As the title says really, create a product, add it to a category, ensure it's got stock level (even though thats been set to be irrelevant in config), go to the front end, no product!
J3.8.5
VM3.2.12
Template Protostar
Menu link to Top Level Category not Front Page
No console errors being shown in Chrome
Is your Joomla menu category view tab set to show the products?