City health inspectors found wastewater flooding the kitchen floor, active fly infestations, and improperly sanitised dishes at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago during a routine visit last December; the latest in a string of regulatory failures to hitDonald Trump's portfolio of hotels and golf clubsacross the United States.
According tofood inspection records published on the Chicago Data Portal, a city inspector from the Chicago Department of Public Health visited the Near North Side property on 17 December 2025 and issued citations against two of its food outlets: the main kitchen and the rooftop restaurant known as Terrace 16, formerlySixteen. The hotel's Rebar Lounge and banquets area, inspected on the same visit, received passing grades.
Theviolations, first reported by NOTUS, landed the property in breach of several Illinois food safety standards, covering everything from pest control to basic hand hygiene; concerns that inspectors say were largely, though not entirely, resolved within a week.
The inspector's report documents a troubling series of conditions inside the main kitchen. Three prep sinks were draining directly onto the kitchen floor, leaving standing wastewater across the workspace. The commercial dishwasher, a critical line of defence against foodborne illness, was not reaching the temperatures or chemical concentrations required to properly sanitise crockery and utensils; a finding that carries particular weight in an establishment that serves hundreds of covers each day.
Upstairs at Terrace 16, the rooftop bar and dining space, inspectors counted more than ten small flies throughout the bar area and a further three in the dish area. The report states the inspector 'instructed manager to service all areas affected by pests.'
A cracked lid on the ice machine and debris buildup inside the prep cooler and on the floor beneath sinks compounded the picture. Staff were also observed handling food, including assembling sushi toppings and loading burger buns, without wearing gloves. The employee bathroom, the records show, was not stocked with hand soap.
The hotel manager was instructed to remediate the cited conditions ahead of a follow-up inspection on 23 December 2025. On return, the inspector cleared both the main kitchen and Terrace 16. One item remained outstanding: the cracked ice machine lid, which had still not been repaired or replaced.
This was not the first time the property had run into difficulty with city inspectors.Records reviewed by The Independentshow that the hotel's kitchens last failed a food inspection in January 2024, when similar temperature-regulation issues were cited alongside a chef reusing cleaned mollusc shells to serve oysters, a practice prohibited under food safety rules. Those violations were also corrected at a follow-up canvas inspection.
The Chicago violations sit within a broader pattern of compliance failures documented at Trump-branded properties in recent months. In November 2025, theWestchester County Department of HealthinspectedTrump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor, New York, on 20 November and cited the club for five health code violations.
According to state health data reviewed by NOTUS, inspectors observed insects and rodents on the premises, and flagged dirty surfaces, food that was uncovered, mislabelled or stored on the floor, poorly constructed rooms in disrepair, inadequate lighting, inadequate ventilation, and missing sneeze guards. None of the violations were classified as critical.
Source: International Business Times UK
