I think the popularity of Ultima 8 has shifted in recent years.
Ultima veterans turned against U8 because it's a very different game (and flawed, but all the Ultimas have flaws). Later on, I think it became popular with people who weren't longtime Ultima fans and didn't have the same expectations. And after this many years, it's also become easier for veterans to put those expectations aside and give it a second look as a different kind of game.
For these reasons, I think U8 has become more popular in recent years than it was in the past. I've seen a number of positive comments on it from people who look at it as more of a Zelda type adventure game.
When I was a kid I couldn't get anywhere in U2 without starving to death, so it was impossible to like a game that wouldn't even let me play. The rate of food consumption in such a sparse world struck me as blatantly unfair and kills the game. Garriott was on something when he released it like this. But I've been told that it is in fact possible to play U2 productively, and I know people have done it, so I will try again someday when I get hold of it.
Right now, U2 ranks with Alternate Reality as the 2 most difficult RPGs to play for more than 10 minutes.
As far as the space travel and all that, I don't mind it, I think it's just weird enough to be cool. I like the wildness of the Sosarian Ultimas. U4+ have a more straight-laced feel to them.
My first RPG was U3. All the Ambrosia grinding didn't bother me because the concept of an RPG was new to me so I liked going through the process. I still do within reason, but at this point it's become more of a nuisance.
I had pretty much the opposite take on the interface. U6 is a cool game but the interface is so painful it's hard to play. U7's interface is good, I can't think of any major problems with it. That was one of the best improvements it had over U6.
Food in U7 wasn't a big deal to me, I think we ate twice a day. If Spark complained during the day I ignored him, we ate dinner as a family.
Combat in U7 was pretty bad though.. basically just engage combat mode and watch the carnage. My Avatar hardly gained any levels.