diff --git a/authors.txt b/authors.txt
index 72606e901..2f36256cc 100644
--- a/authors.txt
+++ b/authors.txt
@@ -62,3 +62,4 @@ Matthieu Gautier
 Kseniia Vasilchuk
 Philipp Geier
 Mike Sinkovsky
+Dima Krasner
diff --git a/mesonbuild/interpreter.py b/mesonbuild/interpreter.py
index 007a7d516..4466f2250 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/interpreter.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/interpreter.py
@@ -1576,9 +1576,10 @@ class Interpreter(InterpreterBase):
 
     @stringArgs
     def func_project(self, node, args, kwargs):
-        if self.environment.first_invocation and ('default_options' in kwargs or
+        default_options = kwargs.get('default_options', [])
+        if self.environment.first_invocation and (len(default_options) > 0 or
                                                   len(self.default_project_options) > 0):
-            self.parse_default_options(kwargs['default_options'])
+            self.parse_default_options(default_options)
         if not self.is_subproject():
             self.build.project_name = args[0]
         if os.path.exists(self.option_file):
diff --git a/test cases/common/95 dep fallback/meson.build b/test cases/common/95 dep fallback/meson.build
index 212c64f69..9358d296e 100644
--- a/test cases/common/95 dep fallback/meson.build	
+++ b/test cases/common/95 dep fallback/meson.build	
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 project('dep fallback', 'c')
 
-bob = dependency('boblib', fallback : ['boblib', 'bob_dep'], required: false)
+bob = dependency('boblib', fallback : ['boblib', 'bob_dep'], required: false,
+  default_options : 'warning_level=1')
 if not bob.found()
     error('Bob is actually needed')
 endif