When I first read that a new Mexican restaurant in the Santa Clara Square Marketplace cost $8 million to build, I thought surely that must be a typo.

Oh, but it’s not.

One visit to Puesto Mexican Artisan Kitchen & Bar confirms its over-the-top design.

This is the Southern California restaurant group’s fifth outpost, and the first that’s in Northern California. A second one, in Concord, is in the works.

I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant a couple of weeks ago. It is a cavernous 9,000 square feet covered in a riot of colors, thanks largely to the dramatic artwork by Bay Area graffiti artist Chor Boogie.

The restaurant, done up in concrete tiles, copper touches and wood tabletops, can seat more than 300. There’s also an expansive patio.

The bar is massive with liquor shelves that stretch to the rafters. They’re actually on hydraulic lifts. With a touch of the button, the shelving descends so the bartenders can easily reach any bottle.

Owner Eric Adler has taken steps to try to integrate the restaurant more locally rather than just have it be a Southern Californian transplant. To that end, Executive Chef-Partner Luisteen Gonzalez and Executive Creative Chef Katy Smith have formed local partnerships with a few of the Bay Area’s most celebrated brands. Puesto is partnering with Woods Beer Co. to make Canta Birra, a custom pale ale brewed with 10 pounds of cantaloupe. And Puesto’s Executive Pastry Chef Jessica Scott is working with Humphry Slocombe to create a summer corn ice cream with strawberry jam swirl and white chocolate cookie crunch, and a cinnamon tres leches ice cream that will pair with tamarind toffee cake.

A place like this screams cocktails. The Mezcalito ($13) is all smoke and citrus with its blend of mezcal, guanabana, tamarindo, lime leaf and a charred orange slice. The Horchata Loco ($13) is like a boozy milkshake. The horchata is frozen and whirled with white rum and cinnamon.

The menu includes many plates to share. In fact, if you share everything, that’s really the most fun way to dine here, though, at times I wished the plateware you ate off of was larger, as they were not much more sizeable than a bread plate elsewhere.

Crisp tortilla chips, not too thin and not too thick, arrive with two smoky salsas. Actually, they’re the same; one just has habanero added to kick up the heat big time.

Puesto offers four times of freshly made guacamole. I admit I was dubious about the Puesto Perfect ($13), a version that married classic guacamole with big shards of Parmigiano-Reggiano all over the top. I know you’re scratching your head at the thought of this combination. I was, too. But in truth, it eats very well. The guacamole gets a note of nuttiness from the cheese, as well as a boost in umami and added creaminess. I never would have thought about putting the two together, yet it somehow works beautifully.

The Mexican Street Bowl ($10) is like fruit salad on steroids. A Jenga-like stack of jicama, papaya, cucumber, watermelon and pineapple gets drizzled with chamoy, the zingy pickled fruit sauce, sprinkled with Tajin, the trifecta of chiles-salt-lime, and a garnish of mango enchilado, dried mango slices coated in chile-salt. It makes for a refreshing lunch option or an appetizer easily shareable by four people.

Esquite ($9) makes the traditional street snack of corn on the cob easier to eat by putting the kernels in a bowl, all dressed up with chile, lime, queso and crema. It’s plenty creamy and rich.

One of my favorite dishes was Potato Taquitos ($12). Rosy-hued rolled tortillas made with chipotle stand upright at attention, filled with mashed potatoes, before being fried. Queso fresco, guacamole, salsa fresca, and an addictive black garlic chile oil provide a foundation that you can dip into as you like. It all adds up to a lot of bold flavors, and the mashed potatoes make it extra comforting tasting.

Of course, folks flock here for tacos. Nearly a dozen varieties are offered. Choose three for $16.

The softshell crab one ($3.50 extra) is especially good. You rarely see softshell crab featured in a taco. Here, it’s battered with rice flour to make its exterior light and crisp, before being presented on a handmade, organic, non-GMO corn tortilla with salsa, crema and cabbage.

The tamarindo shrimp ($2 extra) gets a nice fruity tang from tamarind. With the Baja fish, wild cod is beer battered before being finished with salsa, avocado and chile crema. It was good, though, maybe not as distinctive as other fish tacos I’ve had elsewhere. The Spicy Atun ($2 extra) brings a generous portion of seared ahi that gets quite a hit of spice form jalapeno and cucumber salsa and chipotle crema. The filet mignon ($2 extra) was cooked well-done, unfortunately, leaving it more chewy than it ought to be. The chicken tomatillo is braised in chipotle-tomatillo. It’s served encased in a crisp shell of melted, caramelized cheese inside the tortilla. It’s a fun addition but it overtakes the taste of the chicken, itself.

Another word about the tacos: They are served on single tortillas, not double ones like a traditional taqueria would do. That means it’s best to eat them fast before all the garnishes soak into the tortilla, rendering it soft and difficult to pick up with your fingers.

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For dessert, much has been made of the Chocoflan Pinata ($12). A shallow bowl arrives at the table with a confetti-colored white chocolate ball perched on a golf tee. (Yes, really.) You’re given a wooden mallet and then told to go at it. The couple next to us made the mistake of hitting it like an actual golf ball — taking a sideways swing that sent the chocolate ball careening across their table and onto the floor. Better to just pound the ball on top like a nail. The chocolate ball cracks open, spilling out colored sprinkles, and crisp chocolate and butterscotch balls. It is rather gimicky, though I’m sure kids will adore it.

Underneath the ball is the layer of flan. It’s not jiggly soft like traditional flan; it’s very  dense and stiff. I can’t say it was my favorite version of flan. The chocolate cake below was nice and moist, though.

The better way to go might be the Charred Mango Cheesecake ($10). It’s a stunner with fresh mango slices rolled up like a rose on top. The dreamy-creamy cheesecake rests on a corn almond crust, making it gluten-free, too. The mango is ever so smoky tasting. A mango jamaica coulis is swirled on the bottom of the plate to add even more mango flavor. Best yet, the only implement you need for this is a regular fork.

More Santa Clara Square MarketPlace Restaurants: Fleming’s Steakhouse

And: Il Fornaio