Chicago Gibsons oysters are under fresh scrutiny after health records showed the downtown steakhouse chain location had a long history of food safety problems, including repeated violations tied to unsafe temperatures and shellfish handling. The issues have come back into the spotlight as a lawsuit accuses the company’s Oak Brook restaurant and two seafood suppliers of serving oysters that left an Illinois Marine Corps veteran gravely ill.
Chicago Department of Public Health records show the downtown Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse failed or narrowly passed one-third of its annual inspections over the years and has been cited for numerous food code violations since 2010. Several of those cases involved “potentially hazardous food” being kept at temperatures above the health department’s limit. In one December 2013 inspection, a city official noted that facilities were not maintaining proper temperature and found items including blue cheese crumbles, hamburgers, beef filets, cheese and steaks stored well above 40 degrees. A follow-up inspection that month was marked a pass.
Other citations also raised concerns about basic kitchen controls. In December 2021, inspectors found 10 pints of milk in a cooler at 58.5 degrees and another cooler holding unknown TCS foods, a category that includes shellfish, at 62.4 degrees. The same visit found a dishwasher that did not reach the required sanitizing temperature, though the machine was later fixed and the milk discarded. In March 2023, inspectors noted a food server holding a baguette with bare hands while slicing it and found several containers of oysters in a prep cooler without the proper identification tags; four pounds of shellfish were thrown out. Since 2010, the location has had 24 inspections or reinspections, with seven prompted by complaints.
The Oak Brook Gibsons location, about 20 miles away, has a clean record with the Chicago health department, but it is the subject of a new lawsuit filed this week by the fiancée of Joe Belgio, an Illinois firefighter. Belgio, 44, allegedly became seriously ill after eating at the restaurant in 2025. His fiancée, Melanie Stayer, said the outing was meant to celebrate life with family after the couple had just welcomed their five-month-old daughter, Carmela. According to his lawyer, Scott O’Sullivan, Belgio went into cardiac arrest three days after eating the oysters and lost consciousness and oxygen for at least eight minutes.
