It sounds like the "out-of-the-box" expectations created by the admin app are the problem. I mean, hey, Django makes exposing data models in the admin interface

It sounds like the "out-of-the-box" expectations created by the admin app are the problem. I mean, hey, Django makes exposing data models in the admin interface trivial! You can certainly create more complicated forms for relational data, but in those cases you can't rely on Django's default functionality to do as much for you. I've written or worked on more than a few serious apps including those with more complex user facing data and Django's worked beautifully. Happy to answer any specific questions you might have.