i wish GRPC had a better escape hatch, so if my language doesn't support it or I only need one endpoint, I can just consume a GRPC service via a regular REST HTTP request.
I don't think I would recommend the grpc-gateway project for new projects. It's there and it works, but the momentum seems to be behind grpc-web these days, and, personally, I find it a bit easier to get off the ground with it.