I feel like we could remove the romance tag from this (unless the small subplot between Rui and Yamato really count).
The story feels repetitive in the first half, around chapter 23(? AKA after night pool), it really starts to pick up. We get more insight into the lives of both characters, and we start to get more conversations between the two, as well as the other characters around them, which makes them feel a lot more rounded.
We also get a deeper look into their feelings, their past, etc, which adds a lot of character to them! Not to mention that we also get more details about Yakumo's steps in cooking, Yamato's culinary preferences, the impact her husband had on her, as well as her thoughts for choosing the next meal, it feels like we get a lot more personal compared to the first 20ish chapters!
The ending feels rather rushed (perhaps the axe was coming down), and the ending was really vague. I think my favorite part throughout the manga was that others, as well as themselves, recognized that their dynamic IS pretty weird, and that Yamato is aware that he shouldn't even develop or think about her romantically. Also, Yakumo takes extra care TO NOT seem like a weirdo to others, since it's easy to misunderstand their situation. I like how Yamato came to think of her as more of a grandma at some point, but the ending is so vague and open-ended that idfk how their dynamic is anymore. I'd like to imagine that he just comes over to visit her and eat with her, as we do with our grandparents.... So I'll just live with that belief.