I flew JFK-TPA on a CRJ-900 last August and it was one of the best flights of the year. I scored an upgrade and was served an extremely tasty chicken lunch; service was non-stop and made me feel great. The F seats are very good on this type of aircraft; better than the F seats in the MD-88/90 fleet.
The crews on these flights are not employed by Delta, but rather by a subsidiary such as Endeavor Air, or by third party contractors such as SkyWest, GoJet or ExpressJet. They have the same service standards as Delta, and often these crews are really good.