FLORIDA – There’s a national epidemic of chain restaurants serving alcohol to toddlers!
Dominic Dill-Reese, a toddler from Michigan was served two margarita’s at a local Applebee’s and a few days later two-year-old Nikolai Van Heest was served sangria at an Olive Garden in Lakeland, Florida.
Are restaurant chains serving alcohol to toddlers in an effort to keep kids away and appeal to adult-only crowds?
It looks like it.
The details of the two drunken toddler incidents are strikingly similar — just replace “Applebee’s” with “Olive Garden,” and “margarita” with “sangria.”
“We’re eating our meals when the waiter came over and said there’s been a mistake, I need to get you a new one and took the glass and kind of scurried away,” said Jill Van Heest, mother of two-year-old Nikolai – the Olive Garden victim.
The boy ordered orange juice and his mom says he drank most of what was in his child’s plastic cup when a waiter came to the table. “We’re eating our meals when the waiter came over and said there’s been a mistake, I need to get you a new one and took the glass and kind of scurried away,” Van Heest said.
She asked him what was in the cup and was told Tropical Sangria, a mixed drink of orange juice, pineapple juice and white wine. Here’s what it looked like:
The mother says Niko was acting strangely and misbehaving throughout the dinner. “He was visibly drunk. His eyes were dilated, they were red. He was now getting loud.
She decided to take him to the Emergency Room and Lakeland Regional Medical Center to get checked out. Doctorsgave him an I.V. of fluids and released him after a couple of hours.
The Facts: A few days earlier, in Madison Heights, Michigan, Taylor Dill-Reese took her son Dominic to an Applebee’s. After a few swigs from his sippy cup, the 15-month-old boy needed a ride to the hospital.
Here’s Dominic:
Here’s the drink that was poured into his sippy cup:
The incident allegedly happened at 4:30 p.m. Friday at the Applebee’s on 14 Mile Rd. After being checked out by doctors, the family learned the boy’s blood alcohol level was .10 — over the legal limit for an adult driver.
BEHAVIOR: Dominic was saying “hi” and “bye” to the walls and eventually passed out head first on the table, Nikolai’s behavior was described as “visibly drunk. His eyes were dilated, they were red. He was…getting loud.”
There are numerous internet rumors that restaurant chains are getting tired of screaming babies and toddlers and want more adults as customers – so they are purposely putting alcohol into drinks.
Denny’s, T.G.I.F., Chili’s, Denny’s and even McDonald’s are reportedly adding alcohol to toddler’s drinks.
Better check your toddler’s sippy cups when you are out for dinner!
Here’s Dominic:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqquJRVyg6w&w=480&l=385]
🙂 Props on the website.