Really? I find they at least know JavaScript, git and a framework or two. Are you one of those academic interviewers asking questions about stuff people would never use in their jobs?
Quite the opposite. I ask them what they know and then let them loose on a paid project based on what they tell me.
For more senior devs I usually talk about code, design/architecture and get them to talk me through some issues they recently faced and how they dealt with them. All high level stuff. If they can explain technical stuff clearly and concisely I'll skip the coding test and put them straight into probation period. Works well for so far. All creases are easily ironed out in code reviews and are mostly due to style guidelines.