Olive Garden Serves Toddler Sangria

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Olive Garden restaurants are making changes after a toddler was served alcoholic sangria instead of orange juice at a Florida location.

News of the incident comes after an Applebee's in Michigan accidently served a margarita to another toddler.

Orlando, Fla.-based Darden Restaurants says the mix-up happened March 31 in Lakeland.

Jill VanHeest says she took her 2-year-old son Nikolai to the hospital after his eyes turned red and dilated and he began acting up. She said he was given fluids and released a couple hours later with no lasting effects.

VanHeest's attorney contacted the news media in Florida after reports of the Applebee's incident this week.

Olive Gardens said it will now mix sangria individually to order, instead of in batches as it had before.

Comments

[kfraz34]

07:24 PM on 04/22/2011

Does anyone know that this actually happened or are we just taking the word of the lawyer that notified the news media.
Just another one looking for a quick payday. It was nice that the lawyer notified the news media, makes his check bigger too.

[Mark Rosa]

03:53 AM on 04/20/2011

I was employed by the Olive Garden for six years and not once have I heard of this type of mistake happening. Olive Garden uses clear cups with lids for kids drinks to avoid such a mistake. However, tropical sangria and orange juice are not only the same color, but they are typically stored in identical containers that are labeled with a piece of tape that says what's in it. But regardless, eliminating the batching process will only make more work for the bartenders and hurt the quality of service (due to the increased wait time at the service bar). Also, the simpler solution may be to just buy the orange juice that comes in a carton or bottle that is labeled by its producer.

[Camurria]

03:12 PM on 04/18/2011

Was this the only way they could get the kid to eat the food there?

[GerryS]

12:59 PM on 04/16/2011

Well, that would keep the kid quiet (sedated) during dinner--------

[April Pells]

07:28 AM on 04/16/2011

How did no one at the table notice until the child misbehaved? Does nobody look after their own anymore?

[ampelamati]

09:55 PM on 04/15/2011

Seriously? They're blaming Olive Garden? The mom couldn't tell the difference between wine and orange juice? Anything to not look like a bad parent, eh?

[NWmom]

12:30 AM on 04/20/2011

I have seen this comment a lot on these stories about alcoholic drinks being served to toddlers. I am assuming you don't have young children of your own because every restaurant I have ever taken my children to has served kids beverages in a colored plastic cup with a lid. A parent would have to open the lid to verify what was inside, they would not be able to tell by simply looking at the cup.

These stories are a good warning for the rest of us that we SHOULD be opening the lids and having a look, even tasting a sip of our childrens' beverages if we take them out to eat.

[Rebekah Gamble-Allen]

03:18 AM on 04/20/2011

Why on earth would they put sangria (or any alcoholic beverage) in a child's cup? I've worked at restaurants & bars and this never happens.

[logic-a-go-go]

10:20 PM on 04/21/2011

Give me a break. Do you sip every cup of juice that your children drink?

[dil123]

06:56 PM on 04/15/2011

OMG!!!! IT FIGURES.....IT WAS FLORIDA!!!! A waitress did the same thing to me in a restaurant in Daytona Beach. We were all at this beachside restaurant and I ordered two strawberry daquiris and a virgin pina colada for my (at the time) three year old daughter, so the waitress said, "You want alchol in all of those, right?" You could have scraped me off the floor!! I mean, how could someone be so dumb...and she was looking straight at my daughter!! We had to actually TELL her "No the pina colada shouldn't have alcohol in it." I swear minium wage and the relentless sun just burns the brains in that state!!

[spearsspears]

07:41 PM on 04/18/2011

It's possible (probable) that the waitress was trying to make a joke, after all they do get paid primarily with tips. Some people get that it's a joke and some don't, some find it funny and some don't. The tips they make for jokes like that typically make up for any lost tips from those that were offended. I wasn't there, so I can only speculate, but that's actually pretty common with wait-staff.

[Jorge P]

01:03 PM on 04/15/2011

No big deal; the kid probably just spit it out (like when my kid sipped my vodka).
What is worse is their salty, over-cheesed, over-sweetened, overcooked food. REAL Italian food is healthy, interesting, and in smaller quantities (even in Sicily).
And exactly what is an "Olive Garden"? Grove or orchard, but not a garden, since olives grow on trees. Like a lemon or orange garden (or a tomato grove), it just doesn't exist.

