> more thought than calling a dead-simple REST endpoint
REST shortcomings aren't necessarily found in a single api request. REST's shortcomings are the handful of endpoints required to get the information you actually want.
REST shortcomings aren't necessarily found in a single api request. REST's shortcomings are the handful of endpoints required to get the information you actually want.
That's a problem of a naive CRUD API against a normalized relational datastore (or one structurally resembling such a store) regardless of architectural style, but there is no reason any standardized packet of information for which there is an expected recurring need should not be conceptualized as a resource in a REST API.
Orthogonality or normalization is not part of the REST architectural style.