A restaurant on Mentor Avenue in Painesville that has fed locals prime rib and breaded mushrooms for nearly a century is now on the market, its owners of 26 years preparing to step away. Hellriegel's Inn, the longtime restaurant, inn and event space at 1840 Mentor Avenue, carries an asking price of $1.9 million, according to cleveland.com.
As reported by Cleveland.com, owners Silvio Trifiletti and Al Diiorio, both in their 80s, are preparing to retire after owning Hellriegel's Inn for 26 years. The outlet reports the restaurant has operated for 98 years and that the property needs some attention but still has plenty of life left. The sale reportedly includes equipment, recipes and the inn's long history, along with recipes for sticky buns, homemade onion rings and breaded mushrooms, per the same report.
A Building With Roots Back to 1848
The inn's original two-story portion was built as a home in 1848, according to Cleveland.com's reporting, and the structure was remodeled and expanded around 1890 before being converted into a restaurant, inn and nightclub in 1928. Two local businessmen bought the property in 1952 and added the banquet room that same year, the outlet reports. Today, the building still shows that layered history — an original house is visible from the main dining room, and two columns date to the older portion of the building, per the same account.
The restaurant sits on acreage that is described inconsistently across available listings. A LoopNet snippet tied to a confidential January 2025 sale listing describes the property as approximately 6.19 acres with three buildings and 25,772 square feet, according to LoopNet. Separately, Cleveland.com's reporting put the property at 6.18 acres, while a reunion-venue listing site describes Hellriegel's Inn as sitting on a seven-acre estate with bathroom facilities and shelter for outdoor events. The exact figure remains unresolved across these sources.
The Day Senator Kennedy Came to Painesville
Hellriegel's Inn earned a line in national political history in September 1960, when Cleveland.com reports that then-Senator John F. Kennedy held a breakfast rally there during his presidential campaign. Kennedy's own remarks from that stop, preserved by the American Presidency Project, were delivered in the inn's parking lot. “With the support of Steve Young, I think that Ohio can be Democratic in 1960, with your support,” Kennedy told the crowd, according to that transcript.
Kennedy wasn't the only notable name tied to the property, according to Cleveland.com's account. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans reportedly visited the inn at some point, and the restaurant hosted annual Pearl Harbor remembrance dinners that drew guest speakers including Woody Hayes, Otto Graham, Bob Feller and Sam Rutigliano. One dinner in the early 2000s was attended by a Mr. Clark, a 106-year-old veteran who had served with Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing — who led the 1916-17 expedition into Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa — and who reportedly danced at the event, the outlet reports.
Prime Rib, Friendly Ghosts, and an Uncertain Future
On the menu, Hellriegel's Inn is known for traditional American fare built around prime rib prepared the same way for more than 50 years, alongside shrimp cocktail, onion rings and breaded mushrooms, according to Cleveland.com's reporting. That lines up with a separate description from Restaurantji, which lists roast beef, potato soup and chicken florentine among recommended dishes and notes the restaurant's buffet features omelets made by Silvio. The inn's banquet facilities reportedly accommodate 10 to 200 guests, per the reunion-venue listing, and the property has a 100-seat patio, according to Cleveland.com.
The sale report also touches on the inn's reputation for the unexplained. Employees and customers have reported unexplained experiences over the years, including one server who heard a voice ask, “Are you leaving?” and another person who reportedly saw someone upstairs, according to Cleveland.com's account. Trifiletti said he does not personally believe in ghosts, but added, “They're friendly ghosts,” per the same report.
What happens next to Hellriegel's Inn remains open. A new owner could continue operating the property as a restaurant, Cleveland.com reports, or could give the property an entirely different use altogether. For now, the inn that once hosted a future president and decades of community gatherings waits for its next chapter.
