I was having trouble with this because I mess with cell sizing in my cellForRowAtIndexPath method. I noticed that the sizing information was off after doing reloadData, so I realized I needed to force it to layout immediately before setting the content offset back.
CGPoint offset = tableView.contentOffset;
[tableView.messageTable reloadData];
[tableView layoutIfNeeded]; // Force layout so things are updated before resetting the contentOffset.
[tableView setContentOffset:offset];