diff --git a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/AsyncNonMetaRegionLocator.java b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/AsyncNonMetaRegionLocator.java
index 4da3077bd8c7..0a045148ed82 100644
--- a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/AsyncNonMetaRegionLocator.java
+++ b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/AsyncNonMetaRegionLocator.java
@@ -219,9 +219,13 @@ private boolean tryComplete(LocateRequest req, CompletableFuture<RegionLocations
     this.locatePrefetchLimit =
       conn.getConfiguration().getInt(LOCATE_PREFETCH_LIMIT, DEFAULT_LOCATE_PREFETCH_LIMIT);
 
+    boolean useMetaReplicas =
+      conn.getConfiguration().getBoolean(USE_META_REPLICAS, DEFAULT_USE_META_REPLICAS);
     // Get the region locator's meta replica mode.
-    this.metaReplicaMode = CatalogReplicaMode.fromString(
-      conn.getConfiguration().get(LOCATOR_META_REPLICAS_MODE, CatalogReplicaMode.NONE.toString()));
+    this.metaReplicaMode = useMetaReplicas ?
+      CatalogReplicaMode.fromString(conn.getConfiguration()
+        .get(LOCATOR_META_REPLICAS_MODE, CatalogReplicaMode.NONE.toString())) :
+      CatalogReplicaMode.NONE;
 
     switch (this.metaReplicaMode) {
       case LOAD_BALANCE:
@@ -244,8 +248,6 @@ private boolean tryComplete(LocateRequest req, CompletableFuture<RegionLocations
         break;
       case NONE:
         // If user does not configure LOCATOR_META_REPLICAS_MODE, let's check the legacy config.
-        boolean useMetaReplicas =
-          conn.getConfiguration().getBoolean(USE_META_REPLICAS, DEFAULT_USE_META_REPLICAS);
         if (useMetaReplicas) {
           this.metaReplicaMode = CatalogReplicaMode.HEDGED_READ;
         }
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestAsyncTableUseMetaReplicas.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestAsyncTableUseMetaReplicas.java
index 1a7ac8819e49..6d4087cbad93 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestAsyncTableUseMetaReplicas.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestAsyncTableUseMetaReplicas.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
  */
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client;
 
+import static org.apache.hadoop.hbase.client.RegionLocator.LOCATOR_META_REPLICAS_MODE;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertArrayEquals;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.CatalogReplicaMode;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseClassTestRule;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseTestingUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HConstants;
@@ -65,6 +67,7 @@ public class TestAsyncTableUseMetaReplicas {
   private static byte[] VALUE = Bytes.toBytes("Value");
 
   private static volatile boolean FAIL_PRIMARY_SCAN = false;
+  private static volatile boolean USE_META_REPLICA = false;
 
   public static final class FailPrimaryMetaScanCp implements RegionObserver, RegionCoprocessor {
 
@@ -77,6 +80,10 @@ public Optional<RegionObserver> getRegionObserver() {
     public void preScannerOpen(ObserverContext<RegionCoprocessorEnvironment> c, Scan scan)
       throws IOException {
       RegionInfo region = c.getEnvironment().getRegionInfo();
+      if (!USE_META_REPLICA && TableName.isMetaTableName(region.getTable())) {
+        assert region.getReplicaId()
+          == RegionReplicaUtil.DEFAULT_REPLICA_ID : "should read default meta region!";
+      }
       if (
         FAIL_PRIMARY_SCAN && TableName.isMetaTableName(region.getTable())
           && region.getReplicaId() == RegionReplicaUtil.DEFAULT_REPLICA_ID
@@ -117,11 +124,12 @@ public void tearDownAfterTest() {
     FAIL_PRIMARY_SCAN = false;
   }
 
-  private void testRead(boolean useMetaReplicas)
+  private void testRead()
     throws IOException, InterruptedException, ExecutionException {
     FAIL_PRIMARY_SCAN = true;
     Configuration conf = new Configuration(UTIL.getConfiguration());
-    conf.setBoolean(HConstants.USE_META_REPLICAS, useMetaReplicas);
+    conf.setBoolean(HConstants.USE_META_REPLICAS, USE_META_REPLICA);
+    conf.set(LOCATOR_META_REPLICAS_MODE, CatalogReplicaMode.LOAD_BALANCE.toString());
     conf.setLong(HConstants.HBASE_CLIENT_META_REPLICA_SCAN_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS.toMicros(1));
     try (AsyncConnection conn = ConnectionFactory.createAsyncConnection(conf).get()) {
       Result result = FutureUtils.get(conn.getTableBuilder(TABLE_NAME)
@@ -133,11 +141,13 @@ private void testRead(boolean useMetaReplicas)
   @Test(expected = RetriesExhaustedException.class)
   public void testNotUseMetaReplicas()
     throws IOException, InterruptedException, ExecutionException {
-    testRead(false);
+    USE_META_REPLICA = false;
+    testRead();
   }
 
   @Test
   public void testUseMetaReplicas() throws IOException, InterruptedException, ExecutionException {
-    testRead(true);
+    USE_META_REPLICA = true;
+    testRead();
   }
 }