The short rib is braised in red wine for hours and finished with a deeply reduced bordelaise that takes the kitchen two days to build. It arrives on roasted garlic mash with green beans, the dish that has carried the restaurant's name in Kingston's west end. Owner Matt Day is a Kingston restaurant kid — son of AquaTerra restaurateur Clark Day — who returned home after working out west and abroad and opened the place in 2012 with a chef partner he'd known through downtown kitchens. The name folds his own surname into the storefront's address, where Days Road runs into Front Road on the Bayridge edge of the city.
The current April 2026 menus run lunch on Thursdays and Fridays and dinner Wednesday through Saturday, with a three-course option layered over the à la carte. The short rib still anchors the large plates, sitting beside a beef tenderloin with fondant potatoes, asparagus, peppercorn sauce, potato crisps and tallow mayo. Seared scallops come over a leek and brown butter purée with bacon jam and pine nuts — the small-plate format the kitchen has been holding since opening. The duck confit lands on house-made gnocchi with leeks, mushrooms, and a sage brown butter cream sauce. Lunches keep the same hand: a steak frites built on picanha with chimichurri and rosemary mayo, a mushroom pasta on house-made pappardelle with gorgonzola cream and sun-dried tomato pesto, a mac and cheese rebuilt around orzo, smoked cheddar cream, and a brown butter crumb. The beet salad runs raspberry-and-peach vinaigrette under the goat feta, dried cranberries, and pumpkin seeds. None of the plates ask the kitchen to perform; they ask it to cook.
The short rib is more than a safe main: it is the dish that local coverage and the current menu both support as the clearest reason to build dinner around Days on Front.
The restaurant pairs attentive service and composed plates with a west-end neighbourhood setting, so the experience suits celebrations without losing approachability.
Matthew Day and Jay Legere frame the restaurant around local farms, global-local cooking and Kingston west-end identity, while the current menus keep that story tied to active dishes.
The short rib gives Days on Front an unmistakable centrepiece: red wine braise, roasted garlic mash, bordelaise and enough history behind it to make it the dish to build dinner around.
This is a polished west-end room for birthdays, anniversaries and parent visits: attentive service, composed plates, reservation structure and a menu that feels celebratory without becoming stiff.
Local sourcing is part of the restaurant's identity, from the official farm-and-ingredient language to dishes that use local mushrooms, Enright beef and seasonal produce.
Days on Front suits a slower dinner for two: scallops or pate to start, a short rib or duck confit main, wine-pairing prompts and a room that keeps the meal calm.
The three-course dinner option gives the kitchen a guided path, letting diners build a focused meal from current appetizers, large plates and dessert without turning the night into a splurge-only tasting menu.
Share the nuances of your visit to Days on Front in Kingston — the standout dishes, the room, the service.
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