diff --git a/agent/consul/rpc_test.go b/agent/consul/rpc_test.go
index fe6708c859..9599679873 100644
--- a/agent/consul/rpc_test.go
+++ b/agent/consul/rpc_test.go
@@ -179,12 +179,8 @@ func TestReadyForConsistentReads(t *testing.T) {
 
 	s.resetConsistentReadReady()
 
-	if err := s.consistentRead(); err.Error() != "Not ready to serve consistent reads" {
-		t.Fatal("Server should NOT be ready for consistent reads")
-	}
-
 	setConsistentFunc := func() {
-		time.Sleep(2 * time.Millisecond)
+		time.Sleep(3 * time.Millisecond)
 		s.setConsistentReadReady()
 	}
 
@@ -193,12 +189,15 @@ func TestReadyForConsistentReads(t *testing.T) {
 	//set some time to wait for the goroutine above to finish
 	waitUntil := time.Now().Add(time.Millisecond * 5)
 	err := s.consistentRead()
+	if err.Error() != "Not ready to serve consistent reads" {
+		t.Fatal("Server should NOT be ready for consistent reads")
+	}
 	for time.Now().Before(waitUntil) && err != nil {
 		err = s.consistentRead()
 	}
 
 	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatal("Expected server to be ready for consistent reads ")
+		t.Fatalf("Expected server to be ready for consistent reads, got error %v", err)
 	}
 
 }
diff --git a/agent/consul/server.go b/agent/consul/server.go
index 902548c063..9d1c9741f1 100644
--- a/agent/consul/server.go
+++ b/agent/consul/server.go
@@ -1018,7 +1018,7 @@ func (s *Server) resetConsistentReadReady() {
 
 // Returns true if this server is ready to serve consistent reads
 func (s *Server) isReadyForConsistentReads() bool {
-	return atomic.LoadInt32(&s.readyForConsistentReads) > 0
+	return atomic.LoadInt32(&s.readyForConsistentReads) == 1
 }
 
 // peersInfoContent is used to help operators understand what happened to the