I normally wouldn't say it about a show (and I hated the prequels fwiw), but the only reason I do about The Mandalorian is because it's so different from pretty much all shows in how it paces itself. It forces you to be patient. I totally get how someone could not like this show, trust me and I get wanting it to be more serialized instead of having side mission episodes. But the way I see it, this show is about the journey, and this show takes you on every part of Mando's journey. They didn't rush to go see Ahsoka this week and they also haven't paid off Boba Fett either, yet. We haven't even entered the portion of the season where we're going to go on the serialized journey to end the season and we've already had arguably more world-building and character development than all of season 1.
My point is, the side quest episodes aren't throwaways on this show. Sure they don't drive the story forward at a rampant fast, but they lay solid groundwork for the path we'll eventually follow. I'm expecting major payoff in the back-half of the season based on the cliffhangers we have and knowing where they were headed in going to Corvis to meet Ahsoka. If the payoff isn't there though, then i'll be the first to acknowledge it. Go back to my episode 2 review for this season... I was no big fan at all. Upon second watch I liked it better, but even still.