I watched DS9 when it first came out and I was... underwhelmed.
But then I caught a few episodes in syndication, and it seemed pretty good -- the captain shaved his head; there was this guy (Gul Dukat?) who had really interesting conversations; there seemed to be action everywhere.
Is there a season where I can start without all of the boring stuff?
I thought the same as you, though I did a rewatch in 2010-ish and liked it more that second time around. Then last year I found the entire DVD box set at Goodwill and snagged it, and I'm slowly rewatching it again.
DS9 was probably the first Trek show where you kinda have to watch the episodes in broadcast order. You can skip episodes because there's still filler, but I don't think I'd skip seasons the way I would with TNG (where you're better off acting as though the show started with Season 3).
Also probably the most right-wing Trek show.