Being properly prepared saves students from flunking exams, pianists from plucking erroneous notes in public, and steaks from ending up as dog Frisbees. Chomp down on carefully crafted dishes with today's Groupon: for $20, you get $40 worth of familiar and eclectic American fare and drinks at Woodside’s Grille at Woodside Manor. This Groupon is not valid on Fridays and Saturdays.

Waltz past Woodside Manor's wall of stained glass dating back to 1594, hand-carved oak staircase, and 20-foot pink-sandstone fireplace to take a seat in one of the manor's nine private dining rooms before examining the menu of seafood, sandwiches, pasta, and creative American classics. Woodside's chef Robert Courser turns French fries into elegant pomme frittes, served with thyme, salt, and spicy ketchup ($5), and replaces corndogs' dogs with shrimp and serves the cornshrimps with mustard cream ($12). Bite into a classically prepared Reuben's peppery corned beef and spicy sauerkraut ($9), or invite new flavors to mingle at your tongue's soirée with a chicken diablo sandwich: mushroom, onion, bacon, barbecue sauce, and cheddar cheese ($9). Marsala and piccata are available with veal or chicken ($14–$18), while more seaworthy plates include Chilean sea bass ($30), lake perch ($18), and lobster mac 'n' cheese, crafted with cognac, sherry, a Mornay sauce, Old Bay Seasoning, cheddar, and gruyere ($18).

Woodside's wine list offers imported Argentinean and South African grapey goodness alongside bottles from California and Oregon. Many of them are moderately priced, with 30 bottles under $30. Sip a 2006 Heavyweight Red from Lodi, California ($7 a glass), and welcome the heavyweight rose-tinted glasses that slip down your eyes and make the manor's breathtaking décor increasingly comely. There are eight functional fireplaces, stained- and leaded-glass windows kaleidoscope-coloring the light, a hand-carved oak staircase, and seating for up to 66 people sprawled across the nine dining rooms. It's a Frankenmansion, sewn together from the most elegant bits of other mansions in the area; after Robert G. Woodside purchased the manor in the late 1920s, he bought pieces of other mansions (including the Guffy Mansion and the Stevenson Mansion) and added them to Woodside. The entire building was recently restored and remodeled, adding a luxurious lounge.

Not valid with other offers or on holidays.

Reviews

Woodside's Grille has been featured twice in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

• The wait staff is attentive, friendly and familiar with the menu and how food is prepared. – Alice T. Carter, Tribune-Review
• The dinner menu has an impressive variety of appetizers, sandwiches and signature entrees. – Pam Starr, Tribune-Review