An 8-year-old boy was served alcohol at one of the T.G.I. Friday's in town. Even worse, the boy has a heart defect and he is on ADHD medication.
The drink was recently served at the T.G.I. Friday's inside The Orleans hotel-casino.
When 8-year-old Tyler Schwab received the root beer, he took a few sips.
"What do you call that? Throw up root beer?" Tyler said. "Cause that's what it tastes like."
He asked his mom to try it and she noticed it was bitter tasting. Then, his dad grabbed the bottle and noticed it was an adult root beer.
"My fiance grabbed the bottle and started looking at it and saw that it said 5.9 percent alcohol content," said mother Adrianna Schwab.
Tyler's parents don't understand how the mistake could have happened because the alcoholic root beer bottle and the non-alcoholic root beer bottle look a lot different.
Tyler was scared after realizing what he had consumed.
"He was really freaked out," said Schwab. "He asked me, am I going to die?"
The server and the manager came over to their table. They reportedly apologized for the mistake and took the bottle away immediately.
"They were apologetic but not as apologetic as they should have been for the circumstance it was," she said.
13 Action News reached out to T.G.I. Friday's about the incident. They gave us the following the statement.
"We are aware of an incident at our Orleans restaurant where a server accidentally served an adult root beer beverage to a minor. It was an honest mistake. We immediately addressed the situation with the guest directly and to the guests' satisfaction. We are currently retraining staff on all operational procedures and responsible alcohol service standards to prevent a recurrence. The safety of our guests and team members is the utmost importance and our top priority.”
The chain restaurant would not elaborate on how the mix up happened. But the family tells 13 Action News the manager told them the reason it happened was because the bartender was new and was still training. The manager also apparently told the family the two root beers are located right next to each other.
