On one hand, the episode itself is great, maybe lacking a bit of emotional value but still effective. On the other hand, if you compare it to the original work, you become desperate because, oh boy, it could have been muuuch better.
The consequences of not bringing Gin and Krieg to the arc are far too great. With this decision, they shifted the whole narrative and took Sanji's arc from him.
Making Sanji leave because of a tantrum was probably the worst of everything. In the manga, Sanji witnesses firsthand how Zoro and Luffy fight, putting their lives on the line, while Zeff reminds him of what really matters in this world: following your dreams. At the end, Zeff and the cooks throw Sanji's soup to the floor (despite not throwing food being a strong theme in the arc) to make him leave and fulfill his dream. This only works because we see the antagonism between Patty, Zeff, Sanji and the rest of the cooks in their philosophies. Their friendly enmity makes their bond strong, and it only works because Gin and Krieg are there. This synergy makes the farewell hit 300 times harder, but sadly, here it's just another bye-bye; we only care about it because of Sanji's flashback, which doesn't even mention the main point of his character. I could comment more on that matter, but I'd be summarizing the whole arc in the manga, and it's just better to see it for yourselves.
Following through, Garp's tantrum made no sense. Were they trying to imitate something from the manga? I don't know, but it was definitely not great. I hope it doesn't happen again.
Arlong is more decent than I thought. While it's not great, it's not bad enough to criticize, so I'm cool with it.
Luffy seems way too sensible here. Sure, he's sensible, but he's not easily depressed. It feels weird to have these kinds of feelings so early on, but oh well, at least they don't really contradict anything.
It's a good episode, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially because I wanted to see a lot of the Baratie come to life. At least I know the ones who are here for the first time will enjoy it, so that's great!