A staff member at the Paris restaurant that Serena Williams slammed for allegedly denying her a rooftop table has attempted to explain the confusion .
The retired tennis legend has been in Paris for the Olympics ; however, she was left furious with a luxury restaurant in the French capital as she exposed her treatment in the establishment. Williams had been a torch bearer at the opening ceremony but it appears the workers didn’t recognise her.
A staffer at the restaurant, Maxime Mannevy, wasn’t working on the night of the incident, but told Variety she has been in touch with a colleague who was involved. They said that Williams showed up at the establishment with another woman and a stroller looking “unrecognizable”.
READ MORE: Furious Serena Williams slams restaurant for turning away her family claiming rooftop was fully booked
READ MORE: Gabby Thomas' immediate reaction to Olympics win speaks volumes about USA star
“When she came there were only two tables available and they had been reserved by clients of the hotel,” Mannevy told the outlet. “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 had taken to social media earlier this week to slam The Peninsula Paris, suggesting she and her children were stopped from eating on the rooftop of the restaurant despite claiming there were no diners at the time.
“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,” she wrote on X, adding an image of the restaurant’s plaque.
The restaurant did reply with a response at the time of the debacle, explaining their reasoning. “Dear Mrs. Williams, Please accept our deepest apologies for the disappointment you encountered tonight,” a message posted on X read.
“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.”
Alongside their reply on social media, The Peninsula Paris also released a statement, which said: “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 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.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0