Walk in the door at Troy’s Greek Restaurant and instantly be transported to the Greek Isles with frescoes on the walls throughout the restaurant.

Lovely blue Aegean water, ancient Greek temples, white buildings, and houses cascading down hillsides, porticos- all prevalent in a Greek landscape.

Troy’s Restaurant (sorry- there is no Troy- it is a holdover from previous owners) boasts 38 years in business in the exact same location in Mission Valley.

Victor Rojas, manager, chef, waiter, and Jack-of-all-trades has worked at Troy’s Greek Restaurant for 16 years. “All of our recipes are the same original recipes from the original owner’s grandmother,” Rojas said.

If you are keen to try a Greek breakfast, they offer Greek-style omelettes with sliced tomatoes, feta cheese, tzatziki sauce, and pita bread, as well as other Greek breakfast specialties of chicken or beef souvlaki and eggs, or Greek gyro and eggs.

Two popular Greek specials include pastitsio special, a baked casserole with macaroni, sauteed ground beef, and bechamel sauce, and the moussaka special, a baked casserole with eggplant, potatoes, sauteed ground beef, and bechamel sauce.

“Other signature dishes that people love are our lemon chicken and our gyros. A favorite soup for many people is avgolemono soup and ours is delicious. For an appetizer, our flaming saganaki (flaming cheese) is a showstopper,” Rojas said.

If you are a seafood lover, try their calamari appetizer or for an entree, they offer grilled calamari steak or salmon. Try the oven lemon roasted potatoes and Greek style green beans.

They serve three popular Greek desserts: House made baklava, galaktoboureko – a semolina custard baked in filo dough, and the rizogalo – a rice pudding.

If you would like to try Greek wines and beers, they offer an entire line of Greek white and red wines as well as retsina, a Greek wine flavored with pine resin. For Greek beers try a Mythos Hellenic Lager or Hillas Lager.

You can dine in or order take-out. They have a lovely outdoor patio to dine al fresco. Troy’s is open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Located at 10450 Friars Road. Phone (619) 281-7741.

For the current menu go to: troysgreeksandiego.com/.

– Robin Dohrn-Simpson is a local food and travel writer. Reach her at robindohrnsimpson.com.