Toddler gets drunk at Applebees
 

The story

I can definitely see how it would have happened, especially if it was really busy. An amusing story to be sure. :D

Whoa, I eat at that very same restaurant all the time.

Yeah, thats a real fucking laugh riot. As a parent, I'd be inclined to accept the server's apology, right before I punch him/her square in the face.

This isn't that uncommon. The same thing happened at Fridays a few years ago and now they serve apple juice in cans.

What a novel idea!

Cant believe people eat there. applebee's kitchen is just one giant microwave

"On the real". I went to an Applebee's once in....Milpitas, CA with my girlfriend at the time. I ordered the riblets. I was left with a negative impression.

fixed

It's not my #1 or #1a choice of a franchise, but I'll eat at Applebees quite often. It's basically the only franchise type place around here other than Red Lobster. I usually just roll w/ the half price happy hour apps....I guess it is what it is, nothing special, but nothing too objectionable.

IMO applebee's is terrible. Worst of the chains.

One positive aspect to the story:

Applebee's offered to pay for the damage that it caused (Medical Bills, etc.), and it sounds like the Mom isn't going to sue them for $100,000,000.

It's nice to see someone not use getting injured by someone else as a substitute for winning the lottery.

And I think that Applebees, Chilis, etc. are fine for what they are. I don't go expecting fine dining or even good food. But they all do a decent burger, fries, chicken fingers, etc.

dola--

A similar thing happened to my cousin. She was babysitting (for relatives). The parents came home and asked how the kids were.

"The kids are fine. They have been sleeping really well. I gave them some baby food and baby juice for dinner."

"Baby juice?"

"Yeah, that watered down juice that you have in the fridge."

"Umm . . . ."

Turns out that she had given the kids screwdrivers. So, they were in fact sleeping very well.

I was thinking that this was an old story, but I guess I was thinking about the Friday's one...

At work we have the big bottles of apple juice and I just toss them up on the bar for the servers to pour. No possibility for confusion there... :)

I am shocked -- shocked! -- that this story did not involve any of Britney Spears' kids.

My wife and I eat out all the time, and an Applebee's opened about a mile from us a little over a year ago... and we never consider eating there. Ever.

OK, maybe that one time when my wife wanted to try the Unlimited Soup and Salad thing for $5.99. But not anymore.

That's definitely a bit of fresh air.

SI

At the same time, I don't think I'd react so calmly. Warranted or not, I'd worry about any long term effects of the alcohol on my toddler.

I'm shocked the kid continued drinking it. My youngest picked up a vodka martini that one of my parents was drinking (my other son caused a disaster that diverted everyone's attention). The kid took one sip and spit everything out. The face he made was classic!

Todzilla Gets Drunk at Applebees

In Northern Virginia, we also call that "Friday Night"...

:D

This is even funnier considering that this is the same toddler that loved his brother's poop... :eek:

Your kid ate his brother's poo?

and enjoyed it?

Unless the toddler continues to drink alcohol long-term, there's not really anything to worry about. Whatever negative effects were going to happen from being served that margarita occurred within the first several hours of drinking it.

Taste-wise, though, there's a world of difference between a margarita and a vodka martini. I could see kids enjoying a margarita, especially if it was watered down and you couldn't taste much of the alcohol. I can't see kids really enjoying a vodka martini. Maybe a cosmopolitan, on the outside.

exactly why god gave us a liver

Yeah, I posted it here a while back. Short version, 2 year old is sent in to the bathroom to watch his 4 year old brother use the potty. I'm busy and notice things have gotten awfully quiet. I ask what is going on, and the four year old responds that "Alex is eating poop!" I come running in, and my 4 year old had gotten poop on his finger which he pointed towards his brother who apparently ate it. He had a little smudge of it on his upper lip. And he wanted more!

I use to bartend at Applebee's and I'm not quite sure what you mean by this? Are you saying they have pre-cooked food and the microwave it?! If that's what you are trying to say then I can say it's untrue. They grill (or fry) all the meat on the menu - at least at the chain I worked at. It's not the best food but for the price it's a fair place to eat. I feel Applebees, Friday's, Chili's, ect are all equal in the quality of food.

I don't mind Applebee's, but I stay away from the riblets and steak. Salads, sandwiches/burgers, and that cajun pasta dish they used to have are all decent.

Well, thinking about it more I'm not entirely certain that alcohol intoxication couldn't have some detrimental affect on brain development in a toddler. Still, I highly doubt that one instance of alcohol intoxication in a toddler will have any long-term effect.

