diff --git a/kmod/src/options.c b/kmod/src/options.c
index 8ce78067..ae3986c1 100644
--- a/kmod/src/options.c
+++ b/kmod/src/options.c
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ enum {
 	Opt_orphan_scan_delay_ms,
 	Opt_quorum_heartbeat_timeout_ms,
 	Opt_quorum_slot_nr,
+	Opt_meta_reserve_blocks,
 	Opt_err,
 };
 
@@ -52,6 +53,7 @@ static const match_table_t tokens = {
 	{Opt_orphan_scan_delay_ms, "orphan_scan_delay_ms=%s"},
 	{Opt_quorum_heartbeat_timeout_ms, "quorum_heartbeat_timeout_ms=%s"},
 	{Opt_quorum_slot_nr, "quorum_slot_nr=%s"},
+	{Opt_meta_reserve_blocks, "meta_reserve_blocks=%s"},
 	{Opt_err, NULL}
 };
 
@@ -126,6 +128,9 @@ static void free_options(struct scoutfs_mount_options *opts)
 #define MIN_DATA_PREALLOC_BLOCKS	1ULL
 #define MAX_DATA_PREALLOC_BLOCKS	((unsigned long long)SCOUTFS_BLOCK_SM_MAX)
 
+#define SCOUTFS_META_RESERVE_DEFAULT_BLOCKS 16384
+
+
 static void init_default_options(struct scoutfs_mount_options *opts)
 {
 	memset(opts, 0, sizeof(*opts));
@@ -136,6 +141,7 @@ static void init_default_options(struct scoutfs_mount_options *opts)
 	opts->orphan_scan_delay_ms = -1;
 	opts->quorum_heartbeat_timeout_ms = SCOUTFS_QUORUM_DEF_HB_TIMEO_MS;
 	opts->quorum_slot_nr = -1;
+	opts->meta_reserve_blocks = SCOUTFS_META_RESERVE_DEFAULT_BLOCKS;
 }
 
 static int verify_log_merge_wait_timeout_ms(struct super_block *sb, int ret, int val)
@@ -167,6 +173,24 @@ static int verify_quorum_heartbeat_timeout_ms(struct super_block *sb, int ret, u
 
 	return 0;
 }
+static int verify_meta_reserve_blocks(struct super_block *sb, int ret, int val)
+{
+	/*
+	 *  Ideally we set a limit to something reasonable like 1/2 the actual
+	 * total_meta_blocks, but we can't yet get this info when mount is called
+	 */
+	if (ret < 0) {
+		scoutfs_err(sb, "failed to parse meta_reserve_blocks value");
+		return -EINVAL;
+	}
+	if (val < 0 || val > INT_MAX) {
+		scoutfs_err(sb, "invalid meta_reserve_blocks value %d, must be between 0 and %d",
+			    val, INT_MAX);
+		return -EINVAL;
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
 
 /*
  * Parse the option string into our options struct.   This can allocate
@@ -279,6 +303,14 @@ static int parse_options(struct super_block *sb, char *options, struct scoutfs_m
 			opts->quorum_slot_nr = nr;
 			break;
 
+		case Opt_meta_reserve_blocks:
+			ret = match_int(args, &nr);
+			ret = verify_meta_reserve_blocks(sb, ret, nr);
+			if (ret < 0)
+				return ret;
+			opts->meta_reserve_blocks = nr;
+			break;
+
 		default:
 			scoutfs_err(sb, "Unknown or malformed option, \"%s\"", p);
 			return -EINVAL;
@@ -371,6 +403,7 @@ int scoutfs_options_show(struct seq_file *seq, struct dentry *root)
 	seq_printf(seq, ",orphan_scan_delay_ms=%u", opts.orphan_scan_delay_ms);
 	if (opts.quorum_slot_nr >= 0)
 		seq_printf(seq, ",quorum_slot_nr=%d", opts.quorum_slot_nr);
+	seq_printf(seq, ".meta_reserve_blocks=%llu", opts.meta_reserve_blocks);
 
