diff --git a/go/vt/vtgate/tabletgateway.go b/go/vt/vtgate/tabletgateway.go
index c36c6981fa2..48cd37b28fe 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtgate/tabletgateway.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtgate/tabletgateway.go
@@ -207,9 +207,8 @@ func (gw *TabletGateway) WaitForTablets(ctx context.Context, tabletTypesToWait [
 		case context.DeadlineExceeded:
 			// In this scenario, we were able to reach the
 			// topology service, but some tablets may not be
-			// ready. We just warn and keep going.
+			// ready.
 			log.Warningf("Timeout waiting for all keyspaces / shards to have healthy tablets of types %v, may be in degraded mode", tabletTypesToWait)
-			err = nil
 		}
 	}()
 
diff --git a/go/vt/vtgate/vtgate.go b/go/vt/vtgate/vtgate.go
index 8b8302d77d4..298f683be16 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtgate/vtgate.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtgate/vtgate.go
@@ -295,8 +295,18 @@ func Init(
 	// TabletGateway can create it's own healthcheck
 	gw := NewTabletGateway(ctx, hc, serv, cell)
 	gw.RegisterStats()
-	if err := gw.WaitForTablets(ctx, tabletTypesToWait); err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("tabletGateway.WaitForTablets failed: %v", err)
+
+	// Retry loop for potential time-outs waiting for all tablets.
+	for {
+		err := gw.WaitForTablets(ctx, tabletTypesToWait)
+		switch {
+		case errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded):
+			log.Warning("TabletGateway timed out waiting for tablets to become available - retrying.")
+
+			continue
+		default:
+			log.Fatalf("tabletGateway.WaitForTablets failed: %v", err)
+		}
 	}
 
 	dynamicConfig := NewDynamicViperConfig()