Mac and Bob's opened for business August 8th, 1980. Bob Rotanz and Jim "Mac" McEnerney, both Roanoke College graduates of 1978 and native New Yorkers, decided to open a restaurant across the street from their Alma Mater in downtown Salem, Virginia. On August 8th, 1980, Mac and Bob opened a ten stool "Sub Pub" selling New York style sandwiches and beer.

In October of 1980, Jim "Mac" McEnerney decided to move back to New York and sold his interest in the restaurant to Bob Rotanz. Mac entered the financial services business with Merrill Lynch and is still employed there. Mac and Bob are still close friends to this day and keep in touch on a regular basis.

In April of 1981, Mac and Bob's moved their location down the street to their current location, 316 E. Main St., where the seating capacity increased from 10 to 36. This was the time that Joe Dishaw, also a graduate of Roanoke College, class of 1978, bought into the business and became Bob's new partner. Joe is also originally from New York.

The Mac and Bob's logo has two lacrosse sticks and a lacrosse helmet displayed under the Mac and Bob's name. Mac, Bob and Joe all played lacrosse at Roanoke College as did the current General Manager, Keith Griswold, who has worked at Mac and Bob's since 1981.

In 1982 Mac and Bob's expanded from 36 seats to 90 seats, and in 1985, with the drinking age about to change from 18 to 21, Joe Dishaw enrolled in the finest culinary institute in the world, the Culinary Institute of America, located in Hyde Park, New York. There, Joe completed a 22-month chef program and graduated with honors. With Joe's direction, Mac and Bob's evolved from a sandwich and beer pub to a full service restaurant.

In 1986 Mac and Bob's expanded again. Realizing that a large portion of our business was college students that were between the ages of 18-21, we needed to change our direction. Joe designed a new kitchen four times the size of the old one. Our seating capacity increased from 90 to 120 with a brand new, more efficient kitchen. The most important aspect of this expansion was our restaurant transition from a pizza and sandwich pub to a full service sit-down restaurant.

From 1986-1992 our restaurant's popularity grew to a point where there were waiting lines almost every night and weekend evenings were extremely busy, with long waits for tables. In 1992 Mac and Bob's invested in our largest expansion. The seating capacity went from 120 to 250 with a 48-foot bar. Tony Reyes, a friend of both Bob and Joe and also a lacrosse playing Roanoke College graduate of 1978, invested with his friends and became a silent partner. Tony currently resides with his family in Brooklyn, New York.