Sister location of Chicago eatery where Marine vet allegedly got sick from bad oysters has history of alarming safety violations

A sister location of the Chicago-area steakhouse where a Marine Corps veteran got seriously sick from allegedly contaminated oysters has been previously cited for mishandling the shellfish delicacy before — and has a dismal food safety inspection record, The Post has learned.

Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse’s downtown Chicago franchise either failed or narrowly passed one-third of its annual food safety inspections and has been hit with numerous food code violations since 2010, Chicago Department of Public Health records show.

Multiple instances were for keeping “potentially hazardous food” at unsafe temperatures.

Gibsons’ Oak Brook location, about 20 miles away, was slapped with a lawsuit this week by the fiancée of Illinois firefighter Joe Belgio, 44, who allegedly went into cardiac arrest and suffered permanent brain damage after eating there in 2025.

While the Oak Brook eatery has a clean record with the Chicago DPH, its Chicago franchise has a checkered past.

Out of 24 inspections or reinspections conducted by the health department since 2010, Gibsons Chicago failed twice in 2012, and “passed with conditions” six times, including as recently as February 2024.

Seven of the inspections were prompted by complaints, according to records.

Its two failed inspections — marked as taking place on concurrent days in December 2012 — were chalked up to a dishwasher not being hot enough to properly disinfect soiled cookware, and an uncovered ice bin in the bar area.

But some of the more alarming findings were noted on occasions when the eatery passed with conditions.

This includes a “critical violation” during a December 2013 inspection, in which the visiting city health official noted that “facilities do not maintain proper temperature.”

That day, the inspector measured a food prep cooler on the second floor that stored “potentially hazardous food such as blue cheese crumbles and cheese” at 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

The same inspection found other potentially hazardous foods being kept at unsafe temperatures, including hamburgers at 51.9 degrees, beef filets at 51.9 degrees, cheese at 54.5 degrees and steaks at 54.6 — well above the health department’s maximum allowable temperature of 40 degrees for such foods.

A follow-up inspection that same month was marked “pass” by the department with no additional comments left.

In March 2023, the restaurant passed with conditions again, with the inspector noting they had observed a food server holding a baguette with bare hands while slicing it, and found several containers of different kinds of oysters in a prep cooler without the proper identification tags — four pounds of which had to be discarded.

Barely a year prior in December 2021, Gibsons was called out for 10 pints of milk being stored in a cooler kept at 58.5 degrees, and another cooler used to store “unknown” Time Temperature Control for Safety (TCS) foods, which include shellfish, at a balmy 62.4 degrees.

That same inspection again found a dishwasher that didn’t reach the required 180 degrees needed for proper sterilization, but the appliance was fixed and the milk was discarded by the time the department official completed their work.

Belgio’s fiancée, Melanie Stayer, described the ill-fated night out as an occasion to “celebrate life with his family,” the couple having just welcomed their five-month-old daughter, Carmela at the time.

Belgio then went into cardiac arrest three days after eating the oysters, and “lost consciousness and oxygen for at least eight minutes,” his lawyer, Scott O’Sullivan, told the outlet.

In the family’s lawsuit, which names Gibsons as well as two of their seafood suppliers, his lawyers allege Belgio contracted two dangerous bacteria from the oysters — Enteropathogenic E. coli, known as EPEC, and Plesiomonas shigelloides, CBS News reported.

The 44-year-old spent months in a coma after falling ill and has since been confined to a hospital bed — requiring around-the-clock care, and will most likely be bedridden for the rest of his life.

“The impact of Mr. Belgio’s cardiac event is tragic. We recognize the seriousness of what he is facing and wish him a full recovery,” a Gibson’s spokesperson said. “We take food safety extremely seriously, and providing a superior and safe dining experience is always our primary focus.

“There have been no other reported cases of illness. Based on the facts and our internal investigation, there is no evidence to suggest that our establishment caused his health condition. We are confident that a fair and thorough legal process will agree with this conclusion.”