diff --git a/tests/kafkatest/services/kafka/kafka.py b/tests/kafkatest/services/kafka/kafka.py
index b9105df544dc6..358dacfb26a7e 100644
--- a/tests/kafkatest/services/kafka/kafka.py
+++ b/tests/kafkatest/services/kafka/kafka.py
@@ -458,7 +458,7 @@ def describe_consumer_group(self, group, node=None, new_consumer=False, command_
         output = ""
         self.logger.debug(cmd)
         for line in node.account.ssh_capture(cmd):
-            if not (line.startswith("SLF4J") or line.startswith("GROUP, TOPIC") or line.startswith("Could not fetch offset")):
+            if not (line.startswith("SLF4J") or line.startswith("GROUP") or line.startswith("Could not fetch offset")):
                 output += line
         self.logger.debug(output)
         return output
diff --git a/tests/kafkatest/tests/consumer_group_command_test.py b/tests/kafkatest/tests/consumer_group_command_test.py
index a7b43a15b9dfb..1424d96ef16e3 100644
--- a/tests/kafkatest/tests/consumer_group_command_test.py
+++ b/tests/kafkatest/tests/consumer_group_command_test.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 from kafkatest.services.security.security_config import SecurityConfig
 
 import os
+import re
 
 TOPIC = "topic-consumer-group-command"
 
@@ -80,7 +81,7 @@ def setup_and_verify(self, security_protocol, group=None):
             command_config_file = self.COMMAND_CONFIG_FILE
 
         if group:
-            wait_until(lambda: ("%s, topic-consumer-group-command, 0," % group) in self.kafka.describe_consumer_group(group=group, node=kafka_node, new_consumer=enable_new_consumer, command_config=command_config_file), timeout_sec=10,
+            wait_until(lambda: re.search("%s\s+topic-consumer-group-command\s+0"%group,self.kafka.describe_consumer_group(group=group, node=kafka_node, new_consumer=enable_new_consumer, command_config=command_config_file)), timeout_sec=10,
                        err_msg="Timed out waiting to list expected consumer groups.")
         else:
             wait_until(lambda: "test-consumer-group" in self.kafka.list_consumer_groups(node=kafka_node, new_consumer=enable_new_consumer, command_config=command_config_file), timeout_sec=10,