diff --git a/agent/consul/leader.go b/agent/consul/leader.go
index a1c1ce50c..a08ebef26 100644
--- a/agent/consul/leader.go
+++ b/agent/consul/leader.go
@@ -183,6 +183,9 @@ func (s *Server) establishLeadership() error {
 
 	s.startAutopilot()
 
+	// Set consistent read readiness state
+	s.setConsistentReadReady()
+
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -199,6 +202,9 @@ func (s *Server) revokeLeadership() error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// Clear state about readiness to serve consistent reads
+	s.resetConsistentReadReady()
+
 	s.stopAutopilot()
 
 	return nil
diff --git a/agent/consul/leader_test.go b/agent/consul/leader_test.go
index 9a2d218d6..99718359b 100644
--- a/agent/consul/leader_test.go
+++ b/agent/consul/leader_test.go
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ func TestLeader_RegisterMember(t *testing.T) {
 
 	testrpc.WaitForLeader(t, s1.RPC, "dc1")
 
+	if !s1.isReadyForConsistentReads() {
+		t.Fatalf("Expected server to be ready for consistent reads ")
+	}
+
 	// Client should be registered
 	state := s1.fsm.State()
 	retry.Run(t, func(r *retry.R) {
@@ -493,6 +497,9 @@ func TestLeader_LeftLeader(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("Should have a leader")
 	}
 	leader.Leave()
+	if leader.isReadyForConsistentReads() {
+		t.Fatalf("Expectected 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 5ea9c8e49..36edd17d3 100644
--- a/agent/consul/rpc.go
+++ b/agent/consul/rpc.go
@@ -434,5 +434,31 @@ 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()
+	err := future.Error()
+	if 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(jitter)
+
+	for time.Now().After(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/server.go b/agent/consul/server.go
index 4a4661a64..4bc1ea84d 100644
--- a/agent/consul/server.go
+++ b/agent/consul/server.go
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ import (
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
+	"sync/atomic"
+
 	"github.com/hashicorp/consul/acl"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/consul/agent/consul/agent"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/consul/agent/consul/servers"
@@ -141,6 +143,9 @@ type Server struct {
 	// updated
 	reconcileCh chan serf.Member
 
+	// used to track when the server is ready to serve consistent reads
+	readyForConsistentReads uint32
+
 	// router is used to map out Consul servers in the WAN and in Consul
 	// Enterprise user-defined areas.
 	router *servers.Router
@@ -1002,6 +1007,21 @@ 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.StoreUint32(&s.readyForConsistentReads, 1)
+}
+
+// Atomically reset readiness state flag on leadership revoke
+func (s *Server) resetConsistentReadReady() {
+	atomic.StoreUint32(&s.readyForConsistentReads, 0)
+}
+
+// Returns true if this server is ready to serve consistent reads
+func (s *Server) isReadyForConsistentReads() bool {
+	return atomic.LoadUint32(&s.readyForConsistentReads) > 0
+}
+
 // 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 12d88dda8..3897c3c1b 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 c9c8cbcb8..ac776c69c 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