[inkongirl]

12:01 PM on 04/15/2011

How can you confuse sangria with orange juice?

[Havana Thinks]

06:53 AM on 04/16/2011

The parent(s) were probably already drunk when they went in so they were not paying attention! In my experience, way too many people drink prior to going out. They want to have a buzz on because they believe the bar cheats them. Many times the bar tender is blamed when in fact, the patron(s) drank @ home, in their car(s), or even snuck to the bathroom to sip from their purse or pocket flask. They are in no condition to tell what is occurring right in front of them!

[logic-a-go-go]

10:21 PM on 04/21/2011

Oh, my gosh. Your post is so full of assumptions that it is unbelievable. Don't say it if you don't know it. Sheesh.

[staticxsplash]

01:45 AM on 04/15/2011

For everyone saying about how sangria doesn't look like orange juice, I bet you 10 to 1 that it was the TROPICAL sangria that was served to the child, it looks exactly like orange juice.

Not justifying it, it's still a horrible mistake, but that's probably why the parent didn't instantly know.

[ampelamati]

09:57 PM on 04/15/2011

I'm pretty sure they don't serve children orange juice in wine glasses.

[NWmom]

12:31 AM on 04/20/2011

The problem was the restaurant employee poured from the wrong pitcher. The child was served sangria in a children's cup...not a wine glass.

[logic-a-go-go]

10:22 PM on 04/21/2011

What? Are you serious! It wasn't served in a wine glass, and don't say thinks that you don't know! For Pete's sake!

[ampelamati]

09:58 PM on 04/15/2011

And actually, I just looked it up, and it does not look like orange juice.

[logic-a-go-go]

10:23 PM on 04/21/2011

Are you being paid by Olive Garden??? Your comments are pathetic.

[Sandiaman]

10:21 PM on 04/14/2011

The sangria was probably healthier for the toddler than the 3 cheese lasagna.
Just sayin.

[Havana Thinks]

06:55 AM on 04/16/2011

You are so cute. LOL! ... Faved!

[Aimee Bellefleur Hogan]

08:28 PM on 04/16/2011

LOL! Yeah, at least the sangria had fruit in it.

[inthedesert]

08:11 PM on 04/14/2011

How often do parents hit the lawsuit jackpot like this couple did? I ask you?

[Sinned39]

11:41 AM on 04/15/2011

Yeah, this will pay for the kid's college education, if the parents are smart and play their cards right.

[elcerritan]

08:50 PM on 04/15/2011

I wouldn't bet on any jury giving them a nickel.

[Ohsherri]

02:33 PM on 04/15/2011

Good point.
I can only pray that some d0mmy serves me Kaluha instead of milk.
Cause you know they look so much alike.
Not.

[logic-a-go-go]

10:29 PM on 04/21/2011

I once ordered an iced tea at a restaurant and received a Long Island Tea--with what, five shots of alcohol in it? They swore it had no alcohol in it, but it did. After the waiter eventually tasted it--because he did not believe me, and I basically forced him to--he agreed it was a Long Island Tea. The explanation about ten minutes later from the manager was that the kitchen staff had pre-mixed Long Island Tea and put it in a pitcher in the fridge, in a pitcher identical to that which held their iced tea. At least he was honest, but imagine! I do not drink, so I was not happy, and could only think about what would have happened if my ten-year old was with me and ordered tea when I did not. Or if another minor ordered iced tea in that restaurant that evening. Needless to say, that was about six years ago and I have never, nor will ever, return to that restaurant.

[grailknight]

08:00 PM on 04/14/2011

Kids cups need to be translucent.

[logic-a-go-go]

10:31 PM on 04/21/2011

No guarantee that they are not being mistakenly served alcohol.

[sids04]

07:53 PM on 04/14/2011

Another reason to hate casual dining restaurants

[gtoddyt5]

04:54 PM on 04/14/2011

I'll tell you exactly what happened, having worked in restaurants for a number of years. When I was a server, during our shift, we were supposed to be drinking out of kid's cups if we wanted a soft drink or anything like that. So if we wanted alcohol, we would just have the bartender pour us a drink in a kid's cup (the bartender poured the kids drinks because the kids usually requested juices, which were kept at the bar). So I'm thinking an idiot server either mixed them up or another server dropped their drinks off at the table, thinking they were doing them a favor. Whoops!