I have used node, react, and express in many projects and have found them to be useful. React has a large and vibrant community and the technology is well maintained and encapsulates many of the best ideas in modern JavaScript development. I would consider seriously adopting it.

I personally like express and find it intuitive and easy to use. These days there are a wide variety of alternatives, but I don't think anyone stands out as an obvious choice. It would be up to you to explore the options and to see what looks good:

https://blog.back4app.com/expressjs-alternatives/

The only one that stands out to me is Koa. But I haven't done much exploration in this territory, primarily because I am already so happy with Express JS.