Popularity means more eyes have looked at it, more issues have been made, more contributors exist. Of course, I've had issues with dependencies that were popular but generally it holds that a library that's been around for a while and still finding usage means that it does a good job at it.

The difference between code and a burger is that anyone can consume a burger but code is consumed almost exclusively by professionals. A better comparison would be power tools where you'll often find that if a brand is popular, it tends to make solid, long lasting products.