The views are great, for sure. And some of my feelings are no doubt PTSD from decades of prior travel. For ex, the last time I rented a car there I had to take two busses (took maybe 30 minute) to get to the car rental place and THEN waited 3 hours for a car. That shit will scar you! So it's probably not the worst airport anymore, but I still feel like it is.
It is WAY nicer now, with decent food options and cleaner and brighter/airier. So now my criticisms of the facility are related to the fact that they spent TONS of money and YEARS and still fucked up some shit. For ex, security still can have horrendous wait times (though I got PRE last year and haven't waited much since then) and horrendous lines (as in stretching way out into the main terminal area). Also, to get to the gates they force you to walk through the shopping area like you're in a 3rd world airport (but my GF likes that so go figure). And there's a super long hallway with a moving walkway that only goes ~1/3 the length of the hallway. Like, wtf? Lastly, any newly constructed terminal should have working plugs everywhere, and they still do not. Inexcusable.
Lastly, you mention the short taxi to Manhattan. I am always going into Manhattan. And hate that the only reasonable option is a $60-70 cab ride, so every trip to NYC costs me an additional $130 on top of the flight. I tried the MTA bus a couple of times, and it wasn't terrible (though it took twice as long), but it was a packed city bus and a really uncomfortable ride to the airport with luggage. The fact that a city as good with public transportation as NYC still hasn't figured out great public transport to LGA is just disgraceful.