The scam is so much more likely. Worked in a lot of gross restaurants with a lot of dumb people, but no one’s fucking dumb enough to actually let an animal fall into a boiling hot pot and not notice. Don’t you think it would splash? Don’t you think it would squeal? Cooks stir the soup before they ladle it out. They stare at the pot to do that. The kitchens have lights. I know this is all mindblowing. Rats or mice in the restaurant? Very likely, here in NYC. Mice are more likely overall, but I’ve seen rats too. Almost certainly cockroaches somewhere in every restaurant as well, even if only in small number and mostly unseen.

But, to answer your question: what is more likely? Well I’ve seen 0 animals in food in my time working in NYC and I’ve had countless clueless, cheap, bored, or outright scammy customers complaining about some shit that isn’t the restaurant’s fault or business. So idk how you managed to get all the yuppies upvoting your clueless armchair guess, but it’s wildly off base.

edit: didn't realize you actually shared my POV lol. Sorry, but what I said still stands for all the racists in here.