CSS does provide both - the table model from CSS2 provides parity with HTML tables, the flexbox model in CSS3 provides an easy way to center blocks and other nice flexible layout features.
I do believe most complaints about CSS is really complaints about missing and buggy implementations in browsers. For example for years I have seen people complain that CSS is not as powerful and simple as html tables, when the issue really was that Internet Explorer didn't support the display:table properties from CSS2, which meant you either had to use hacks with floats (which was never designed for this) or use html tables. This gave CSS a bad rep, when it really was IE that was to blame.
I do believe most complaints about CSS is really complaints about missing and buggy implementations in browsers. For example for years I have seen people complain that CSS is not as powerful and simple as html tables, when the issue really was that Internet Explorer didn't support the display:table properties from CSS2, which meant you either had to use hacks with floats (which was never designed for this) or use html tables. This gave CSS a bad rep, when it really was IE that was to blame.