diff --git a/src/table.js b/src/table.js
index 33c15b94c..2bab42fd6 100644
--- a/src/table.js
+++ b/src/table.js
@@ -1136,8 +1136,8 @@ Table.prototype.mutate = function(entries, gaxOptions, callback) {
   var entryToIndex = new Map(entries.map((entry, index) => [entry, index]));
   var mutationErrorsByEntryIndex = new Map();
 
-  function onBatchResponse(previousNumRequestsMade, err) {
-    if (previousNumRequestsMade === numRequestsMade && err) {
+  function onBatchResponse(err) {
+    if (err) {
       // The error happened before a request was even made, don't retry.
       callback(err);
       return;
@@ -1180,7 +1180,7 @@ Table.prototype.mutate = function(entries, gaxOptions, callback) {
         retryOpts: retryOpts,
       })
       .on('request', () => numRequestsMade++)
-      .on('error', onBatchResponse.bind(null, numRequestsMade))
+      .on('error', onBatchResponse)
       .on('data', function(obj) {
         obj.entries.forEach(function(entry) {
           var originalEntry = entryBatch[entry.index];
diff --git a/system-test/mutate-rows.js b/system-test/mutate-rows.js
index 38c9974db..e86c352a2 100644
--- a/system-test/mutate-rows.js
+++ b/system-test/mutate-rows.js
@@ -53,7 +53,6 @@ describe('Bigtable/Table', () => {
     },
   };
   bigtable.grpcCredentials = grpc.credentials.createInsecure();
-  bigtable.projectId = 'test';
 
   const INSTANCE = bigtable.instance('instance');
   const TABLE = INSTANCE.table('table');
diff --git a/test/table.js b/test/table.js
index 20f5aa3f1..3a55baccb 100644
--- a/test/table.js
+++ b/test/table.js
@@ -1733,28 +1733,6 @@ describe('Bigtable/Table', function() {
           done();
         });
       });
-
-      it('should not retry a pre request error', function(done) {
-        var calls = 0;
-        var error = new Error('err');
-        table.requestStream = function() {
-          calls++;
-          var stream = new Stream({
-            objectMode: true,
-          });
-
-          setImmediate(function() {
-            stream.emit('error', error);
-          });
-
-          return stream;
-        };
-        table.mutate(entries, function(err) {
-          assert.strictEqual(calls, 1);
-          assert.strictEqual(err, error);
-          done();
-        });
-      });
     });
   });