Give me Chili's any day of the week over those.

Well can your kid come out to the bar with us this weekend? We'll try an experiment and see how it goes?

Let's be clear here - I'm obviously not advocating that someone feeds their toddler alcohol intentionally. There are plenty of risks involved given the toxic nature of alcohol on the human body, and the smaller you are, the less alcohol it takes to affect your body. There is an increased risk of severe reactions that could lead to death.

But, my point is that if the toddler survives the alcohol intoxication, there's little reason to believe that a single instance like that will have a long-term affect - that's not how alcohol works on the body. Chronic use leads to many well-documented effects, but single instances of alcohol consumption has pretty much just the short-term effects (drunkenness, hangover, slight chance of death in extreme cases) and aside from the last part, your body recovers.

If my kid were to accidentally get into some booze, I'd be concerned about the immediate effects, but I wouldn't give a passing thought to any long-term problems. In fact, depending on the age of the toddler (and their development of long-term memory) such an incident could be used to great effect to discourage them from drinking when they get older, or certainly to limit their drinking.

Didn't you get your kid drunk at Friday's once?

Or maybe you got Hell Atlantic drunk there? I can't remember.

I've just been thoroughly brainwashed (or educated) by the propaganda we were told in school about fetal alcohol syndrome and how as little as 1 drink by a mother could cause it. And then I figure my 2 year old is closer in age to a fetus than to an 18 year old. *shurg* Who knows - I'm too lazy at this point in my life to get trained as a scientist, procure research funding, then conduct a rigorous scientific study to find out the actual truth. Instead, I'll just believe whatever they told me in health class.

Well, I'll defer to medical professionals on this one and admit I could be wrong. But even what you're citing (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) is something that is primarily associated with repeated exposure to high levels of alcohol intoxication, much more so than a single exposure.

A sombrero-sportin' midget. Close.

Sorry ,but Applebee's is FAR down that least... I go to chain restaurants quite a bit, and I wouldn't go to Applebee's if you offered to pay for it - I'd pay for us to go to one of the others...

I agree with Wade that Applebees doesn't even come close the chili's or Fridays, but Applebees has terrific salads. That is the only thing I get when I go there, a huge fried chicken salad with feta cheese. yummy

Funny, and I assume unintentional.

Applebees is a good place to drink with co-workers(and eat when you don't want to leave) if you are stuck near the middle of nowhere. I don't understand why people would choose to eat or drink there in suburbs or cities though.

Geez. I'm all for fine dining and everything, but people on here either have ridiculously high standards when it comes to eating out, or you have the worst possible Applebees in your respective areas. I guess I just don't understand...is the food poorly cooked/served cold/terrible service? It's a pretty simple formula when it comes to these types of chains...meats, cheeses, things that are fried, all prepared and served pretty quickly. How exactly does that go wrong?

For the record, I love their chicken fajita rollup, apple walnut chicken salad, and many of the appetizers (RIP the parmesan pizza sticks). Would I eat a steak there? No.

In my experience (small to medium sized cities), it goes wrong in the general pace of business done there. It is pretty clear that they try to move as many people through the restaurant as possible on any given night. Because of this the servers stop by the table when they are available and not when it looks like service is needed, and food quality seems to be pretty random. If the cooks have time to pay attention, the food is decent. If they are totally swamped, food quality is bad. I generally view Applebee's food to be equal to what I could do myself, but convient if I don't want to actually do the work. At best, I would call the food very average.

This is the goal of every restaurant, anywhere.

No it isn't...at least not if you include restaurants that take reservations. Besides, my point (thought it may not have been clear) is that they obviously have table turnover as one of their top goals. When customers feel rushed through the dining process, they will be less satisfied with the experience.

Not including the $100/diner ones, I'd assume.

It absolutely is, trust me. Its a standard problem at all levels of the industry - how do we get people to leave, so we can get more people in their seats, and thus maximize revenue.

How do you account for restaurants who do one seating a night, then?

Even those. I spent a year bartending at a very expensive place in Milwaukee, and that was the number one problem that management worried about.

That's just a line they give you so you don't realize they're worried about how long you're going to be there.

Restaurants that take reservations (and book solid) won't have anyone waiting in the wings to take over a table if the customers get cleared out early. They may be trying to speed up the overall dining process so they can pack the reservations in a little more tightly, but there is nothing to be gained by pushing out customers who are currently at the table. There is a difference between improving efficiency and walking people out the door while they are still chewing.