Serena Williams criticizes luxury Paris restaurant for “denying access” to her and her

Serena Williams took to X on Monday evening to call out The Peninsula Paris, a luxury hotel in the French capital, after she and her children were “denied access” to the hotel’s rooftop restaurant.

“Yikes @peninsulaparis I’ve been denied access to [the] rooftop to eat in [an] empty restaurant of nicer places…but never with my kids,” Williams wrote. “Always a first.” She added a hashtag for the Olympics 2024 at the end of her post.

A staffer at the Peninsula’s rooftop restaurant, Maxime Mannevy, told Variety that Williams arrived with another unnamed woman and she allegedly looked “unrecognizable.”

“When she came there were only two tables available and they had been reserved by clients of the hotel,” said Mannevy, who explained that she was not working when Williams visited the restaurant. “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.”

The restaurant also responded on X/Twitter, writing “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 account continued, writing “We have always been honored to welcome you and will always be to welcome you again. The Peninsula Paris”

In addition, William’s original X post now has a “readers added context” addition, noting “Serena was not ‘denied access.’ Rather, the restaurant was fully booked.”

Williams, who retired from professional tennis after the 2022 U.S. Open, arrived in Paris ahead of the Olympic opening ceremony in which she served as a torch bearer. She shared the stage with several acclaimed athletes, including fellow tennis champion Rafael Nadal, along with Carl Lewis, Zinedine Zidane, Teddy Riner and Marie-José Pérec.   

Williams has prolonged her stay in Paris to attend a few tennis matches, including Novak Djokovic’s win over Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s singles tournament.