diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index c4c77e822..10c6602fb 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ export interface BigtableOptions extends gax.GoogleAuthOptions {
    * Internal only.
    */
   BigtableTableAdminClient?: gax.ClientOptions;
+
+  universeDomain?: string;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -111,7 +113,7 @@ export interface BigtableOptions extends gax.GoogleAuthOptions {
  * @param {gax.ClientOptions} [opts] The gax client options
  * @returns {string} The universe domain.
  */
-function getDomain(prefix: string, opts?: gax.ClientOptions) {
+function getDomain(prefix: string, options: BigtableOptions, opts?: gax.ClientOptions) {
   // From https://github.com/googleapis/nodejs-bigtable/blob/589540475b0b2a055018a1cb6e475800fdd46a37/src/v2/bigtable_client.ts#L120-L128.
   // This code for universe domain was taken from the Gapic Layer.
   // It is reused here to build the service path.
@@ -120,6 +122,7 @@ function getDomain(prefix: string, opts?: gax.ClientOptions) {
       ? process.env['GOOGLE_CLOUD_UNIVERSE_DOMAIN']
       : undefined;
   return `${prefix}.${
+    options?.universeDomain ??
     opts?.universeDomain ??
     opts?.universe_domain ??
     universeDomainEnvVar ??
@@ -469,7 +472,7 @@ export class Bigtable {
       {
         servicePath:
           customEndpointBaseUrl ||
-          getDomain('bigtable', options.BigtableClient),
+          getDomain('bigtable', options, options.BigtableClient),
         'grpc.callInvocationTransformer': grpcGcp.gcpCallInvocationTransformer,
         'grpc.channelFactoryOverride': grpcGcp.gcpChannelFactoryOverride,
         'grpc.gcpApiConfig': grpcGcp.createGcpApiConfig({
@@ -490,7 +493,7 @@ export class Bigtable {
       {
         servicePath:
           customEndpointBaseUrl ||
-          getDomain('bigtableadmin', options.BigtableClient),
+          getDomain('bigtableadmin', options, options.BigtableClient),
       },
       options
     );
@@ -500,7 +503,7 @@ export class Bigtable {
       {
         servicePath:
           customEndpointBaseUrl ||
-          getDomain('bigtableadmin', options.BigtableClient),
+          getDomain('bigtableadmin', options, options.BigtableClient),
       },
       options
     );
diff --git a/src/instance.ts b/src/instance.ts
index 7d5569bd5..420d9cbf5 100644
--- a/src/instance.ts
+++ b/src/instance.ts
@@ -1310,7 +1310,7 @@ Please use the format 'my-instance' or '${bigtable.projectName}/instances/my-ins
         : callback!;
 
     if (policy.etag !== null && policy.etag !== undefined) {
-      (policy.etag as {} as Buffer) = Buffer.from(policy.etag);
+      (policy.etag as {} as Buffer) = Buffer.from(policy.etag as string);
     }
     const reqOpts = {
       resource: this.name,
diff --git a/src/table.ts b/src/table.ts
index ea721b3ac..d59eaf0ca 100644
--- a/src/table.ts
+++ b/src/table.ts
@@ -1042,7 +1042,7 @@ export class Table extends TabularApiSurface {
         : callback!;
 
     if (policy.etag !== null && policy.etag !== undefined) {
-      (policy.etag as {} as Buffer) = Buffer.from(policy.etag);
+      (policy.etag as {} as Buffer) = Buffer.from(policy.etag as string);
     }
     const reqOpts = {
       resource: this.name,
diff --git a/system-test/service-path.ts b/system-test/service-path.ts
index 53f938a22..1458a257d 100644
--- a/system-test/service-path.ts
+++ b/system-test/service-path.ts
@@ -192,3 +192,58 @@ describe('Service Path', () => {
     delete process.env.GOOGLE_CLOUD_UNIVERSE_DOMAIN;
   });
 });
+
+describe('Service Path2', () => {
+  it('Experiment with setting the service path', async () => {
+    const instanceId = 'instanceId';
+    const tableId = 'tableId';
+    const columnFamilyId = 'cf1';
+    async function mockBigtable() {
+      const instance = bigtable.instance(instanceId);
+      console.log('get instance info');
+      const [instanceInfo] = await instance.exists();
+      console.log('after instance info');
+      if (!instanceInfo) {
+        console.log('create instance');
+        const [, operation] = await instance.create({
+          clusters: [
+            {
+              id: 'fake-cluster3',
+              location: 'us-west1-c',
+              nodes: 1,
+            },
+          ],
+        });
+        console.log('create instance done');
+        await operation.promise();
+      }
+
+      const table = instance.table(tableId);
+      const [tableExists] = await table.exists();
+      if (!tableExists) {
+        await table.create({families: [columnFamilyId]}); // Create column family
+      } else {
+        // Check if column family exists and create it if not.
