"REST" yourself with Node.js
In one of my personal projects a Rest API service is needed. I decided to go with Node.js because it is fun to work with... but there are so many options on frameworks out there. In order to decide which one to use I made a research and the outcome was that there is a framework for every need.
The most popular framework, for Rest services and more, on Node is the Express. Express offers high configuration with an amazing support of libraries from the npm community. I believe Express is the best solution for an app that needs to render pages, handle sessions and templates and in general to do "front-end tasks", but for a Rest API something more lightweight is probably needed.
Restify, as the name reveals, is specifically created for Rest services. It inherits many characteristics from Express and also it comes with built in error handling, DTrace support and a very simple and extensible way to create and maintain API routes. I believe Restify is the best tool to create a Rest service for a small/medium size project. There is even an official node module for swagger support that makes it more powerful.
For larger projects I would probably choose either hapi or Loopback. Both have a lot of build-in features and their documentation is amazing. Hapi uses a plugin way to add more features while Loopback has a visual API composer, client SDKs and a strong team that supports it.
The simplicity of the Restify makes it a very appealing choice for a fast creation of a Rest service. Although, if the time is not a concern, the power and the features of Loopback make it worth to try.
Happy developing!!