diff --git a/drivers/vhost/net.c b/drivers/vhost/net.c
index d95b6df9e815..bb7a1bdc805b 100644
--- a/drivers/vhost/net.c
+++ b/drivers/vhost/net.c
@@ -40,8 +40,10 @@ MODULE_PARM_DESC(experimental_zcopytx, "Enable Zero Copy TX;"
 #define VHOST_NET_WEIGHT 0x80000
 
 /* Max number of packets transferred before requeueing the job.
- * Using this limit prevents one virtqueue from starving rx. */
-#define VHOST_NET_PKT_WEIGHT(vq) ((vq)->num * 2)
+ * Using this limit prevents one virtqueue from starving others with small
+ * pkts.
+ */
+#define VHOST_NET_PKT_WEIGHT 256
 
 /* MAX number of TX used buffers for outstanding zerocopy */
 #define VHOST_MAX_PEND 128
@@ -456,7 +458,7 @@ static void handle_tx(struct vhost_net *net)
 		total_len += len;
 		vhost_net_tx_packet(net);
 		if (unlikely(total_len >= VHOST_NET_WEIGHT) ||
-		    unlikely(++sent_pkts >= VHOST_NET_PKT_WEIGHT(vq))) {
+		    unlikely(++sent_pkts >= VHOST_NET_PKT_WEIGHT)) {
 			vhost_poll_queue(&vq->poll);
 			break;
 		}
@@ -581,6 +583,7 @@ static void handle_rx(struct vhost_net *net)
 	size_t vhost_hlen, sock_hlen;
 	size_t vhost_len, sock_len;
 	struct socket *sock;
+	int recv_pkts = 0;
 
 	mutex_lock(&vq->mutex);
 	sock = vq->private_data;
@@ -665,7 +668,8 @@ static void handle_rx(struct vhost_net *net)
 		if (unlikely(vq_log))
 			vhost_log_write(vq, vq_log, log, vhost_len);
 		total_len += vhost_len;
-		if (unlikely(total_len >= VHOST_NET_WEIGHT)) {
+		if (unlikely(total_len >= VHOST_NET_WEIGHT) ||
+		    unlikely(++recv_pkts >= VHOST_NET_PKT_WEIGHT)) {
 			vhost_poll_queue(&vq->poll);
 			break;
 		}