understand in about five minutes why this beach is so treasured.

A few minutes from downtown Mentor, the Lagoons is a 450-acre city-owned preserve of Lake Erie shoreline, coastal marsh, and open water. The city bought this land in the late 1990s to save it from a proposed private development, and today it offers 1.5 miles of unspoiled beach and more than three miles of trails through one of the most beautiful stretches of waterfront in Northeast Ohio.

Birders come for the migrating warblers and waterfowl, paddlers launch kayaks into the calm lagoons, and hikers follow boardwalks that seem to float above the marsh. It is quiet, wild, and completely free, the kind of hidden-gem park that makes Mentor feel like a lake town through and through. Sunset here, with the water turned to gold, is not something you forget.