Anime before was better because there were more Manga chapters in each Anime episode as they weren't worried about catching up to the Manga at that point. However shippuden is another story we were subjected to episode that spent 4 or 5 minutes on last weeks episode and then 4 or 5 minutes observing a poorly animated backdrop.
In terms of story I think post-skip was more enjoyable though.
I like how a lot of characters were introduced and back stories were elaborated on in Part 2 but in all I like Part 1 better, there was more comedy and I feel the fights were better
After time-skip, just because of the fights and awesome new villains and shit.
Although, I miss the friendships they had and missions they went on before the time skip.