diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index 3d3162cda..31b86635e 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ export interface LongRunningCallback {
   ): void;
 }
 export type LongRunningResponse = [Operation, google.longrunning.IOperation];
+export type Fallback = boolean | 'rest' | 'proto';
 
 export interface ExportEntitiesConfig
   extends Omit<google.datastore.admin.v1.IExportEntitiesRequest, 'projectId'> {
@@ -1912,6 +1913,7 @@ export interface DatastoreOptions extends GoogleAuthOptions {
   apiEndpoint?: string;
   sslCreds?: ChannelCredentials;
   databaseId?: string;
+  fallback?: Fallback;
 }
 
 export interface KeyToLegacyUrlSafeCallback {
diff --git a/system-test/datastore.ts b/system-test/datastore.ts
index 2d1e6bdc1..f08990686 100644
--- a/system-test/datastore.ts
+++ b/system-test/datastore.ts
@@ -2080,6 +2080,16 @@ async.each(
           assert.strictEqual(entities.length, 0);
         });
       });
+      describe('using the rest fallback parameter', () => {
+        it('should make a get call using rest instead of grpc', async () => {
+          const customDatastore = new Datastore({
+            fallback: 'rest',
+          });
+          const postKey = datastore.key(['Post', 'post1']);
+          const [entity] = await customDatastore.get(postKey);
+          assert.strictEqual(entity, undefined);
+        });
+      });
     });
   }
 );
diff --git a/test/gapic-mocks/client-initialization-testing.ts b/test/gapic-mocks/client-initialization-testing.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d0be6c437
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/gapic-mocks/client-initialization-testing.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,165 @@
+// Copyright 2023 Google LLC
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+import {beforeEach, describe, it} from 'mocha';
+import {
+  Datastore,
+  DatastoreClient,
+  Fallback,
+  DatastoreRequest,
+  DatastoreOptions,
+} from '../../src';
+import * as assert from 'assert';
+import * as proxyquire from 'proxyquire';
+import {Callback, CallOptions} from 'google-gax';
+import * as protos from '../../protos/protos';
+import * as ds from '../../src';
+import * as mocha from 'mocha';
+
+// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
+type Any = any;
+
+const clientName = 'DatastoreClient';
+const async = require('async');
+
+/**
+ * This class mocks out the lookup function so that for tests in this file
+ * the lookup function just sends data back instead of making a call to the
+ * server. The class also saves the rest parameter in the constructor so that
+ * it can be read later for correctness.
+ *
+ */
+class FakeDatastoreClient extends DatastoreClient {
+  restParameter: Fallback;
+  constructor(...args: any[]) {
+    super();
+    this.restParameter = args[0].fallback;
+  }
+  lookup(
+    request?: protos.google.datastore.v1.ILookupRequest,
+    optionsOrCallback?:
+      | CallOptions
+      | Callback<
+          protos.google.datastore.v1.ILookupResponse,
+          protos.google.datastore.v1.ILookupRequest | null | undefined,
+          {} | null | undefined
+        >,
+    callback?: Callback<
+      protos.google.datastore.v1.ILookupResponse,
+      protos.google.datastore.v1.ILookupRequest | null | undefined,
+      {} | null | undefined
+    >
+  ): Promise<
+    [
+      protos.google.datastore.v1.ILookupResponse,
+      protos.google.datastore.v1.ILookupRequest | undefined,
+      {} | undefined,
+    ]
+  > {
+    if (callback) {
+      callback(null, {});
+    }
+    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+      resolve([{}, {}, {}]);
+    });
+  }
+}
+
+describe('Client Initialization Testing', () => {
+  describe('Request', () => {
+    let Request: typeof ds.DatastoreRequest;
+    let request: Any;
+
+    /**
+     * This function is called by a test to ensure that the rest parameter
+     * gets passed to the Gapic data client's constructor
+     *
+     * @param {DatastoreRequest} [request] The request object whose data client
+     * the test makes comparisons with.
+     * @param {string | undefined} [expectedFallback] The value that the test
+     * expects the rest parameter of the data client to be equal to.
+     * @param {mocha.Done} [done] The done function used for indicating
+     * that the test is complete or that there is an error in the mocha test
+     * environment.
+     *
+     */
+    function compareRequest(
+      request: DatastoreRequest,
+      expectedFallback: Fallback,
+      done: mocha.Done
+    ) {
+      try {
+        const client = request.datastore.clients_.get(clientName);
+        assert(client);
+        assert.strictEqual(client.restParameter, expectedFallback);
+        done();
+      } catch (err: unknown) {
+        done(err);
+      }
+    }
+    async.each(
+      [
+        {
+          options: {fallback: 'rest' as Fallback},
+          expectedFallback: 'rest',
+          description: 'when specifying rest as a fallback parameter',
+        },
+        {
+          options: {},
+          expectedFallback: undefined,
+          description: 'when specifying no fallback parameter',
+        },
+      ],
+      (testParameters: {
+        options: DatastoreOptions;
+        expectedFallback: Fallback;
+        description: string;
+      }) => {
+        describe(testParameters.description, () => {
+          beforeEach(() => {
+            Request = proxyquire('../../src/request', {
+              './v1': {
+                DatastoreClient: FakeDatastoreClient,
+              },
+            }).DatastoreRequest;
+            request = new Request();
+            request.datastore = new Datastore(testParameters.options);
+            // The CI environment can't fetch project id so the function that
+            // fetches the project id needs to be mocked out.
+            request.datastore.auth.getProjectId = (
+              callback: (err: any, projectId: string) => void
+            ) => {
+              callback(null, 'some-project-id');
+            };
+          });
+          it('should set the rest parameter in the data client when calling prepareGaxRequest_', done => {
+            // This request does lazy initialization of the gapic layer Datastore client.
+            request.prepareGaxRequest_(
+              {client: clientName, method: 'lookup'},
+              () => {
+                compareRequest(request, testParameters.expectedFallback, done);
+              }
+            );
+          });
+          it('should set the rest parameter in the data client when calling request_', done => {
+            // This request does lazy initialization of the gapic layer Datastore client.
+            request.request_({client: clientName, method: 'lookup'}, () => {
+              compareRequest(request, testParameters.expectedFallback, done);
+            });
+          });
+        });
+      }
+    );
+  });
+});