Serena Williams Slams Paris Restaurant After Her Family Was Reportedly ‘Denied Access’ To Dine There

Serena Williams’ mama bear instincts took over after a recent interaction in Paris, and she didn’t hesitate in standing up for her kids. The retired tennis star slammed a restaurant in the City of Light after they allegedly “denied access” to her family to dine there for dinner.

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On Monday, the 23-time Grand Slam Champion posted on X (formerly Twitter) about the experience, claiming The Peninsula Paris wouldn’t seat her family even though she could see open tables in the restaurant. “Yikes @peninsulaparis,” she wrote . “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”

In the post, she also shared a picture of the restaurant, which has received 5.2 million views. “How does one get denied when they are Serena Williams…… lol” one person wrote. Another said, “Glad you didn’t have to waste money there.”

The restaurant quickly responded, explaining that the restaurant was fully booked. “Dear Mrs. Williams, Please accept our deepest apologies for the disappointment you encountered tonight,” they tweeted . “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. We have always been honored to welcome you and will always be to welcome you again. The Peninsula Paris.”

The Peninsula also gave a statement to Entertainment Tonight on Monday, “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. Today, August 5th, our rooftop bar was indeed 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 been, and will always be, more than welcome with her family at The Peninsula,” they concluded.

Even if that’s true, it’s telling that the restaurant didn’t tell Williams this at the time, instead, seemingly waiting until she made a public announcement before clearing up the confusion. If you’ve been discriminated against before like Williams, it’s completely understandable why she thought the same was happening here.

Williams is currently in Paris for the 2024 Olympics with her husband Alexis Ohanian and their daughters Olympia, 6, and Adira, 11 months. During the opening ceremony on July 26, a British sports reporter accidentally called her husband her “umbrella holder,” as he was following behind holding an umbrella up over Williams. “She’s got someone just behind us holding an umbrella,” the reporter said, per Page Six . “Those are the levels you aspire to. To have an actual umbrella holder behind you.”

Later, the Reddit co-founder shared a picture of him holding an umbrella up for Olympia as well. “I’m also Olympia’s personal umbrella holder,” he joked . “Sidebar: Y’all set the bar too low for me 😂 celeb dads get flowers just for *acknowledging* they have kids.”

So far, Williams hasn’t publicly acknowledged the restaurant’s response.

Before you go, check out Serena Williams’ sweetest mother-daugther moments with Olympia.