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -589,6 +622,17 @@ static ssize_t quorum_slot_nr_show(struct kobject *kobj, struct kobj_attribute *
 }
 SCOUTFS_ATTR_RO(quorum_slot_nr);
 
+static ssize_t meta_reserve_blocks_show(struct kobject *kobj, struct kobj_attribute *attr, char *buf)
+{
+	struct super_block *sb = SCOUTFS_SYSFS_ATTRS_SB(kobj);
+	struct scoutfs_mount_options opts;
+
+	scoutfs_options_read(sb, &opts);
+
+	return snprintf(buf, PAGE_SIZE, "%lld\n", opts.meta_reserve_blocks);
+}
+SCOUTFS_ATTR_RO(meta_reserve_blocks);
+
 static struct attribute *options_attrs[] = {
 	SCOUTFS_ATTR_PTR(data_prealloc_blocks),
 	SCOUTFS_ATTR_PTR(data_prealloc_contig_only),
@@ -597,6 +641,7 @@ static struct attribute *options_attrs[] = {
 	SCOUTFS_ATTR_PTR(orphan_scan_delay_ms),
 	SCOUTFS_ATTR_PTR(quorum_heartbeat_timeout_ms),
 	SCOUTFS_ATTR_PTR(quorum_slot_nr),
+	SCOUTFS_ATTR_PTR(meta_reserve_blocks),
 	NULL,
 };
 
diff --git a/kmod/src/options.h b/kmod/src/options.h
index 4eebd669..2f4a5ce8 100644
--- a/kmod/src/options.h
+++ b/kmod/src/options.h
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ struct scoutfs_mount_options {
 	unsigned int orphan_scan_delay_ms;
 	int quorum_slot_nr;
 	u64 quorum_heartbeat_timeout_ms;
+	u64 meta_reserve_blocks;
 };
 
 void scoutfs_options_read(struct super_block *sb, struct scoutfs_mount_options *opts);
diff --git a/kmod/src/server.c b/kmod/src/server.c
index 65b5d116..3061f5ed 100644
--- a/kmod/src/server.c
+++ b/kmod/src/server.c
@@ -772,11 +772,14 @@ static int alloc_move_empty(struct super_block *sb,
 u64 scoutfs_server_reserved_meta_blocks(struct super_block *sb)
 {
 	DECLARE_SERVER_INFO(sb, server);
+	struct scoutfs_mount_options opts;
 	u64 server_blocks;
 	u64 client_blocks;
 	u64 log_blocks;
 	u64 nr_clients;
 
+	scoutfs_options_read(sb, &opts);
+
 	/* server has two meta_avail lists it swaps between */
 	server_blocks = SCOUTFS_SERVER_META_FILL_TARGET * 2;
 
@@ -801,7 +804,7 @@ u64 scoutfs_server_reserved_meta_blocks(struct super_block *sb)
 	nr_clients = server->nr_clients;
 	spin_unlock(&server->lock);
 
-	return server_blocks + (max(1ULL, nr_clients) * client_blocks);
+	return server_blocks + (max(1ULL, nr_clients) * client_blocks) + opts.meta_reserve_blocks;
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/tests/run-tests.sh b/tests/run-tests.sh
index 3bc494c0..18347606 100755
--- a/tests/run-tests.sh
+++ b/tests/run-tests.sh
@@ -464,6 +464,7 @@ for i in $(seq 0 $((T_NR_MOUNTS - 1))); do
 	if [ "$i" -lt "$T_QUORUM" ]; then
 		opts="$opts,quorum_slot_nr=$i"
 	fi
+	opts="$opts,meta_reserve_blocks=0"
 	opts="${opts}${T_MNT_OPTIONS}"
 
 	msg "mounting $meta_dev|$data_dev on $dir"