I gotta say I love AL, and play it pretty much exclusively now. Why? Well, what's not to love? First of all, ALL 5e WotC published adventures can be played as part of AL. But better than that are the dozens of 2-4 hour adventures you can play in a game store, order from the DMs Guild and play at home, or "binge-play" at a convention. Most of them are great (if in need of a bit more editing), and they are better than the sum of their parts, with a different theme each season, recurring NPCs, etc. Best thing is you can play as much or as little as you can/want, with a regular group or with strangers (and a regular DM or a variety), all with the same character or handful of characters. I play monthly at a store, monthly in an AL home game, and once or twice a year at a con.
The "restrictions" are minimal and just help keep power levels balanced when playing with new people. (Pretty much no races that fly at 1st level and keep track of the adventures played and rewards earned for each character.)
If you have a home group with a DM that creates content just for you, great! But for most adults that's rare, and different folks have different availability. AL lets you play when you can and still have a through-line.