Lot's of interesting opinions on this one.
What I have found, especially in the current environment, is that it helps to be proactive and pleasant. The OP probably didn't care about the type of pasta (though we don't know that from the post) but did care, as so many have pointed out, about the sauce. In that case, rephrasing the original question to "what type of sauce is on the pasta?" may have elicited an informative response and eliminated all of the angst expressed in these 9 or so pages to date.
I'm certainly not trying to blame the OP in any way, I just find it helpful to be specific with the questions I ask. It tends to receive a more accurate response. A smile and a little congeniality have never hurt (oh there was that one time...).