diff --git a/titan-es/src/main/java/com/thinkaurelius/titan/diskstorage/es/ElasticSearchIndex.java b/titan-es/src/main/java/com/thinkaurelius/titan/diskstorage/es/ElasticSearchIndex.java
index ad83222b97..5d4a1b5fc5 100644
--- a/titan-es/src/main/java/com/thinkaurelius/titan/diskstorage/es/ElasticSearchIndex.java
+++ b/titan-es/src/main/java/com/thinkaurelius/titan/diskstorage/es/ElasticSearchIndex.java
@@ -29,7 +29,9 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.exists.indices.IndicesExistsRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.exists.indices.IndicesExistsResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.mapping.put.PutMappingResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.BulkItemResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.BulkRequestBuilder;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.BulkResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.delete.DeleteRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.index.IndexRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchRequestBuilder;
@@ -46,6 +48,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.IndexMissingException;
 import org.elasticsearch.node.Node;
 import org.elasticsearch.node.NodeBuilder;
+import org.elasticsearch.rest.RestStatus;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.SearchHit;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.SearchHits;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.sort.FieldSortBuilder;
@@ -561,7 +564,10 @@ public void mutate(Map<String, Map<String, IndexMutation>> mutations, KeyInforma
 
                 }
             }
-            if (bulkrequests > 0) brb.execute().actionGet();
+            if (bulkrequests > 0) {
+                BulkResponse bulkResponse = brb.execute().actionGet();
+                checkBulkResponseForFailures(bulkResponse);
+            }
         } catch (Exception e) {
             throw convert(e);
         }
@@ -595,13 +601,38 @@ public void restore(Map<String,Map<String, List<IndexEntry>>> documents, KeyInfo
                 }
             }
 
-            if (requests > 0)
-                bulk.execute().actionGet();
+            if (requests > 0) {
+                BulkResponse bulkResponse = bulk.execute().actionGet();
+                checkBulkResponseForFailures(bulkResponse);
+            }
         } catch (Exception e) {
             throw convert(e);
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * If a BulkResponse has a failure except for {@link RestStatus#NOT_FOUND}, throw an exception.
+     *
+     * @param bulkResponse
+     *         a BulkResponse to be analyzed
+     *
+     * @throws Exception
+     *         if any of the requests failed
+     */
+    private static void checkBulkResponseForFailures(BulkResponse bulkResponse) throws Exception {
+        if (bulkResponse.hasFailures()) {
+            for (BulkItemResponse bulkItemResponse : bulkResponse.getItems()) {
+                // We don't need to update a document if it's been deleted
+                // If it failed for a different reason, this is an "actual" failure
+                boolean actualFailure = bulkItemResponse.isFailed() &&
+                        bulkItemResponse.getFailure().getStatus() != RestStatus.NOT_FOUND;
+                if (actualFailure) {
+                    throw new Exception(bulkResponse.buildFailureMessage());
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     public FilterBuilder getFilter(Condition<?> condition, KeyInformation.StoreRetriever informations) {
         if (condition instanceof PredicateCondition) {
             PredicateCondition<String, ?> atom = (PredicateCondition) condition;