I'm no DSG expert as I've not had mine long, but after talking to a lot of people it seems these are common things with DSG. It's never going to give you a perfect gear change in every situation, I find myself manually knocking it down a gear when I come out of slow corners as it seems to hold 3rd gear for to long, or if i'm approaching a roundabout. It also does like to stay in 2nd at a junction if you haven't been stopped for to long. I find it likes 6th gear a lot as well :) Between 1st and 2nd when you boot it on mines not smooth...but I wouldn't say it's a to harsh either.... "firm" is probably a better description, I tend to be smoother on the throttle until it's in 2nd, unless of course I'm racing a Corsa or Saxo of the lights :)
I may be wrong, but mine sounds similar to yours, and it's no different now as it was before it's last service.
HTH