diff --git a/go/vt/mysqlctl/backup.go b/go/vt/mysqlctl/backup.go
index 8480c4615ec..d5b6c7681e7 100644
--- a/go/vt/mysqlctl/backup.go
+++ b/go/vt/mysqlctl/backup.go
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ const (
 const (
 	// replicationStartDeadline is the deadline for starting replication
 	replicationStartDeadline = 30
+
+	Error1193 = "Unknown system variable"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -334,6 +336,21 @@ func Restore(ctx context.Context, params RestoreParams) (*BackupManifest, error)
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	// We disable super_read_only, in case it is in the default MySQL startup
+	// parameters and will be blocking the writes we need to do in
+	// PopulateMetadataTables().  We do it blindly, since
+	// this will fail on MariaDB, which doesn't have super_read_only
+	// This is safe, since we're restarting MySQL after the restore anyway
+	params.Logger.Infof("Restore: disabling super_read_only")
+	if err := params.Mysqld.SetSuperReadOnly(false); err != nil {
+		if strings.Contains(err.Error(), Error1193) {
+			params.Logger.Warningf("Restore: server does not know about super_read_only; maybe MariaDB? Continuing anyway.")
+		} else {
+			params.Logger.Errorf("Restore: unexpected error while trying to set super_read_only: %v", err)
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
+
 	params.Logger.Infof("Restore: running mysql_upgrade")
 	if err := params.Mysqld.RunMysqlUpgrade(); err != nil {
 		return nil, vterrors.Wrap(err, "mysql_upgrade failed")