diff --git a/paddle/fluid/framework/operator.cc b/paddle/fluid/framework/operator.cc
index 3cf8e8696d739e3f2894e490161b9fb5b459bc41..d1dc5fcd97b77fb7707c7d48f6eaeef140d3f306 100644
--- a/paddle/fluid/framework/operator.cc
+++ b/paddle/fluid/framework/operator.cc
@@ -633,6 +633,16 @@ void OperatorWithKernel::RunImpl(const Scope& scope,
   VLOG(3) << "expected_kernel_key:" << expected_kernel_key;
 
   auto kernel_iter = kernels.find(expected_kernel_key);
+#ifdef PADDLE_WITH_MKLDNN
+  // workaround for missing MKLDNN kernel when FLAGS_use_mkldnn env var is set
+  if (kernel_iter == kernels.end() &&
+      expected_kernel_key.library_type_ == LibraryType::kMKLDNN) {
+    VLOG(3) << "missing MKLDNN kernel: fallbacking to PLAIN one";
+    expected_kernel_key.library_type_ = LibraryType::kPlain;
+    expected_kernel_key.data_layout_ = DataLayout::kAnyLayout;
+    kernel_iter = kernels.find(expected_kernel_key);
+  }
+#endif
   if (kernel_iter == kernels.end()) {
     PADDLE_THROW("op %s does not have kernel for %s", type_,
                  KernelTypeToString(expected_kernel_key));
diff --git a/paddle/fluid/operators/elementwise_add_mkldnn_op.cc b/paddle/fluid/operators/elementwise_add_mkldnn_op.cc
index 3f612256840825a75f49944ab97ff957d572a863..1a5427b39241b666eeaf12b173ea00443bb5f6e4 100644
--- a/paddle/fluid/operators/elementwise_add_mkldnn_op.cc
+++ b/paddle/fluid/operators/elementwise_add_mkldnn_op.cc
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ class EltwiseAddMKLDNNKernel : public framework::OpKernel<T> {
                      "Wrong layout/format set for X tensor");
       PADDLE_ENFORCE(y->layout() == DataLayout::kMKLDNN &&
                          y->format() != memory::format::format_undef,
-                     "Wrong layout/format set for X tensor");
+                     "Wrong layout/format set for Y tensor");
 
       std::vector<int> src_x_tz = framework::vectorize2int(x_dims);
       std::vector<int> src_y_tz = framework::vectorize2int(y_dims);