diff --git a/go/vt/vtgate/schema/tracker.go b/go/vt/vtgate/schema/tracker.go
index f7b46521b68..61fcdc05861 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtgate/schema/tracker.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtgate/schema/tracker.go
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ func (t *Tracker) updatedTableSchema(th *discovery.TabletHealth) bool {
 
 func (t *Tracker) updateTables(keyspace string, res map[string]string) {
 	for tableName, tableDef := range res {
-		stmt, err := t.parser.Parse(tableDef)
+		stmt, err := t.parser.ParseStrictDDL(tableDef)
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Warningf("error parsing table definition for %s: %v", tableName, err)
 			continue
@@ -475,7 +475,7 @@ func (vm *viewMap) set(ks, tbl, sql string) {
 		m = make(map[tableNameStr]sqlparser.SelectStatement)
 		vm.m[ks] = m
 	}
-	stmt, err := vm.parser.Parse(sql)
+	stmt, err := vm.parser.ParseStrictDDL(sql)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Warningf("ignoring view '%s', parsing error in view definition: '%s'", tbl, sql)
 		return
diff --git a/go/vt/vtgate/schema/tracker_test.go b/go/vt/vtgate/schema/tracker_test.go
index 1ee1aee6a0f..e8ebd0e5a5c 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtgate/schema/tracker_test.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtgate/schema/tracker_test.go
@@ -180,6 +180,8 @@ func TestTableTracking(t *testing.T) {
 		"t3": "create table t3(id datetime primary key)",
 	}, {
 		"t4": "create table t4(name varchar(50) primary key)",
+	}, {
+		"t5": "create table t5(name varchar(50) primary key with broken syntax)",
 	}}
 
 	testcases := []testCases{{
@@ -212,6 +214,15 @@ func TestTableTracking(t *testing.T) {
 			"t3": {{Name: sqlparser.NewIdentifierCI("id"), Type: querypb.Type_DATETIME, CollationName: "binary", Size: 0, Nullable: true}},
 			"t4": {{Name: sqlparser.NewIdentifierCI("name"), Type: querypb.Type_VARCHAR, Size: 50, Nullable: true}},
 		},
+	}, {
+		testName: "new broken table",
+		updTbl:   []string{"t5"},
+		expTbl: map[string][]vindexes.Column{
+			"t1": {{Name: sqlparser.NewIdentifierCI("id"), Type: querypb.Type_INT64, CollationName: "binary", Nullable: true}, {Name: sqlparser.NewIdentifierCI("name"), Type: querypb.Type_VARCHAR, Size: 50, Nullable: true}, {Name: sqlparser.NewIdentifierCI("email"), Type: querypb.Type_VARCHAR, Size: 50, Nullable: false, Default: &sqlparser.Literal{Val: "a@b.com"}}},
+			"T1": {{Name: sqlparser.NewIdentifierCI("id"), Type: querypb.Type_VARCHAR, Size: 50, Nullable: true}, {Name: sqlparser.NewIdentifierCI("name"), Type: querypb.Type_VARCHAR, Size: 50, Nullable: true}},
+			"t3": {{Name: sqlparser.NewIdentifierCI("id"), Type: querypb.Type_DATETIME, CollationName: "binary", Size: 0, Nullable: true}},
+			"t4": {{Name: sqlparser.NewIdentifierCI("name"), Type: querypb.Type_VARCHAR, Size: 50, Nullable: true}},
+		},
 	}}
 
 	testTracker(t, schemaDefResult, testcases)
@@ -231,6 +242,8 @@ func TestViewsTracking(t *testing.T) {
 		"t3": "create view t3 as select 1 from tbl3",
 	}, {
 		"t4": "create view t4 as select 1 from tbl4",
+	}, {
+		"t4": "create view t5 as select 1 from tbl4 with broken syntax",
 	}}
 
 	testcases := []testCases{{
@@ -259,6 +272,14 @@ func TestViewsTracking(t *testing.T) {
 			"V1": "select 1, 2 from tbl2",
 			"t3": "select 1 from tbl3",
 			"t4": "select 1 from tbl4"},
+	}, {
+		testName: "new broken t5",
+		updView:  []string{"t5"},
+		expView: map[string]string{
+			"t1": "select 1 from tbl1",
+			"V1": "select 1, 2 from tbl2",
+			"t3": "select 1 from tbl3",
+			"t4": "select 1 from tbl4"},
 	}}
 
 	testTracker(t, schemaDefResult, testcases)
diff --git a/go/vt/wrangler/vdiff.go b/go/vt/wrangler/vdiff.go
index 70dee1261fc..65998053e9b 100644
--- a/go/vt/wrangler/vdiff.go
+++ b/go/vt/wrangler/vdiff.go
@@ -537,7 +537,7 @@ func findPKs(env *vtenv.Environment, table *tabletmanagerdatapb.TableDefinition,
 // column in the table definition leveraging MySQL's collation inheritance
 // rules.
 func getColumnCollations(venv *vtenv.Environment, table *tabletmanagerdatapb.TableDefinition) (map[string]collations.ID, error) {
-	createstmt, err := venv.Parser().Parse(table.Schema)
+	createstmt, err := venv.Parser().ParseStrictDDL(table.Schema)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/go/vt/wrangler/vdiff_test.go b/go/vt/wrangler/vdiff_test.go
index 1b0071ebed7..96392c3cc0a 100644
--- a/go/vt/wrangler/vdiff_test.go
+++ b/go/vt/wrangler/vdiff_test.go
@@ -1277,6 +1277,13 @@ func TestGetColumnCollations(t *testing.T) {
 				"name": collationEnv.LookupByName("utf16_icelandic_ci"),
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name: "invalid schema",
+			table: &tabletmanagerdatapb.TableDefinition{
+				Schema: "create table t1 (c1 varchar(10), size set('small', 'medium', 'large'), primary key(c1) with syntax error)",
+			},
+			wantErr: true,
+		},
 	}
 	env := vtenv.NewTestEnv()
 	for _, tt := range tests {