Personally, I wasn't sure what to expect from the ecchi elements, but besides a couple gratuitous bath scenes, they can be summed up in one word: foodgasm. It is an artistic choice to depict gastronomic pleasure using sexual imagery (mostly of women, but there are men as well). Over-the-top perhaps, but I did not find their use to be heavy-handed.
Story [6/10]: In a world where eating produces sexual gratification, we follow the protagonist Souma into an elite cooking high school with an enormous attrition rate. The plot follows the sports genre, where Souma is pitched into competitions against other food specialists for either prestige or survival at the school.
Pacing [7/10]: By keeping the plot simple and the characters light, Shokugeki is paced faster than the average anime. I found it very watchable in this respect. The most repetitive aspect of the show was their description of each food as it is tasted.
Art [7/10]: Get ready for sumptuous foods and balloon-breasted women everywhere. The sex appeal is on the gratuitous side, and it is used in much of the show's humor (so if that's not your type of humor, this may not be fit to watch). However, I did not find it distracting - it all fits into the style of the anime. Also, the environments in the show were very well done, considering how large many of the spaces are, and give off a dramatic ambience.
Sound [7/10]: Cooking sounds are mixed in with a decent soundtrack; nothing notable either good or bad.
Character [5/10]: The weakest aspect of Shokugeki lies in its characters. The recurring cast numbers over 20, and while there are enough visual identifiers to tell them apart, only two characters actually get the screen-time to develop at all. Everyone else is given one or two identifying traits and left alone. Similarly, the relationships are kept very simple and one-dimensional.
Enjoyment [6/10]: Shokugeki is not a work of art, and never tries to be. It is uncomplicated fun, and worth trying. Because of its simplicity, I think it's possible to enjoy at 1.5x speed.
Overall: [6.5/10]
