diff --git a/x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/apm/public/embeddable/trace_waterfall/focused_trace_waterfall_embeddable.tsx b/x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/apm/public/embeddable/trace_waterfall/focused_trace_waterfall_embeddable.tsx
index 328108af3d8e2..78079947003c8 100644
--- a/x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/apm/public/embeddable/trace_waterfall/focused_trace_waterfall_embeddable.tsx
+++ b/x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/apm/public/embeddable/trace_waterfall/focused_trace_waterfall_embeddable.tsx
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
  * 2.0; you may not use this file except in compliance with the Elastic License
  * 2.0.
  */
-import { EuiText } from '@elastic/eui';
+import { EuiCallOut } from '@elastic/eui';
 import { i18n } from '@kbn/i18n';
 import React from 'react';
 import { FocusedTraceWaterfall } from '../../components/shared/focused_trace_waterfall';
@@ -35,12 +35,15 @@ export function FocusedTraceWaterfallEmbeddable({
 
   if (data === undefined) {
     return (
-      <EuiText>
-        {i18n.translate(
-          'xpack.apm.focusedTraceWaterfallEmbeddable.traceWaterfallCouldNotTextLabel',
-          { defaultMessage: 'Trace waterfall could not be loaded' }
-        )}
-      </EuiText>
+      <EuiCallOut
+        announceOnMount
+        data-test-subj="FocusedTraceWaterfallEmbeddableNoData"
+        color="danger"
+        size="s"
+        title={i18n.translate('xpack.apm.focusedTraceWaterfallEmbeddable.noDataCalloutLabel', {
+          defaultMessage: 'Trace waterfall could not be loaded.',
+        })}
+      />
     );
   }
 
diff --git a/x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/apm/public/embeddable/trace_waterfall/trace_waterfall_embeddable.tsx b/x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/apm/public/embeddable/trace_waterfall/trace_waterfall_embeddable.tsx
index 29fb739dd99b3..7b80dbe9c8948 100644
--- a/x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/apm/public/embeddable/trace_waterfall/trace_waterfall_embeddable.tsx
+++ b/x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/apm/public/embeddable/trace_waterfall/trace_waterfall_embeddable.tsx
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
  * 2.0.
  */
 import React from 'react';
+import { EuiCallOut } from '@elastic/eui';
+import { i18n } from '@kbn/i18n';
 import { isPending, useFetcher } from '../../hooks/use_fetcher';
 import { Loading } from './loading';
 import type { ApmTraceWaterfallEmbeddableEntryProps } from './react_embeddable_factory';
@@ -36,9 +38,23 @@ export function TraceWaterfallEmbeddable({
     return <Loading />;
   }
 
+  if (data === undefined) {
+    return (
+      <EuiCallOut
+        announceOnMount
+        data-test-subj="TraceWaterfallEmbeddableNoData"
+        color="danger"
+        size="s"
+        title={i18n.translate('xpack.apm.traceWaterfallEmbeddable.noDataCalloutLabel', {
+          defaultMessage: 'Trace waterfall could not be loaded.',
+        })}
+      />
+    );
+  }
+
   return (
     <TraceWaterfall
-      traceItems={data?.traceItems!}
+      traceItems={data.traceItems}
       onClick={onNodeClick}
       scrollElement={scrollElement}
       getRelatedErrorsHref={getRelatedErrorsHref}