To be honest, until there is in-game DEMAND for goods and services provided by a tavern/bar/grill... you are not going to draw players there on a regular basis. It is not going to be worth the Players time to sit and rot up there waiting on people to show up. It would also help if player created food was edible (last time i tried to eat anything I made, it didn't work). Endless hours of mining will at least require a break when there is food required to sustain your HP. I'm not going to say it will be terribly profitable, but it will force a bit more interaction between players or make the miners reserve some of their precious carrying capacity to bring food with them.
It is difficult enough to play a weapon merchant right now, even given the demand for weapons in-game.... and you want people to buy items they can't even use from a place nobody bothers to go... that is always empty every time i have looked around it? This is a serious chicken and egg problem. I can't fault players for not going there, when it is empty 99% of the time. I cannot fault players for not sitting up there waiting on someone to show up either.
However, I think, at least until there are more reasons to be there, it is not unwarranted to have a couple of NPCs doing something in there, and offering a much needed service or two. Maybe have the NPCs only work shifts and go away, or (if possible) allow the NPCs to go on break when a player asks them for a quest... allowing the player to take over the duties assigned to the NPC.
My opinion at the moment, is stubbornly demanding that the tavern stay empty (which not everyone is doing... i have read the posts) is not going to bring any real change to this tavern. A single player is incapable of manning the tavern all day, every day. And if other PC merchants are any indicator, we are not even going to have a team of them dedicated to this one location in the game either. Supply and Demand... there is little supply... and even less demand.