3-Year-Old Girl Hospitalized After Restaurant Mistakenly Served Her Alcohol

A 3-year-old toddler has reportedly been hospitalized after a restaurant employee mistakenly squirted alcohol into the toddler's mouth in western Pennsylvania on Sunday, Aug. 14.

The incident reportedly happened while the 3-year-old child's family was dining at Saga Hibachi Steakhouse in Monroeville, about 15 miles east of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County. During the dinner, the hibachi chef cooked and performed for their table and began squirting saké into the mouths of the adults using a plastic bottle, PhillyVoice reported.

Instead of the saké bottle, a second bottle, containing pink lemonade, was supposed to be used for the toddler. However, the bottles containing the saké and the pink lemonade reportedly looked similar. After receiving the drink the first two or three times, the toddler girl appeared to be rattled by the taste of the drink she received.

“There was a bottle of pink lemonade and one bottle of saké They both look similar," Ashley Cain, the girl's mother, said. "They were both in a condiment squirt bottle. After the first two or three times, she started getting a disgusted look on her face, and we're like, something is not right."

About 15 minutes after receiving the drink, the girl reportedly became very sick and appeared to be inebriated.

“She started acting woozy and babbling about I don’t know what. You could definitely tell she was off,” Cain said.

Following this, the girl was immediately rushed to UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. However, by the time her daughter was seen by physicians at the facility, the alcohol was no longer detectable in the girl's system due to the time that had passed. Cain said her daughter received the required treatment, spent several hours in Children’s Hospital, and has since recovered, KIRO 7 reported.

Meanwhile, the restaurant manager David Wang acknowledged the mistake and took responsibility for the incident saying that their chef had accidentally grabbed the wrong bottle.

"It is our fault. It’s horrifying. We are truly sorry this happened," Wang said. "We will go step-by-step to make sure this will never happen again."

Wang added that the chef who gave the toddler alcohol has been suspended from work.