Serena Williams Says She Was Turned Away From “Empty” Paris Eatery, The Restaurant Claps Back

Source: Xinhua News Agency / Getty

L ike any of the multitude of celebrities in Paris for the Olympic Games, Serena Williams wanted to partake in the fine dining the city is known for. But when she pulled up to the Peninsula Paris with her young daughters, Olympia and Adira, things didn’t turn out as planned.

Williams was denied a table and tweeted about it.

She said, “Yikes @peninsulaparis I’ve been denied access to rooftop to eat in a empty restaurant of nicer places but never with my kids. Always a first.” #Olympic2024

Serena didn’t claim it was a racial issue, although her tweet implied it. The restaurant, part of the exclusive Peninsula chain of hotels with locations in Europe, the Americas and Asia, is a favorite of celebrities worldwide.

They responded to Serena’s tweet, saying they were booked at the rooftop restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, when she arrived. Their account posted, “Dear Mrs. Williams,  Please accept our deepest apologies for the disappointment you encountered tonight. Unfortunately, our rooftop bar was indeed fully booked and the only unoccupied tables you saw belonged to our gourmet restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was fully reserved.”

The restaurant also said they’d be happy to accommodate her again and issued an exclusive statement to The Today Show, in Paris covering the Olympics.

“In response to Mrs. Williams’ tweet, for whom we have the utmost admiration and respect, as we do for all our esteemed guests; we can only reiterate our deepest apologies for her perception of tonight’s situation,” the statement read.

They added, “Today, August 5th, our rooftop bar was indeed unfortunately fully booked, and the only unoccupied tables at that time belonged to our gourmet restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was also fully reserved tonight. She has always and will always be more than welcome with her family to The Peninsula.”

Maxime Mannevy, a restaurant staffer who was not there at the time , told Variety , “When she came, there were only two tables available, and they had been reserved by hotel clients .”

She added, “My colleague didn’t recognize her and feels terrible, but he told her what he would have told any other client, which is to wait downstairs in the bar for a table to become available. That was absolutely nothing personal.”

Williams is in Paris with her daughters and husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. She was one of the athletes selected to carry the Olympic torch in the Opening Ceremonies, remaining in the city with her family to take in the Games, including watching the gymnastics competition.

She won four Olympic gold medals and completed what is known as the Golden Slam, where tennis players win all four majors and an Olympic gold medal. Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic became the fifth tennis player to complete the feat this year.

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