Haha I was afraid this was going to be the answer, 'cause I don't know anyone who watches anime. Ok well I know a few, but they're more like, friends of friends thst I don't really know or keep contact with. The same applies to pretty much anything though. You can't beat actually talking to other people who know who you are and what you like.

I also find the MAL recommendations to be very hit or miss. The way I tend to use it is to look up what studio made the things I like, and then sort their list by rating. That's how I found one of my favs, Golden Kamuy. Doing that keeps it consistent with your liked of art styles and there voice actor selections if nothing else.

Most things I find though are from seeing what gets repeatedly mentioned by other people, either my friends or on Reddit,/Lemmy. If people are regularly posting them, then they're good enough that someone is taking their own time to promote it. That's how I got into Sakamoto Days. It always is in the top manga lists, but otherwise I never seem to see people actually discussing it. But because I always saw the name, I checked it out and enjoyed it.

And keep in mind, there will always be some stuff that is just not for you. It doesn't make it bad necessarily, we just all have different taste and our own tastes are always evolving. If you would have told me a few years ago I'd like things in the romance genre I would have laughed, but then I watched Fruits Basket, and now I have a big back catalog of things I want to check out.