diff --git a/kafka/admin/client.py b/kafka/admin/client.py
index 2cb5c57d2..454c5b3b1 100644
--- a/kafka/admin/client.py
+++ b/kafka/admin/client.py
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ def delete_topics(self, topics, timeout_ms=None):
         return response
 
 
-    def _get_cluster_metadata(self, topics=None, auto_topic_creation=False):
+    def _get_cluster_metadata(self, topics=None, auto_topic_creation=False, use_controller=False):
         """
         topics == None means "get all topics"
         """
@@ -492,10 +492,13 @@ def _get_cluster_metadata(self, topics=None, auto_topic_creation=False):
                 allow_auto_topic_creation=auto_topic_creation
             )
 
-        future = self._send_request_to_node(
-            self._client.least_loaded_node(),
-            request
-        )
+        if use_controller:
+            future = self._send_request_to_controller(request)
+        else:
+            future = self._send_request_to_node(
+                self._client.least_loaded_node(),
+                request
+            )
         self._wait_for_futures([future])
         return future.value
 
@@ -505,7 +508,7 @@ def list_topics(self):
         return [t['topic'] for t in obj['topics']]
 
     def describe_topics(self, topics=None):
-        metadata = self._get_cluster_metadata(topics=topics)
+        metadata = self._get_cluster_metadata(topics=topics, use_controller=True)
         obj = metadata.to_object()
         return obj['topics']