An employee explained what seemed to happen when Serena Williams said she and her children were denied entry to a Parisian restaurant.

The restaurant expressed regret that their rooftop bar was completely booked and that the only tables that were seen as empty belonged to their gourmet restaurant,

L’Oiseau Blanc, which was also fully reserved. It has been a privilege to host you, and it will continue to be, they said.

And according to Maxime Mannevy, who works at the Peninsula restaurant, he told Variety that all of the tables that were available had “been reserved by clients of the hotel.”

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 pic.twitter.com/lEGJR5WoEn

— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) August 5, 2024