Paris Hotel Apologizes to Serena Williams After She and Her Kids Were Refused Restaurant Access

A rep for the restaurant said it was fully booked.

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Serena Williams attends the Sacai Menswear Spring/Summer 2025 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on June 23, 2024 in Paris, France.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Serena Williams was less than impressed with her recent experience with Parisian hotel The Peninsula's rooftop restaurant.

The retired tennis champ took to social media to express her discontent, writing on X, "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"

The Peninsula promptly responded, claiming in a statement shared with Us Weekly that they simply weren't able to seat Williams and her kids because they were booked up.

"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.

"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."

Williams is mom to Olympia, 6, and Adira, 1, whom she shares with husband Alexis Ohanian.

The tennis legend has been in Paris to follow this year's Olympics. On July 26, she participated in the torch relay at the opening ceremony, which was pretty eventful thanks to the weather.

In a TikTok posted the next day, she said, "Alright, that's a wrap on everything. It's been a heck of a night. I was in the boat, it was pouring rain, my lashes came off, my hair came down. It's a miracle I'm still put together. I thought for a minute I was in a wet T-shirt contest, but I was at the Olympics."

Iris Goldsztajn
Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.