diff --git a/agent/consul/leader.go b/agent/consul/leader.go
index a1c1ce50c9..431aacc779 100644
--- a/agent/consul/leader.go
+++ b/agent/consul/leader.go
@@ -183,6 +183,8 @@ func (s *Server) establishLeadership() error {
 
 	s.startAutopilot()
 
+	s.setConsistentReadReady()
+
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -199,6 +201,8 @@ func (s *Server) revokeLeadership() error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	s.resetConsistentReadReady()
+
 	s.stopAutopilot()
 
 	return nil
diff --git a/agent/consul/leader_test.go b/agent/consul/leader_test.go
index 9a2d218d64..97a1229c67 100644
--- a/agent/consul/leader_test.go
+++ b/agent/consul/leader_test.go
@@ -492,7 +492,13 @@ func TestLeader_LeftLeader(t *testing.T) {
 	if leader == nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Should have a leader")
 	}
+	if !leader.isReadyForConsistentReads() {
+		t.Fatalf("Expected leader to be ready for consistent reads ")
+	}
 	leader.Leave()
+	if leader.isReadyForConsistentReads() {
+		t.Fatalf("Expected consistent read state to be false ")
+	}
 	leader.Shutdown()
 	time.Sleep(100 * time.Millisecond)
 
diff --git a/agent/consul/rpc.go b/agent/consul/rpc.go
index 5ea9c8e496..3f8c976568 100644
--- a/agent/consul/rpc.go
+++ b/agent/consul/rpc.go
@@ -434,5 +434,30 @@ func (s *Server) setQueryMeta(m *structs.QueryMeta) {
 func (s *Server) consistentRead() error {
 	defer metrics.MeasureSince([]string{"consul", "rpc", "consistentRead"}, time.Now())
 	future := s.raft.VerifyLeader()
-	return future.Error()
+	if err := future.Error(); err != nil {
+		return err //fail fast if leader verification fails
+	}
+	// poll consistent read readiness, wait for up to RPCHoldTimeout milliseconds
+	if s.isReadyForConsistentReads() {
+		return nil
+	}
+	jitter := lib.RandomStagger(s.config.RPCHoldTimeout / jitterFraction)
+	deadline := time.Now().Add(s.config.RPCHoldTimeout)
+
+	for time.Now().Before(deadline) {
+
+		select {
+		case <-time.After(jitter):
+			// Drop through and check before we loop again.
+
+		case <-s.shutdownCh:
+			return fmt.Errorf("shutdown waiting for leader")
+		}
+
+		if s.isReadyForConsistentReads() {
+			return nil
+		}
+	}
+
+	return structs.ErrNotReadyForConsistentReads
 }
diff --git a/agent/consul/rpc_test.go b/agent/consul/rpc_test.go
index 6e08d67e19..9599679873 100644
--- a/agent/consul/rpc_test.go
+++ b/agent/consul/rpc_test.go
@@ -163,3 +163,41 @@ func TestRPC_blockingQuery(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func TestReadyForConsistentReads(t *testing.T) {
+	dir, s := testServerWithConfig(t, func(c *Config) {
+		c.RPCHoldTimeout = 2 * time.Millisecond
+	})
+	defer os.RemoveAll(dir)
+	defer s.Shutdown()
+
+	testrpc.WaitForLeader(t, s.RPC, "dc1")
+
+	if !s.isReadyForConsistentReads() {
+		t.Fatal("Server should be ready for consistent reads")
+	}
+
+	s.resetConsistentReadReady()
+
+	setConsistentFunc := func() {
+		time.Sleep(3 * time.Millisecond)
+		s.setConsistentReadReady()
+	}
+
+	go setConsistentFunc()
+
+	//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.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 4a4661a645..9d1c9741f1 100644
--- a/agent/consul/server.go
+++ b/agent/consul/server.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"reflect"
 	"strconv"
 	"sync"
+	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/consul/acl"
@@ -141,6 +142,9 @@ type Server struct {
 	// updated
 	reconcileCh chan serf.Member
 
+	// used to track when the server is ready to serve consistent reads, updated atomically
+	readyForConsistentReads int32
+
 	// router is used to map out Consul servers in the WAN and in Consul
 	// Enterprise user-defined areas.
 	router *servers.Router
@@ -1002,6 +1006,21 @@ func (s *Server) GetWANCoordinate() (*coordinate.Coordinate, error) {
 	return s.serfWAN.GetCoordinate()
 }
 
+// Atomically sets a readiness state flag when leadership is obtained, to indicate that server is past its barrier write
+func (s *Server) setConsistentReadReady() {
+	atomic.StoreInt32(&s.readyForConsistentReads, 1)
+}
+
+// Atomically reset readiness state flag on leadership revoke
+func (s *Server) resetConsistentReadReady() {
+	atomic.StoreInt32(&s.readyForConsistentReads, 0)
+}
+
+// Returns true if this server is ready to serve consistent reads
+func (s *Server) isReadyForConsistentReads() bool {
+	return atomic.LoadInt32(&s.readyForConsistentReads) == 1
+}
+
 // peersInfoContent is used to help operators understand what happened to the
 // peers.json file. This is written to a file called peers.info in the same
 // location.
diff --git a/agent/consul/structs/structs.go b/agent/consul/structs/structs.go
index 12d88dda8d..3897c3c1b2 100644
--- a/agent/consul/structs/structs.go
+++ b/agent/consul/structs/structs.go
@@ -17,9 +17,10 @@ import (
 )
 
 var (
-	ErrNoLeader  = fmt.Errorf("No cluster leader")
-	ErrNoDCPath  = fmt.Errorf("No path to datacenter")
-	ErrNoServers = fmt.Errorf("No known Consul servers")
+	ErrNoLeader                   = fmt.Errorf("No cluster leader")
+	ErrNoDCPath                   = fmt.Errorf("No path to datacenter")
+	ErrNoServers                  = fmt.Errorf("No known Consul servers")
+	ErrNotReadyForConsistentReads = fmt.Errorf("Not ready to serve consistent reads")
 )
 
 type MessageType uint8
diff --git a/website/source/docs/internals/consensus.html.md b/website/source/docs/internals/consensus.html.md
index c9c8cbcb86..ac776c69c2 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/internals/consensus.html.md
+++ b/website/source/docs/internals/consensus.html.md
@@ -75,7 +75,9 @@ is an opaque binary blob). The leader then writes the entry to durable storage a
 attempts to replicate to a quorum of followers. Once the log entry is considered
 *committed*, it can be *applied* to a finite state machine. The finite state machine
 is application specific; in Consul's case, we use
-[BoltDB](https://github.com/boltdb/bolt) to maintain cluster state.
+[MemDB](https://github.com/hashicorp/go-memdb) to maintain cluster state. Consul's writes
+block until it is both _committed_ and _applied_. This achieves read after write semantics
+when used with the [consistent](/api/index.html#consistent) mode for queries.
 
 Obviously, it would be undesirable to allow a replicated log to grow in an unbounded
 fashion. Raft provides a mechanism by which the current state is snapshotted and the