A system and method of improved storage request handling in host-side caches includes a host-side cache with a cache controller, a plurality of request queues, and a cache memory. The cache controller is configured to receive a storage request, assign a priority to the storage request based on a queuing policy, insert the storage request into a first request queue selected from the plurality of request queues based on the assigned priority, extract the storage request from the first request queue when the storage request is a next storage request to fulfill based on the assigned priority, forward the storage request to a storage controller, and receive a response to the storage request from the storage controller. The queuing policy is implemented using a rule-based policy engine. In some embodiments, the cache controller is further configured to update one or more monitoring metrics based on processing of the storage request.