+        const [families] = await table.getFamilies();
+        if (
+          !families.some((family: {id: string}) => family.id === columnFamilyId)
+        ) {
+          await table.createFamily(columnFamilyId);
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    // Do the universe domain test
+    const universeDomain = 'apis-tpczero.goog'; // or your universe domain if not using emulator
+    /*
+    const options = {
+      universeDomain,
+    };
+     */
+    const options = {};
+    const bigtable = new Bigtable();
+    const instance = bigtable.instance(instanceId);
+    const table = instance.table(tableId);
+    await mockBigtable();
+    await table.getRows();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/system-test/universe-domain-tests-working.ts b/system-test/universe-domain-tests-working.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..225da3e02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/system-test/universe-domain-tests-working.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+// Copyright 2025 Google LLC
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+import {describe, it, before, after} from 'mocha';
+import {Bigtable} from '../src';
+import * as proxyquire from 'proxyquire';
+import * as mocha from 'mocha';
+
+describe.only('Bigtable/ClientSideMetricsToMetricsHandler', () => {
+  async function mockBigtable() {
+    const instance = bigtable.instance(instanceId);
+    const [instanceInfo] = await instance.exists();
+    console.log('after exists');
+    if (!instanceInfo) {
+      const [, operation] = await instance.create({
+        clusters: {
+          id: 'fake-cluster3',
+          location: 'u-us-prp1-a',
+          nodes: 1,
+        },
+      });
+      await operation.promise();
+    }
+
+    const table = instance.table(tableId);
+    const [tableExists] = await table.exists();
+    if (!tableExists) {
+      await table.create({families: [columnFamilyId]}); // Create column family
+    } else {
+      // Check if column family exists and create it if not.
+      const [families] = await table.getFamilies();
+
+      if (
+        !families.some((family: {id: string}) => family.id === columnFamilyId)
+      ) {
+        await table.createFamily(columnFamilyId);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  const instanceId = 'emulator-test-instance';
+  const tableId = 'my-table';
+  const columnFamilyId = 'cf1';
+  let bigtable: Bigtable;
+
+  before(async () => {
+    // This line is added just to make sure the bigtable variable is assigned.
+    // It is needed to solve a compile time error in the after hook.
+    const universeDomain = 'apis-tpczero.goog'; // or your universe domain if not using emulator
+    const options = {
+      universeDomain,
+    };
+    process.env.GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS =
+      '/Users/djbruce/Documents/Programming/keys/tpc_sa_key.json';
+    bigtable = new Bigtable(options);
+  });
+
+  after(async () => {
+    try {
+      // If the instance has been deleted already by another source, we don't
+      // want this after hook to block the continuous integration pipeline.
+      const instance = bigtable.instance(instanceId);
+      await instance.delete({});
+    } catch (e) {
+      console.warn('The instance has been deleted already');
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('should send the metrics to the metrics handler for a ReadRows call', done => {
+    (async () => {
+      try {
+        const instance = bigtable.instance(instanceId);
+        const table = instance.table(tableId);
+        await mockBigtable();
+        await table.getRows();
+        console.log('done');
+        done();
+      } catch (e) {
+        done(e);
+      }
+    })();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/system-test/universe-domain-tests.ts b/system-test/universe-domain-tests.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7dba679f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/system-test/universe-domain-tests.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+import {describe, it} from 'mocha';
+import {Bigtable} from '../src';
+
+describe('Service Path2', () => {
+  it('Experiment with setting the service path', async () => {
+    const instanceId = 'instanceId';
+    const tableId = 'tableId';
+    const columnFamilyId = 'cf1';
+    async function mockBigtable() {
+      const instance = bigtable.instance(instanceId);
+      console.log('get instance info');
+      const [instanceInfo] = await instance.exists();
+      console.log('after instance info');
+      if (!instanceInfo) {
+        console.log('create instance');
+        const [, operation] = await instance.create({
+          clusters: [
+            {
+              id: 'fake-cluster3',
+              location: 'us-west1-c',
+              nodes: 1,
+            },
+          ],
+        });
+        console.log('create instance done');
+        await operation.promise();
+      }
+
+      const table = instance.table(tableId);
+      const [tableExists] = await table.exists();
+      if (!tableExists) {
+        await table.create({families: [columnFamilyId]}); // Create column family
+      } else {
+        // Check if column family exists and create it if not.
+        const [families] = await table.getFamilies();
+        if (
+          !families.some((family: {id: string}) => family.id === columnFamilyId)
+        ) {
+          await table.createFamily(columnFamilyId);
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    // Do the universe domain test
+    const bigtable = new Bigtable();
+    const instance = bigtable.instance(instanceId);
+    const table = instance.table(tableId);
+    await mockBigtable();
+    await table.getRows();
+  });
+});