diff --git a/libcontainerd/remote/client.go b/libcontainerd/remote/client.go
index 11a5990a7b..f21076afb2 100644
--- a/libcontainerd/remote/client.go
+++ b/libcontainerd/remote/client.go
@@ -711,6 +711,35 @@ func (c *client) processEvent(ctx context.Context, et libcontainerdtypes.EventTy
 	})
 }
 
+func (c *client) waitServe(ctx context.Context) bool {
+	t := 100 * time.Millisecond
+	delay := time.NewTimer(t)
+	if !delay.Stop() {
+		<-delay.C
+	}
+	defer delay.Stop()
+
+	// `IsServing` will actually block until the service is ready.
+	// However it can return early, so we'll loop with a delay to handle it.
+	for {
+		serving, _ := c.client.IsServing(ctx)
+		if ctx.Err() != nil {
+			return false
+		}
+
+		if serving {
+			return true
+		}
+
+		delay.Reset(t)
+		select {
+		case <-ctx.Done():
+			return false
+		case <-delay.C:
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func (c *client) processEventStream(ctx context.Context, ns string) {
 	var (
 		err error
@@ -732,14 +761,11 @@ func (c *client) processEventStream(ctx context.Context, ns string) {
 			if err != nil {
 				errStatus, ok := status.FromError(err)
 				if !ok || errStatus.Code() != codes.Canceled {
-					c.logger.WithError(err).Error("failed to get event")
-
-					// rate limit
-					select {
-					case <-time.After(time.Second):
+					c.logger.WithError(err).Error("Failed to get event")
+					c.logger.Info("Waiting for containerd to be ready to restart event processing")
+					if c.waitServe(ctx) {
 						go c.processEventStream(ctx, ns)
 						return
-					case <-ctx.Done():
 					}
 				}
 				c.logger.WithError(ctx.Err()).Info("stopping event stream following graceful shutdown")