Inside Gilbert’s Steakhouse Before Demolition—Jackson Says Goodbye

The days of punch bowls of peel-and-shrimp on Sunday brunch buffets vanished nearly two decades ago. However, there was always a faint glimmer of hope they'd return every time you passed by the empty restaurant. Sadly, that chapter in Jackson, Michigan's history has finally been slammed shut, following the demolition of Gilbert's Steakhouse.

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My Visit Inside Gilbert’s, 2024

In 2024, I was fortunate enough to tour the long-vacant Gilbert's Steakhouse and soak in some dust-covered memories. There's a gallery below this article featuring a few dozen pictures of what it looked like in June of last year. I was hopeful while walking through the empty restaurant's Log Cabin Bar that someone would swoop in, buy it for the then $250,000 price tag, and resurrect the dormant legend, but sadly, that didn't happen.

On Wednesday, September 17, 2025, my social media feed was flooded with pictures of a once proud meeting spot now seen reduced to a pile of rubble. I wish, after touring Gilbert's the year before, that I had been surprised. Sadly, seeing the once mecca of Jackson, Michigan, birthdays' carpet soiled with leaks and the remnants of a raccoon invasion, it would have been a huge task bringing this iconic landmark back to its former glory.

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So what's the plan now that Gilbert's is no more? The Jackson Citizen Patriot reports that the property, owned by Narayan Jyot LLC, informed Blackman Township of their plans to raze the restaurant and put up a hotel. The purchase price? $195,000 for 6 acres of prime real estate. No other details are known.

When Gilbert’s Finally Closed

Gilbert's opened initially as Gardner's Steakhouse in 1946. Then it was just a log cabin, the same log cabin that choclateer John Gilbert would build around to create Gilbert's Steakhouse in 1955.  It would close nearly five decades later in 2003. A failed attempt to resurrect the iconic Jackson restaurant came in 2004, only to close permanently in 2006.

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See Inside Gilbert's Before It Was Demolished

Jackson has been missing its spot for celebrations for nearly 20 years, but now we say goodbye to the hope the empty building at 2323 Shirley Drive gave us that we might enjoy a drink and a meal at Gilbert's Steakhouse. Here's hoping they do the right thing when naming the new hotel's restaurant.