Mass Effect 1 is an amalgamation of science fiction concepts and tropes entrenched in literature, film, and television. So while they definitely put effort in establishing their own coherent rules and sensibilities of a new fictional universe, there's undoubtable strong handovers from other science fiction. The Asari are the hot-human-like-female-alien species on a similar wavelength to the Twi'lek or many species from Star Trek.
And I mean, I can see why the species is considered the most boring by some for these reasons, but there's not much that can be done about it, and the reality is they've been there since the start and are a deeply integral component in Mass Effect lore. Despite the obvious pandering I do think BioWare did a pretty solid job throughout the trilogy embellishing them with mystery and integrating them into galactic politics and background lore in very sensible and for most part interesting ways.
I also think that despite the love-interest pandering they're pretty well designed within the confines of their aesthetic limitations. They're believable other-humans, if that makes sense, in the same way that Turian face plating is convincing so too do I feel the skin patterns, marking, and head tentacles flow organically into the Asari design.
But yeah, they're the most direct human-like species in the entire series. Just is what it is, I guess.
